Week 91 - Mission Leadership Council & Angeles Baptism

Aug 8, 2016:  Hello friends and family!

Wow, what a week it has been! I haven't even had a moment to breathe yet!

This week we finished our companionship exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I learned a lot from the missionaries we were with. I have realized that we have some of the best missionaries in the whole world right here in our mission! I'm so grateful for them!

On Friday we had our Mission Leadership Council and it was SO awesome! We had a good opportunity to share some wonderful ideas ans learn more about the importance of Ward Council in the church. I know that this church is true and that it's organization is PERFECT! The Lord's model of councils is an incredible way to help all his children return to him.

On Sunday morning our Mission President showed up at our chapel because we has a reunion (reunion in Spanish = meeting) with him and our Bishop after our services and he told me he has just spoken with someone I taught from my last ward who was about to be baptized. He had done her interview and she expressed her desire that I baptize her so I got to go back after church and see that baptism and participate. The sister who was baptized is name is Angeles and she was baptized with her daughter Estrella. It was a WONDERFUL and tearful reunion as she expressed the most sincere gratitude I have ever heard in my life. She and her daughter had been so changed by the Gospel and I am just grateful to have been able to be a (small) part in the process. The baptism was FULL...actually so full that they had to have the actual program in the room where they have sacrament meeting. It was WONDERFUL! I have never seen two people so happy in my entire life!

Today was a good P-day! We received the new Senior Couple that is going to be working with us here in the mission and we are so excited! They are Elder and Sister Sosa and they are from Argentina originally but have been living in Australia! Wow! We are excited for them!

Later in the afternoon we went and played touch football with about 20 missionaries and the mission President´s son, Andrew. It was AWESOME! We picked a perfect, cool day and it started lightly raining which was even better. I am SO sore, but it was absolutely worth it! I haven´t had that much fun playing sports for a long time!

Things are going great here. My companion and I are working hard and we are seeing some good results! Our ward and stake are also starting to work hard, we are very excited for that.

I know this is the work of the Lord. I know that His plan is perfect for all of us and I know that if we do all we can to keep His commandments we will find true happiness and peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come.

With Love,

Elder Davies

Week 90 - No time to sleep! Closest ever lived to a Temple... Even in South Jordan!

Hey friends and family!

It has been an incredibly busy week and P-day and EVERYTHING! There´s just no time to even sleep! I LOVE it!

This week we were looking for a lot of people and found few, but little by little we are getting new investigators! I love being so close to the Temple every day! It´s a beautiful thing living so close. I realized something...this is the CLOSEST I have ever resided to the temple EVER! Even in South Jordan I was still about 15 minutes walking from the temple! Wow! Who would have thought!

Our Mission President in LDS
Pamphlet :)

So we are teaching a man named Leon (that means Lion!) and he is wonderful! Due to an accident 6 years ago on an oil rig he is blind. It has been amazing to see how he gets everything done and manages to do all he needs to. I never have realized how much of a blessing it is to see. It´s just one of a million things we just always take for granted. Leon came with us to church yesterday and he love it! He is so receptive to the Holy Spirit and that has really helped him. We are going to get him the Book of Mormon CDs this week so he can start listening to the Book of Mormon and receive a witness that it´s true.

On another note, my mission President is famous! We got some copies of the new missionary pamphlets (but only in English haha!), and he is in them with his wife and his two kids! Some missionaries were flipping around one a couple days after he got here and told us he was in there! I´ll attach the picture from my phone!

This week I didn´t get to take a lot of pictures, I will try next week to get some more pictures! I love you all so much and thank you for the prayers and the emails! I appreciate the support!

Love,

Elder Davies

Week 89 - "Bienvenido!" - Day of Rest and Tithing talk... twice?

July 25, 2016
Dearest Friends and Family,

What a wonderful and busy week it has been! We did interchanges with three of the Zone Leader companionships and it was great! Our new way of doing interchanges is having both Zone Leaders come to our area and we split up, work they day there, then all sleep in our house. It has been a great experience to get to learn A LOT from all these missionaries! I´ve enjoyed them a lot!

We went with a referral from the Visitors´ Center and he is SO receptive and wonderful! When we knocked on his door he let us in RIGHT away and took us out to his garden (NO one has a garden here...). His name is Pedro! He shared with us how he had decided to go to the Visitors´ Center after visiting the hospital that is right next to the Temple and he loved what he learned there. The Sisters who gave him the tour sent him an email with some Mormon Messages to watch and he said that one night he was watching them and, after he finished, went to go to sleep. As he was walking down the hall to his room he heard a woman´s voice that said, "Bienvenido!" ("Welcome!") He took that as a good sign! I think the Sisters of our ward might continue teaching him but we will keep you updated!

