Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Week 11 - Juan' Baptism and LOTS of pictures!

Juan's Baptism!
Hey everyone!  (LOTS of pictures at the bottom of the post!)

So today has been just an awesome week! Martha got confirmed yesterday and also a young an we've been visiting, Jonathan, that had the cell phone antennae on top of his house, remember? Well we thought he was a less active member, turns our he WASN'T a member! He got baptized 6 years ago but was never confirmed! So we got to confirm him yesterday too! He's been waiting a long time for the gift of the Holy Ghost! haha :)


Martha's Confirmation Sunday
So in visiting Jonathan a lot we got to know his friend, Juan, who is 14 (Jonathan is 16, lives alone). We started teaching Juan little by little and after teaching the Restoration with him at the Visitor's Center we decided to invite him to be baptized. We put a date for February so he could come his 5 times to church that is required here before baptism and he said does it have to be this date? Thinking he wanted to wait, we said no, when do you want to baptized? Can't it be this Sunday? After asking him a few times if he was serious, he said he felt something very strongly that he needed to be baptized and that this was true. Like Becky Laird from the Nauvoo Pageant, he told us how he had a feeling, and if there was a baptismal font full of water right then and there, I'm sure he would have dragged us into it right then and there! We got permission and he was interviewed and Baptized yesterday after the church services! It was such a cool experience! He is a great young man and his parents, although they didn't come to his baptism, supported him enough to sign for him! He is such a cool kid! Also Queztalyn is preparing to be baptized next week, as long as she can get good support from her parents (she's 17), she is so ready to be baptized! We are working with her family too!

I got to go with Elder Rodriguez to the Young Womens New Beginnings after church, and it was so amazing. Martha was up there with them and she shared a very powerful message about Responsibility and her divine nature as a daughter of God. That hit me so  hard, and I was so happy to see her now knowing who she is!

View from the Bus on a P-Day Trip
We had an awesome Family home evening with our investigator Lili and her husband who is a member but hasn't been to church since his early childhood! They were crying and told us that they were having some really hard problems and then we showed up and they have expressed how the Gospel has changed their life and marriage! They have the cutest little kid named Paco that is like 9 months old. Ah. 

I know this is the work of the Lord, and there is so much of it here! The time is going by so fast it's scaring me! I feel like just a week ago I was leaving home and entering the MTC, but I'm about to finish my training in 3 weeks! I hope I can stay with Elder Rodriguez another transfer, we work very well together!

Kelson's Brother Braedon's "Photoshop"
Saying "Happy Birthday!"
I know this is the Church of the Lord. God lives, and he loves every one of us! We are his children, and all he wants is for us to be able to be like him and return to live with him. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and anyone who reads it, ponders the teachings in this book, and asks God with a sincere heart and real intent can know if it's truthfulness too. This book has changed my life, and surely it can change yours. The Savior Jesus Christ lives and through him we can all be made whole. I love you all!

Elder Davies

Elder Rodriguez got Kelson a Birthday cake "Felicades" means
"congratulations" and is also used for occasions like birthdays, etc.

District meeting birthday picture with Kelson (January 13th is his birthday)

These heads are used by street performers. Elder Rodriguez is posing as "Olaf."

Kelson gets a turn being "Olaf" from Frozen

Martha's Baptism last week

Martha's Baptism

Martha's Baptism

A typical street in Mexico City East Mission

P-Day excursion - On the bus on the way to a mountain hike

View from the Bus on the way to a Mountain Hike on P-Day


View from the Bus

View from a tower on top of the Mountain in Mexico City

Tower on Mountain outside of Mexico City

District Elders


Kelson (sitting way too close to the edge of the tower railing!!!)

Looking over Mexico City from the tower on the mountain hike



Looking down from the tower on the Mountain Hike


View of some District Missionaries


Looking over the "Field of Service"

Kelson "Thumbs Up"


Selfie!

Elder Davies & Elder Rodriguez at the Mexico City Temple

Monday, January 19, 2015

Week 10 - Martha's Baptism & Kelson turns 19!

Hey everyone!

I had my first baptism this week and it was incredible! I had the opporunity to baptize Martha who is 13 years old and is so awesome! In December my companion and I found her and her family in the street as we walked by their tienda (little store) and stopped to help them tie up the tarp that covers what they sell.

