Week 72 - Baptisms, KelsEn cookies, and beta mission in Mexico for iPads. YEAH!

Kelsen (altered by Dad to Kelson) Cookies. YUM!

Hello friends and family!

This week has been ABSOLUTELY crazy! I LOVED it!! I wish I could tell you all the happened...let me give it a shot!

Service Project - breaking off cement blocks from a house

On Monday my companion and I did service at a recent convert´s house breaking off blocks of her castle-shaped house! Apparently she had problems with it because her house was going to a be a Preschool but they ended up changing their mind and they were getting hassles for it...anyways, long story short we took some sledge hammers to it and it was LOTS of fun!

On Tuesday I went on divisions with Elder Duran and it was great! He got a package from home with some butter cookies and guess what the brand name was! Kelsen! That´s SO close...Some of the highlights of those divisions were when we asked a drunk guy how he was feeling and he said "great" and got up and started dancing to prove it...and when the boiler in Elder Duran´s house caught on fire. We´re getting that fixed, don´t you worry, Mom!

Boiler at one of the Elder's apartment catches on fire when
it turns on. OOPS!  Getting that fixed :)

Saturday was one of the BUSIEST days of my WHOLE mission. We started the day getting everything ready for Sergio´s baptism at 4PM and then had an English class at 11AM. From 11AM till our lunch we had to do 6 baptismal interviews, I got to do 5! After eating, we went back to the baptism which was AWESOME!

Sergio's Baptism!

I got to baptize Sergio and he was so excited. His Mom had a problem years ago and had her leg removed and now is in a wheel-chair. She hasn't been excited to talk to us or anything, but when Sergio was going out the door to his baptism she asked if she could go with him wherever it was he was going and he said sure! She got there and Sergio told us she didn't know why she was there and what was happening...but she figured it out and was a good sport about it! She actually came to church on Sunday when Sergio was confirmed! I also got to confirm him!

After the baptism we did divisions with Elder Rodríguez and Elder Sazo to be able to get all the baptismal clothing for the 6 people that were going to be baptized Sunday morning. We had to do a lot of running around and going to other wards but everything worked out!

Elizabeth's Baptism by her cousin Luis who
is heading on a mission!

Now remember Elizabeth? She has been wanting to be baptized but she didn't have permission from her parents. Her uncle and aunt and cousins are active members so they went to talk with her dad. Her Aunt called me right before Sergio´s Baptism and told me that she had permission and she wanted to be baptized on Sunday!! Luckily Elder Rodríguez was near by, so he came and did her baptismal interview!

She was baptized at 3PM yesterday (Sunday) by her cousin, Luis who is preparing to go on a mission! The coolest part was not only did Elizabeth´s parents give her permission, they CAME to her baptism! It was a beautiful experience!

Elder Oaks is coming!

Okay and BIG NEWS! We just received the news that Elder Dallin H. Oaks will be coming to our mission on April 16th to speak to us! And on the 17th of April he will speak to our Stake in Stake Conference! WOW!

AND OTHER BIG NEWS! We were just approved (our mission) to be the beta mission for iPads in Mexico. They have had the permission for a few months now, but they are rolling it out now! So....I´M WRITING THIS FROM MY IPAD!! My companion and I have both have 2 new iPad Minis! It´s pretty awesome, actually!

Well that´s all for this week, Happy April Fools Day this week (that should explain the iPads). I love you all!!

-Elder Davies

 

 

Week 71 - Giving a "High Council" Talk and "That's not my truck!"

Outside a random store - showing off his new tie (Preparation Day)

Hello Friends and Family!

This week was really busy, but nothing too out of the ordinary!

Sergio is doing REALLY good, we had a couple really great lessons with him this week with members that came with us and this week the Bishop is going to come and visit him with us. He is making lots of good changes and keep praying he can live the Word of Wisdom! He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, really he just needs to meet his goals for the Word of Wisdom and TO THE WATER!!