David was confirmed this week and it was wonderful! He was very excited and has been sharing the Gospel with his mom and his niece (who he brought with him to church!).

My companion and I got to speak on Sunday and when we showed up we realized that Elder Benjamin De Hoyos (Seventy and our Area President) was there presiding so he got to hear our talks. The only problem was they hadn´t assigned us talks so I just decided to speak on the Day of Rest or Tithing. That became a problem when the first two sisters that spoke got up and spoke about the Day of Rest and Tithing...awkward. I spoke about repentance and I think it was okay! President De Hoyos came up and congratulated us after so that was cool. I have actually met him a few times before and so had my companion so we weren´t really even nervous, but it was a cool experience for sure!

Well folks, that´s all for this week! We are working hard to build up this area and find the Lord´s chosen to teach. We know they are out there, the trick is just FINDING them. Please pray for my companion and I to be inspired to be able to find those people!

I love you all!

Elder Davies

Week 88 - American Companion - My 1st! David's Baptism

July 18, 2016 Hi there loved ones!

I always say my weeks are very busy....but this was BY FAR the busiest week of my mission and I have loved every minute of it! I´m all settled in in my new house and we got all the things we were missing today in Walmart so I´m excited!

We had a lot of meetings this week (almost every day), and there are a lot of changes happening in the mission. I´m excited. Everyone is I think!

So let me tell you a little more about my companion! He is american! He´s from Texas actually! He´s a really great guy and we get along really well. English is hard. I´m learning how to pray in English again, so this is a good thing!

On Saturday we arranged a visit with the Riddle family and a non-member lady they brought (she is teaching English here in Mexico with Mariah and Kayla). Elder Tribett and his companion went to teach them and we had been looking for a triple combination in English and I found one in my new house while they were in the tour so I took it to the offices and Elder Tribett came and got it! He came with his companion and Brother Riddle so I got to see him and take a picture! Fun stuff! Nice to see familiar faces.

Yesterday David was baptized! He is a great guy and is just so excited. He will be a wonderful member and I´m excited to get to know him better and work with him. My companion baptized him and I baptized an investigator of the Sisters, Leonor. Leonor is an elderly lady who can´t read or right but she is WONDERFUL! My companion and I baptized her together and we had her on a seat and COULDN´T quite get him under...but we ended up just kinda holding her in the water and then baptizing her again! The water was SO cold! We felt so bad but we had problems with the boiler. She was great about it though!

Today we had our Zone activity and it was a lot of fun! We did a relay race mixed with a scavenger hunt type thing that was very fun! And then said goodbye to the Anthonys! They have been our mission secretaries and have been SO wonderful! They have taken great care of us and Sister Anthony´s American food has been something that has really made life a lot better! They will be missed!

Thanks for all your love and support. I appreciate the prayers. I can feel them all the way here in Mexico and we are seeing the blessings!

Love,
Elder Davies

 

Week 87 - Transfers & leaving Pradera - New Calling as Assistant

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has a been a very busy busy week! I had to take my P-day today because we had a lot of things we had to do yesterday after I was changed from my old area. I was really sad to leave Pradera after being there for 6 months (the longest I've been in an area!), but I´m excited for my new area.

On Saturday night I got our transfer calls and President Naumann told me he wanted me to be his assistant. I was so nervous I couldn't really sleep for a long time but I´m doing lots better now! My companion is Elder Woodward who flew out to Mexico with me and he is MY FIRST AMERICAN COMPANION!! I´m really excited. I´m BEYOND excited. I think that means I´m going to get to learn ENGLISH again! That will be useful.

Yesterday we took the missionaries that were going home to the mission house and then today early in the morning we went to the airport. I had gotten to know some of those missionaries really well so it was a sad thing to see them go but that´s just all part of this mission thing!

I´m excited for me new area because it´s in my old zone (Aragón). I have now been in 3 of the 6 wards here in this stake! HAHA! They are really getting to know me around here. I´m back in front of the temple again so that is a wonderful blessing.

The new President is incredible. He is so spiritual and has the most wonderful way of teaching and explaining and I am excited to learn a lot from him and from Elder Woodward.

I love you all and I hope you have an excellent week! Happy Birthday Gentry on Sunday!!! I can´t be there but I´ll be there in spirit!

Love,
Elder Davies