Freezing cold. Iditarod. Sacrifice.

Friends and family!

It was another awesome and freezing week! It was super busy and seemed
to fly by.

To start our investigators are doing awesome! We had an awesome lesson
with Mathew and Andrew on Wednesday and invited them to be baptized
the 25th of March and they accepted! So we will be helping them work
towards that date now! Ryanne is doing great and still on track for
the 18th and we finished all the lessons yesterday! She super awesome
because whenever we teach something she immediately makes the changes.

We had zone meeting this week and it was really good. We talked a lot
of sacrifice. Bruce R McConkie has a really cool talk about it in the
April 1975 general conference. He says, "The law of sacrifice is that
we are willing to sacrifice all that we have for the truth’s sake--our
character and reputation; our honor and applause; our good name among
men; our houses, lands, and families: all things, even our very lives
if need be." And Joseph Smith said, “A religion that does not require
the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the
faith necessary [to lead] unto life and salvation.” So without
sacrifice we are nothing. Even the small things make a big difference.

Saturday we had the Iditarod ceremonial start that we got to help out
at. If any of you remember this, I got to help out with this last year
and it was my first Saturday in the mission! It was cool because this
year I got a super cool spot where it wasn't as much Manual labor!
Haha but it was a good time and a lot of fun! And it was freezing the
whole time! I've never loved hand and feet warmers so much in my life!

And that was pretty much the coolest stuff that happened this week!
Thank you for all that you do for me!

Cool fact for the week: I hit 19 months on my birthday! Double whammy

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

1 The north anchorage zone!
2 Iditarod crew
3-4 Iditarod!
5- throwing up the U! Shout out to di and Nate!
6 more Iditarod!

Friends and family!

Well it was a good week here in Alaska! We had lots of lessons and lots of fun! 

Well to start, we were driving down northern lights blvd and I glanced to my left at a newly built strip mall type deal and guess what one of the new restaurants in it was!..... WING STOP! They now have a wing stop up here! Haha tender mercies from the lord!

We got to have some really good lessons this week! We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and some of the commandments to ryanne and she is still on track to be baptized! Natasha is doing good and just focusing on reading the Book of Mormon! Mathew and Andrew are doing really good and coming to church! So things are going pretty good here! 

This weekend in downtown anchorage there was a big event called "Fur Rondy". I'm not sure what it really celebrated but there was tons of events and races and a big carnival and some snow sculptures! It was super cool and Saturday we went downtown and checked it out and talked to tons of people. It was cool to get out and hand out tons of pass along cards! I got lots of picture that I will send too.

My little thought for the week comes from 3 Nephi 18:

19 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name;

20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.

21 Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.

Prayer is such a powerful tool and blessing that we are given! Elder Russel M Nelson says something like this, Think about how the creator of all heavens and earth wants you and I to communicate with him personally. Think about how cool that is! So I guess my point is.... pray always! It's a blessing and gift that we need to always use!

And that's this week! Thank you for all that you do for me. I'm grateful for all that you do for me!

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

Friends and family!

Well hello out here! we had an action packed week this week! We had exchanges from Tuesday to Wednesday and I was with elder bacon in the Spanish branch so that was pretty cool. Then we had our zone temple trip on Wednesday and that was a good time of course. Then right after we had a service helping the Iditarod again! We moved tons of bags of dog food onto pallets to be shipped to the different places for the rest stops. It was super fun and well your hands smelt deliciousssss after wards! Haha

Thursday we had our zone conference with Elder Ardern of the seventy and it was awesome! There was a ton of missionaries there. All except for Fairbanks and Juneau! But we learned so much! There is so much that we talked about that I'll just put some of my notes:

• You can't do this on your own... join arms with the lord
• You are here because the lord wants you here
• Its not your baptism... it's the lords
• Be noble in whatever you do
• Educate yourself in whatever professional you may choose
• Wealth isn't important to be married
• You will find who god wants you to be when you labor for your fellowman
• Be a finisher
• You went through the Book but did the Book go through you
• You never get a second chance to make a good first impression
• Today is the day 

And then on Friday night we got transfer calls! And elder vaioa and I we both staying! 

Our investigators are doing good! Ryanne is preparing for the 18th of march still and Andrew and Mathew are working towards a Date! They are all progressing and coming to church! 

And well I think that's about it will all the good stuff this week! Oh and I guess another cool thing is I hit 18 months this week! Haha Thank you for all that you do for me! I love you guys and I'm grateful for ya!

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

We did really bad at having good organized pictures this week but here's our try's! Haha

Temple trip

The district! 

Zone conference

Elder gentry and I 

The service last week moving the hay

Friends and family!

Well hello everyone and happy Valentine's Day!... tomorrow! Haha I
hope you all had a good week! We had a really good filled with lots of
teaching, service, and weather that's too cold for Elder Fawson!

On Thursday we had a huge service for the Iditarod race coming up. We
bagged three semi truck trailers of hay bales and got them on pallets
ready to be shipped for the teams! The race is coming up in march and
if anybody remembers, my first Saturday in the mission field last year
was the Iditarod race so that's pretty cool!

