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

Week 67 - Dumbledore & more Luchador pics

More Luchador Photos - They are teaching a family who's
dad is a legit Luchador fighter. HAHA!

Hey my beloved family and friends!

I´m in Mexico. Just in case y´all forgot about that...sometimes I do then I walk outside! HAHA! I love Mexico!

This week was a good week, not a lot of news. We contacted a guy who said the missionaries taught him before but we didn't really believe him...we asked what their names were and he said, "Ohh....one was named Peter.....and the other one was named John." We kinda just started laughing because we thought he was joking but he was trying to be serious haha! And as we left there was a guy in a window waving at us and he looked JUST like Dumbledore but he was just horrifically drunk but we told him to come down and had a very good chat with him. He kept laughing and saying the craziest thing but he was a nice guy...we´re gonna go try to find him not drunk because I like him a lot!

We had divisions on Tuesday, I went with on of District Leaders (Elder Rodríguez) and we got to have some fun! It´s pretty weird because they attend the church building from my first area, Bosques, so it´s weird when we have to go back there...But someone gave us some cake and we ate a little bit and it was Coffee Cake #Whoops. We didn't finish it. :o

Today while I was washing laundry I saw a guy puking in the street so we took him so water and some napkins...we talked to him for a bit and he was going to try and get back with his wife and he had been drinking...but after all he was a good guy but didn't want to listen to us...but that was a random thing that happened like a half hour ago.

Well I love you all so much! I hope you have a GREAT week! Sorry I didn't take any pictures this week, next week I´ll take lots! We have transfers next week so I won´t write until Wednesday!

Love,

Elder Davies

Week 66 - Tennis rules anyone? Wings and Luchador Masks :)

Preparation Day - Elder Sazo's Birthday Tennis Party!

Hola mis queridos familiares y amigos! (Hello my beloved family & friends)

¿Cómo están? This week was AWESOME! Today was Elder Sazo´s Birthday (he's in my Zone) so we played Tennis and ate WINGS!! AMERICAN WINGS! We went to a Wingstop they just opened here by Elder Sazo´s Church building and they were DELICIOUS! I definitely am going to go back there a lot...

Elder Sazo's Birhday Party - Wings!

I haven´t played Tennis in FOREVER and no one really remembered how to play so we kinda had to make up rules as we went, but I think in the end we turned out playing somewhat how we should play...the point is, it was lots of fun!

I got to do divisions with two Elders this week, with Elder Guerra (the Assistant) and Elder García, the companion of one of our district leaders. They are both from a State called Chihuahua, which I came to find out is the Texas of Mexico in size and country music. Elder García knows who Alan Jackson is!!! WHAT?! I just about wanted to start crying when I found that out! And Speaking of Texas, the Mares family that was baptized last week has a friend visiting them that grew up in Texas! His parents were from Mexico but she lived all his life there and now is retired so he bought some land down here and is here half the year. I love Texan accents!!

A family they are teaching is a "Luchador" and has these
fun masks. His son is wearing one behind them.

And speaking of the Mares family, they were all confirmed this week! We also got 6 people to church, all of which are progressing a lot so we are excited for them!

The family of the luchador is progressing a lot! We went with them and he let me put on some luchador masks!! That was crazy!! The pictures are of me with Elder García and Axel, the luchador´s little Kid. They all came to church even though Fernando (the luchador) didn´t get home from work until 5:30AM and we stopped by at 7 to go with them! YES!

Well, everything is great here in Mexico City! Just living the dream and learning lots! Thanks for all the love and support, I wish you all the very best this week!

Love,

Elder Davies

Week 65 - Familia Mares & Allende Baptisms!

Familia Mares baptism!

Hey Everyone!

This week was an incredible week! The Mares family was baptized yesterday after our church services and it was awesome! My companion and I bought water dye stuff to make the water look really blue like in all the pictures and it looked so cool!! Tried to get a picture but it doesn´t do it justice!! That´s a fast fix for gross local water!

Mexican Luchador from the web

My companion baptized Jose, I baptized Claudia, and the Bishop baptized the two little girls, Daniela and Michelle. They were all so excited!! They were beautiful baptisms.

We just started teaching a family that the missionaries were visiting a while ago and they are so great! The dad is a luchador, like straight up Nacho Libre. It´s him, his wife, and his little boy named Axel. By little boy I mean 8 years old, you all know what that means! We are working with them to be baptized this month, pray for Fernando, Silvia, and Axel please!

We had a zone class this week that was really awesome! We got everyone pumped on how we are gonna have a lot of success if we are obedient. Obedience gives us faith, faith makes miracles. That is what wer are going for!