Martha's Baptism

After Martha's her mom began to cry and she told us that she and her husband had been baptized many years before but felt very neglected and hadn't been to church in years. We came back that night and taught the whole family and that's when we learned Martha had never had the chance to hear the Gospel! We taught her and she was so well prepared and so ready to make this covenant with the Lord. It has been so great to get to know her and her family! My comp and I took turns every day being sick and that was pretty terrible, but we didn't stop working and the Lord truly has blessed our efforts!

I also got older this week! And got to move into our new house that has this incredible new technology hot, RUNNING water! It is soooo cool. Do they have that in the states?? On my birthday we got to eat dinner with a member here named Hugo and that was so cool. He is a great guy and has his own business selling auto fasteners, so I had fun talking to him about that. My companion bought me a cake and suprised me with it during District Meeting and then they all song a song I had literally NEVER heard before that I guess was Happy Birthday but wow I never asked...I probably should do that!

We got to wash our laundry at a members and hang our clothes on the roof top and wow the rooftops in some places here (including this place) are soooo cool and I just wanted to go Prince of Persia on that things so bad...but I didn't which is probably really really good!
Kelson Hiking on P-Day
Today for P-day we got permission to go and hike the San Andres Hill here in our mission and oh man was that cool! It was about a 2 hour hike up and it is the exact opposite there than the city which was so nice! I miss the open space of Southern Utah so that was so nice to get to spend some time in nature! Nature is beautiful everywhere. At the top of the hill there is a giant tower and you can see just millions (literally) of houses and it is just breathtaking. I definitely want to get to go back there soon!

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! I wish I could get back to each and every one of you but you know how little time we have :) Sure do love you all! Pray for Queztalyn, she is preparing to be baptized and I hope she can in the next couple weeks! Also Miguel, Immanuel, Dulce, David, and Juan. 

Elder Davies

Monday, January 12, 2015

Week 9 - I'M IN MEXICO!! Like, I live here! How nuts is that?

View from Elder Davies' Apartment Window
Hey all you lovely people!

I'M IN MEXICO!! Like, I live here! How nuts is that?! Like sometimes I'm just like walking down the street and I just start laughing because this place is awesome! It is literally a world apart from Utah!! (Okay not literally a world, like half a continent is all).

So a little info on our investigators, we have a lot here but the hard thing is getting them to come to church because they work and its like a 20 minutes walk from our area in Lago. We were pretty disappointed last week when all of our investigators said they couldn't come so we kept going to everyone's houses before church inviting everyone but no one was there!! I felt like we should go see this one lady and invite here and we did and guess what!!! She didn't come! But that was okay, because we had gone to see her we had to take a taxi to church and we talked to the taxi driver, he said he had always wondered about our church, we invited him, and he stayed for sacrament meeting! And his name is Alfredo! The Lord works in mysterious ways and when we are
working we are blessed :)

Preparation Day Trip

This week in church we had 5 investigators, so that was great! We found this guy and his sister, and also their family, and they are super awesome! He (Immanuel) is super interested and has so many good questions and he is so awesome! We put a baptismal date for him and his two younger siblings for the 8th of February and I know he can be ready by then to be baptized! The rest of our investigators are just kinda waiting on a couple lessons and times that they came to church. They have a minimum of 5 times to church unless we get permission from President, so it can be a long process, but we are making progress!

I gave my first talk in church yesterday! I wrote a little outline thing but then I just didn't really follow it at all because I realized this is what I talk about all day now hahaha it was awesome!

So another one of our investigators is married to a guy who was baptized like 15 years ago but is less active, but he is sooo cool! He makes like professional, huge like costumes! Like no costumes...like suits! Like a giant Olaf! Or the Minions! They are SOO cool! I'll get you some pictures of those :) His name is Pepe and is married to Liliana (Our investigator).

Street Performers (P-Day)
Today we had a zone activity and played some games, that was awesome. After we went to Walmart and Demons by Imagine Dragons was on and that was cool! They sure have made it big, little band from Vegas who have a couple mormons! Also there was this giant curved 4K TV and it was showing places in Utah as we walked by and that blew my mind. Wow family you live in one of the most beautiful places in the world! Go outside for me ;)

Also in the Visitor's Center they have a video about a family and it is filmed in St George in what I think is Red Cliff's so that is always super fun :) It's a nice little piece of home when we go there :)

Missing friends back home
So the coolest thing I saw today was a lady with a cane thing (like a shepherd!) and she was walking through these treess and behind her were like 6 little dogs all with their own little sweaters and she was calling them and she was following. I was kinda confused and still am but it was really cool/weird! You herd those puppies!!