Elizabeth is doing great, but we need your prayers! She wants to be baptized this week but she will need her dad´s signature because she is 17 still...pray for them that everything can work out well! We hope that within the next couple of weeks we can get a signature and get things going! She is just so great!

Yesterday in church about 5 minutes before sacrament meeting began my bishop came up behind me and said, "The high councilman that was going to speak didn't show...could you and your companion give two talks that are about 10 minutes long?" I love being a missionary because we are just ALWAYS ready and excited to give talks! I talked about the Day of Rest and Fasting and fast offerings, it was pretty fun!

Last night we had a mission devotional for two stakes given by our Mission President. It wasn't really announced anywhere so only about 20 people showed up but it was a great presentation about the Book of Mormon! Our President is awesome!

On Saturday we did service and helped a family move from the ward next to our to our ward. The other Elders also helped us, so when we got there the brother showed us the big bags of stuff we were gonna move so we carried it out of the house to the truck that was outside and loaded them in the back. It was getting kinda full and the brother came out and said, "Wow, nice truck! Is that yours?!" We got a good laugh and kept working. Then we realized that the truck literally was not his and he was not joking. So we ran out and took everything out HAHA! He was like wait that´s not your truck?! So guess what we did? We moved everything WALKING!! Luckily it was only about half a mile or so but the stove was pretty difficult. We took a lot of bags, beds, etc. over to the new house. The stove weighed just under 4 trillion pounds and we had it in an old shopping cart and the four of us pushed it over to the the new house then hauled up three stories HAHA! It was a good work out for sure! #Mexico

Well I didn't get a chance to really take any pictures in the week so I just took one outside a random store to show off my American tie because do you know what day it is today? P-DAY!! #Merica

I love you all and I KNOW this church is true! I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves each and every one of us! Have a GREAT and make good choices!

Love,

Elder Davies

 

Looking down at his tie from above :)

 

Weeks 69 & 70 (lost a letter) Surya Baptism & Canada Connection!

Kelson's Zone

Hey Family and Friends!

So I realized that my letter last week didn't get sent somehow (and it is lost now)! That´s too bad so I will just have to recap the last two weeks!

Surya's Baptism!

Last week Surya was baptized! Surya is 9 years old and her Mom and Grandma are members. She has been coming with her Grandma to church and she loves it! After her baptisms she gave her testimony and the next day when she was confirmed (which was Fast Sunday) she gave her testimony in church! She is just the best!

Last Monday we had our Zone Activity and we went to the Aragón Forrest that is right by the Temple and ate Pizza! I love Pizza. Lots of fun being out in nature kinda even though it still smells like city!

Zone Picture on Preparation Day in Aragon Forrest

Aragón Forrest (Park)  in the middle of Mexico City

This week was great!! Sergio came to church and he was all clean cut! Got a hair cut and shaved! We didn't even say anything to him! And he came in a white shirt and dress pants and shoes! He just needs a tie! I think I´m gonna give him one! We took him to the Visitors´ Center on Sunday after church and he is doing so awesome! The Sisters asked him what he thought was the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he said, "Well, I think it's so that we can change and eventually reach eternal life, and all that is thanks to the lost church of Jesus Christ that was restored by Joseph Smith." We had some return missionaries with us and they were like WWHHHAAT?!?! He is just the best!

Elizabeth is also progressing a lot. Her parents are from another faith, so there is some pressure there.  But she´s doing great!

Random story, I was talking to a brother in my ward and he told me he knew English because he lived in Canada! I asked him where and he said Alberta and I asked if he had ever heard of a little town called Magrath (Where Kelson's dad was raised and went to High School) and he said he lived there for almost a year working for a member of the church (Blaine Norton - passed away in 1998)! He wasn't, at this time, a member of the church, but that brother (Blaine Norton) had a great influence on him! How cool is that? It´s a small world when you´re a Mormon! (See note below)

I love you all and I know this church and this work is true! Jesus is the Christ!