The work is picking up here in the dimond ward! We are now teaching
someone new! So her name is ryanne and she is related to a family in
our ward and they brought her to church and we are starting to do
lessons for her and Sunday night we taught her the restoration and
invited her to be baptized and the family decided on march 18th so
that's super cool! We are still teaching Mathew and Andrew too. They
are doing really good and came to church and well... just trying to
get them to baptism too! Natasha has been really busy with school and
we actually got another referrel from a member in the ward so it's
pretty cool!

We have a huge week coming up so we are really excited! We have
exchanges from Tuesday to Wednesday then our temple trip on Wednesday
and zone conference on Thursday! So pretty cool! Elder hallstrom was
sopposed to come up but got reassigned somewhere else so now elder
Arden of the seventy is coming up! Oh and we get transfer calls this
week too!

And well I think that's it from us! I love and miss you guys!

Mathew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

Woot woot arctic district!

Friends and family!

Well hello out there wherever ye may be! We had a good week with lots
of good stuff!

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Mathew and Andrew about the plan of
salvation at it went super good! We had a little white board and so we
drew it out as we went so it could make more sense. At the end we
invited them to be baptized and it was such a cool moment because it
was one of those silent moments and we could just feel the room and
our chests burning as they thought about it. They said they were gonna
think about it and so we asked them to pray to know if that's what god
wants them to to do at this time. It was such a cool experience.

Friday we had a lesson with Natasha and we didn't know what to teach
her because she had been taught everything before and still had so
many questions so we decided to start at square one and so we re
taught the restoration and it was really cool because we got to
discuss and settle a lot of her concerns and she is slowly learning.
She grew up Jewish so everything is so different to her but it's
coming!

We had zone meeting on Friday and it went really good. We talked about
building up the church and about fulfilling our duties.

I've had a lot of pondering this week. It blows my mind how fast time
comes and goes. I come home in 6 months and I still feel like I'm
fresh in the mission so to speak! It's a cool feeling but a scary one
at the same time! Haha cherish every moment because soon you'll be
doing something else!

Not much other crazy stuff than that! Haha I hope you all have a great week!

"BE BELIEVING. BE HAPPY. DONT GET DISCOURAGED! THINGSNWILL WORK OUT!"
~Gordon B Hinckley

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

Friend and family!

Well hello everyone out in the world! There wasn't much crazy stuff this week so sorry if this is short!

We have 2 new people that we are teaching! Mathew and Andrew! They are the nephews of a family in our ward and just moved up from Samoa. They are 16 and 21 and they love the church and will hopefully be baptized soon! I will keep you updated with them! 

We got to do a zone community service thing this week that was really cool. We basically were the "security" at an event that helped homeless people get some help they needed. There was tons of people! Oh and the best part was we got to wear these super snazzy yellow vests that said "safety patrol" so we felt pretty cool! Haha

We had the worldwide missionary broadcast this week and it was awesome with some big announcements! But I already told you guys about the morning schedule thing and then we don't have as many key indicators! It's pretty cool! 

The thought we have been sharing in our dinners this week is the story of nephi and getting the plates. And how he was commanded to go get them but it wasn't easy for him. It didn't happen the first time and it didn't even happen the second either. And even the third time it wasn't a walk in the park. But he had the attitude of I will go and do and that's how he got through it. The lord gives us trials and tribulations and things we need to do but sometimes it's a lot harder than we thought it would be so we give up or murmur!... but we need the attitude of nephi! So always remember...

"I WILL GO AND DO"

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

P.s. Anchorage hit 40 degrees this week and it felt like summertime haha!

Friends and family!

Well hello everyone! This was probably one of the coldest weeks of my life. In the beginning of the week it was -15 throughout the day and that's fetching cold! Up in fair banks if was -50s so I'm just grateful I'm in anchorage right now! Haha and then it's been snowing the past couple days non stop so we have a ton of snow! There was so much that they actually canceled church on Sunday in the north anchorage stake so that's pretty crazy! But there's an upside with all the snow! Tons and tons of service! All week we've been helping people get unstuck! Haha and then on Saturday we went and shoveled people's driveways and walkways! It was really cool to see how grateful people were!

We got to have a lesson with Natasha this week too! We haven't been able to meet with her for a while now but we finally did. So if you don't remember her she is the one who was Jewish and so she doesn't really believe in Jesus Christ so we are sending her scriptures every day to read! She said she wants to be baptized so that's good! But we have a lot of help from the ward with her so that's a good thing.

We did a lot of visiting less active people this week and a lot of service! I'm thankful for all that you all do for me! Be safe and remember:

"To be on the pathway to perfection we need to have:

1. An attitude of gratitude
2. A longing for learning
3. A devotion to discipline
4. A willingness to work" ~President Thomas S Monson

Love, Elder Tyler John Fawson

P.s. I think I'm sick and need to go back to Samoa! Haha