Well we still haven't moved to our new house, waiting on a truck to help us out in the ward, hopefully soon :) I love you all and thank you for the Birthday wishes!! Make good choices and the Church is True :)

Elder Davies

Mexico City Street on Preparation Day
Street Performer in Mexico City


Tourist Area of Mexico City on Preparation Day

Looking at pictures (then going to work :)
Splits with another Elder?



View outside Temple Square in Mexico City






Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Week 8 - A New House! Water Everyday! No Bucket showers!

Hey all you people that I love!!

Wow things are just so great here! I was just on the metro today coming back from a lunch we had with some other Elders and I realized that I can speak Spanish...like I can understand what people are saying and respond and teach and everything! There are some moments and specific conversations where I get lost...but like oh my goodness I speak Spanish!! When did that happen? Wow the Church is true!!

Elder Rodriguez & Elder Davies at Christmas
So here on the 6th of January they celebrate the 3 Kings or Wisemen bringing the gifts to the Child Jesus. I didn't really know how big a deal this was until after Christmas I realized Christmas didn't stop...and everyone was still selling everything and partying but now things have slowed down! So guess what the 3 Kings brought me?? A RUBIK'S CUBE! And a house. (Note from Greg... they didn't get to move into the new house as of 1/13/14... waiting for a member with a truck to move the beds and stuff!) So the other Elders in our ward both were changed to other areas (we had changes on Tuesday, that's why Pday is today) because they having to close some areas and open others because of how many missionaries we have or whatever, so now we are working in the area of the other missionaries (which is very nice) and also in our area. We are going to move to their house! And guess what? THEY HAVE WATER! EVERY DAY!  And  you aren't gonna believe this, but they have a boiler too. You have to turn on the shower for 30 seconds and off for a minute to keep it warm, but I am so grateful! Wow I'm stoked. Also they have a stove so I'm gonna cook some stuff! It's been hard because we have one electric boiler in our old house and we use it heat up the water for the showers, so I hardly ever have time to cook eggs or pancakes (they call them hot cakes here because why??). So guess what I did today. I went to Sam's Club and bought my comp and I a membership and a GIANT bag of Hot Cakes. I'm so excited.

So because the water is like poisonous we drink water out of this giants jugs called Garrafones and they cost like under a dollar to switch and we have four so we are switching them like every 2 weeks or so...and right now we have an investigator who works at a water filling place so we got to go help here clean and fill them which is so sweet! The water is pretty clean, so I'm all for that.

We had a blast on New Years! We had to be home at 9PM and go to bed but still it was so fun! We ate with a member and it was SUPER good. I was thinking about my  year (2014) and what I accomplished and what I wished I had have done...I graduated High School and went on a Mission. I did a lot of other cool, fun things too, but really I mean that's a pretty good year right? Then I thought about 2015! I get to dedicate this WHOLE year to serving the Lord. I only get part of 2014 and 2016, but 100% of 2015 I will be helping others come unto Christ! How cool is that? I am so excited.

Our investigators are progressing and we are searching for new ones, we are working hard to kinda raise this area from the dead and hopefully it will be self-sustaining soon and when we leave. I hope I can stay here for a long time, there is so much work to do! Pray for Alma and Omar, still have troubles with their family not wanting them to be baptized.

Mexico City Temple is in the Mexico City East Mission Boundry
So Meet the Mormons came out in Spanish in the Visitor's Center so we were SOOOO excited to take our investigators there and then Salt Lake called and said don't show it yet! AHH!! I guess it's gonna come out in theaters here so that's cool!
I just love the food here so much. I'm gonna get so fat because I am eating so much and and sometimes it's so good I can't stop. I had gorditas for the first time and I'm gonna turn into a gordita because of them. On Saturday we had breakfast at a restaurant called California which has a sweet Buffet. It's like a Village in, Mexican Style. But they had hot cakes, so that was cool!

The ONLY thing I love more here than the food is the people who make it for me. The people here are so giving and loving and I love it! Even people who really aren't interested in our message offer food and drinks! Such great people I am so blessed to be able to serve. I'm learning so much every day and wow the time is flying! I only have 6 more weeks of my training! Elder Rodriguez is great. He was the Assistant when I got here so he knows how to work. I think we work well together, we don't waste time and we can also have some fun!
Sunset over Mexico City!

Well until Monday my friends and family, I love you all and I know this Church is true! The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I encourage you all to study and ponder in the teachings of Christ found in the book!

Elder Davies