Love,

Elder Davies

(Excerpt from a note from Kelson's Grandma Olsen who still lives in Magrath Alberta, Canada. She called Claire Norton - Blaine's son - and got more information about the brother referenced above: "Blaine Norton's son is Dr. Claire Norton.  Claire and his wife Gail knew and remembered Sixto very well.  Claire was there when the Canadian Labour Department worker brought Sixto to their home. Sixto had been working in the California farm produce fields where Sixto indicated that the workers had not been treated as well. Blaine told him they didn't work Sat. or Sunday.  This sounded wonderful to Sixto! He learned they were Mormons. Sixto's children attended a Mormon run school in Mexico apparently. His time in Magrath was only for 8 months and he was supposed to leave by Christmas, but Blaine kept him on till then even though there wasn't much work for him at that time of year here.  They knew he needed the work and thought a lot of him. Blaine and Phoebe  made him a place to live in their basement.  They said Sixto was a willing and hard worker and did a lot around the place even though he couldn't run any of the tractors or machines.  Claire said he saw Sixto every day and I think that's because it was Claire who owned land and some of the operation and his dad ran it.  Claire was thrilled that Sixto had joined the church and wondered how long he has been a member. He also wanted to know if any of his 7 children had joined.)

Week 68 - Survived transfers and LDS Art

Hey friends and family!

So we had transfers this week and GUESS WHAT!!!!

Nothing happened! Almost nothing! Only one sister left the zone because her companion is training a new sister! We are all really excited we get to stay together another cycle! So that means I am going to be another cycle with Elder Pérez!

So fun news! In my first area we found a less-active family and they had an AWESOME son named Victor that baptized his niece right after I left...well, he´s going on a mission! He emailed me last week and he is heading the the Mexico Torreón mission! WAHOO!! I am super excited for him!

Temple Visitor Center

Last Monday we went with the Mares family to the Visitors´ Center and that was AWESOME! Sent a few pictures! Little Ingrid is just so adorable!

On Friday we had a ward Family Home Evening and it was great! A couple weeks ago we found a family of 25 ish and about half of them are members, the other half are kids, about 6 or 7 of them aren't members yet because their family went less-active 11 years ago...well we got like half of them to the Family Home Evening! There are so many kids in that house. Like so many. And I made the mistake of showing them the magic trick my Dad would always do where he makes his ring disappear and they all think I´m magic so I have to do lots of magic every time I go...By the way, thanks for that magic trick dad! I have baffled many, young and old!

Okay so the latest news is I thing I MAY be part Mexican. Like lineage. I realized that while we were eating on Sunday with a family and we were talking about how Utah was part of Mexico for a while when the saints arrived...I think 2 years? I didn't pay too much attention in History class but I think the whole Guadalupe Hidalgo thing went down like 1848 or something just a couple short years after the Saints got there...well the things is I don´t know if my ancestors that were pioneers were born between 1846 and 1848 but now I´m REALLY curious because if so I´m gonna start telling everyone, "No I´m from the U.S. but my great, great, great grandparents are from Mexico!" I actually told that to a drunk guy yesterday and he thought that was pretty neat...I hope I wasn't lying! Okay maybe none of my ancestors were born there but they at least lived there so I can say my ancestors moved to Mexico and they never moved away again...There it is! Braedon, there´s your homework get back to me!

Well today was a good day! We went to Sam´s club and bought some food and ate a Dominos Pizza, so all is well!

I love you all so much! Have a GREAT week!

Love,

Elder Davies

P.S. If you look closely (at the picture below) you will notice Greg Olsen´s work of John baptizing Jesus on the store´s banner. (It is fun to see LDS) Gospel Art printed out (usually heavily distorted size wise, etc.), (posted) on a random store with food, milk, snacks, etc. HAHA #MexicanMoment