Well the church is true I love you all so much!

Elder Davies

P.S. Last week Luis and Gloria from Allende (my last area) were baptized! I sent pictures, hope you enjoy them! Love you all!

Week 64 - The Church is True! And so is Marriage :)

Mom & Dad got Married!

Hey Everyone!

We got the Mares Family married! Should be able to baptize them this weekend or the next, we are working on that!

Today we had our Zone Activity, lots of fun!

Sorry there´s no time, the church is true! Love you all!

Elder Davies

Week 63 - I have my own Bathroom. I´M THE KING OF MEXICO!!!

New Area, New Companion!

Hello my beloved friends and family!

So sorry about the short email last week, I´ll try to make up for that this week!

So my new area is in a ward called Pradera in the Vergel Stake. My ward boundaries actually touch my old ward, Allende where the Temple is, but on the southwest side. I´m still about 10 minutes in a bus to get to the temple, but still REALLY close! On the other side of the highway to my east is my first zone, Plazas!! My first ward was Bosques in Anahuac and the ward below us actually shares a chapel with them! Fun to be so close to everything! 

The house is actually a really nice house. It´s on the second floor, we have our own little entrance and little staircase! The only problem was it´s just really got a lot of junk, dirty, etc. Actually my companion and I cleaned the house the WHOLE P-day except for when we went to shop at a store owned by WalMart called Bodega Aurrerá. We bought a bunch of cleaning supplies and went AT it! The house is actually looking great. It has 3 bathrooms, two of them have showers! I HAVE MY OWN BATHROOM I´M THE KING OF MEXICO!!! I feel so rich. We need to clean the bathrooms though...I've been working on that! The house has a little kitchen, a dining room (both with really ugly old tile) and a study room, 2 bedrooms each with a bathroom and a little bathroom in the hall. It´s bigger than my other apartment for sure! Just a little old...but I´ve got the bedroom feeling like home now!

My last house was one of the only houses in the mission with a laundry machine, so we rent one here. I didn't know that was possible, so I´m glad I found out now! We call a guy and he comes by at 7AM ish in the morning and will come back for it the next day. It´s just a round one we have to full up and drain with a house, but it is great! We pay 50 pesos for 24 hours with that bad boy so we are looking at $2.50 USD. WORTH IT!

Now let me tell you a little about my new COMPANION! Elder Pérez has almost 9 months in the mission and is from Jalisco! We realized that he and I have been in 4 zones and they are the SAME zones! And in two of the zones we have been in the same area! He was in Azteca, Aragón before I got there with the Elder I trained, Elder Arenas, and we are in this ward together! Oh, speaking of Elder Arenas, he trained an Elder named Elder Hernández and then Elder Hernández is training now! I´M A GREAT GRANDPA IN THE MISSION! I feel so blessed. I will maybe someday take a picture with all my posterity! (For those that may not understand, they have a tradition in the mission that you have a "child" when you train a new missionary. When he trains a new missionary, they you are a Grandpa, etc)

Back to Elder Pérez, he is the best! He had an accident a while back so he had leg surgery and the doctor messed up so he only has about 60% rotation in one of his legs, but he works hard! We have been working like crazy here in Vergel.

So we found a book (the previous) Elders left in the house and it had this really cool idea about how to get INTO houses when you knock on them using a 10-question survey and being really bold! Well, it WORKS! We knocked a door and said hi to the guy and explained we wanted to hear his opinion on some questions we had in a survey. He said yes so I said, "Okay, can we come in real quick?" We were so confident he just...let us in! So we got in, did the survey, and then just jumped into the first lesson with a prayer! And he accepted a baptismal date for the 21st of February! We invited him to church and he came at 8AM in the morning in the FREEZING cold! Stayed all three hours and loved it! His name is Sergio, so pray for Sergio that he can keep progressing!!

We are teaching a family called the Mares family and they are ready to be baptized! The parents need to get married though. Pray for them and I´m gonna see if I can pull some strings and get them married this weekend. Anything´s possible in Mexico! They are a Mom a Dad and 3 little girls, two of them are old enough to be baptized!

We had the chance to listen to the World-Wide Missionary Training this week which was INCREDIBLE! I learned a lot from our inspired leaders!

I love you all so much! I know that God lives and that he loves you, too. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that The Holy Spirit will testify of that to whichever person honestly seeks to know God. I love a scripture in John 17:3:

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, 
whom thou hast sent."

Love,

Elder Davies

Elder Perez & Davies - Ready for action!