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!

Week 62 - Transferred to Pradera. Rootbeer Birthday Cake? 20 years old!

Lunchtime on Kelson's Birthday - Happy 20th, Kelson!

Hey Everyone!!

Rootbeer Can Birthday Cake :)

So I got transferred! More details coming next week, had LOTS of things to do this week!

I´m in an Area called Pradera in the Vergel Stake and I´ll have the chance as serving as Zone Leader with my new companion Elder Perez from Jalisco, Mexico!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes, I love you all dearly! I got to celebrate my birthday with a cake Elder Nobmann bought me in District Class and Root Beer Floats with my companion!! We drank 24 cans of root beer in 6 days. #BestBirthdayEver

The church is true, I love you all so much!!

Elder Davies

A Temple Picture with a family they are teaching

Spencer (Kelson's Brother) & Wife Sierra. Spencer
is apparently pranking Kelson by spelling his name wrong. HAHA!

Happy Birthday Kelson!

A Messy eater?

The Birthday Cake made of Rootbeer cans :)

 

Interesting electrical job. Yikes!

Not sure if this is the old or new apartment?

But I am guessing it is the new apartment :)

Week 61 - An answered prayer, and new shoes in the nick of time!

Axel!

Hola!

This week was GREAT! We had a lot of really cool experiences and found some great people to teach!!

My companion and I have been praying specifically for people to find and we prayed for someone to find that we could set a baptismal date with immediately, and we found him! On Friday we got a call from a Sister in the Visitors´ Center and she said he you have to go with this guy, he´s great!! So after a couple appointments we went and found him at his house. As we got close to his house, we saw the door was open and there was Luis reading the blue pamphlet with the Testimony of Joseph Smith!! As we got closer we saw on his desk on the porch he had a Book of Mormon and the Restoration Pamphlet!! Wow!! He not only read the two pamphlets but he was on his second round to be able to understand better!! He is so great!! Two years ago he fell in the metro and suffered severe brain damage and lost all his memory! About a year ago, it came back, and now he is still working hard even though he isn't at his 100% since his accident. He said there was a reason why God let him live and we told him it was to be baptized! So he has a baptismal date for the 31st of this Month! Yesss! He came to church too all by himself and loved it all!

Ruperto & Adriana & Family at Temple Visitor Center

Ruperto and Adriana and their cute little girls are also progressing a lot! They came to church and we also watched Meet the Mormons with them in the Visitors´ Center yesterday and they LOVED it! Once they can get everything worked out with a past marriage/divorce they are super ready to be baptized!

I also got NEW SHOES from my wonderful family! Thanks so much for sending those! Funny story....coming home from divisions I was getting off the micro bus and the heel ripped my only pair of still somewhat usable shoes and I fell off the micro kinda hahaha...when we realized that the heel of my shoe was still on the micro it was flying away but then I got my new shoes!! Wahoo! Perfect timing!!

Well things are great here, I hope you all are happy and healthy. I know this church is true and I know the Jesus Christ lives and loves us. I know that he was sent by a loving Heavenly Father to remind us why we are here and how we can get back to him. I know the Book of Mormon is true and simply reading it changes our days and our weeks and our lives! I invite you all to read and prayerfully study the Book of Mormon and I promise you your life will change, because mine has!

I love you all!Elder Davies

Sunset over Mexico City East Mission

Week 60 - The big 6-0! New Years in Mexico

Adriana's family at the Temple Visitor Center Sunday night

Hey Friends and Family!!

I´m so sorry I haven´t written you all since last year....

That was a dumb joke, sorry.

This week was a good week! Even though it was New Years Eve we managed to have a very successful week! On New Years most people were busy but I was far busier than I was last time this year, not sure why! My companion and I bought Sangria (a red non-alcoholic version of another drink!) and drank it at 10:30 before sleeping but we woke up at 12 because some Elders called us to wish us a Happy New Year haha and everyone was just yelling outside! I really didn't believe it was New Years until we were eating at a restaurant with the family who gave us lunch and I saw the count down on TV in New York or somewhere in the States...I was like what?

Bowling for a Preparation Day activity

Today for P-day we went bowling and that was way fun! Bowling just feels like America! I couldn't stop thinking of Jim Gaffigan and how he talked about bowling as his favorite sports because it´s the only one that, while you´re playing, you can eat nachos! Yes!! Didn't eat nachos though...

So our investigadores are coming along really great! Ruperto and Adriana BOTH came to church this week and they loved it! They were really into the Gospel Principles class my companion and I had to give and then later that night they came to the Visitors´ Center and we taught them the whole Restoration! The hard thing is we can ONLY teach them on Sundays because they work ALL week, but we are making progress! There baptism got pushed out to February because they need to get divorced and then married to each other, but we have faith it will all work out!

Everything is great here in good ol´ Mexico! I hope you all have a wonderful week and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Love,

Elder Davies

P.S. I think that´s Katy Perry photo-bombing us in the back of the first picture...but I just don´t know what any celebrities look like anymore, so someone tell me! Thanks a bunch!

Week 59 - Silent Night on Ukulele video, Carls Jr & Danna's Baptism!

Zone Conference and Temple Visit!

Hola Family and Friends!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! This week has been fantastic!
On Tuesday, half of the mission had our Christmas Activity. We had the opportunity to enter the Temple in the morning which was AMAZING!! We took lots of pictures, so enjoy those! After the Temple we went to the Aragón stake center and had a program where all the missionaries did songs and talents by zone and a few individuals and it was a lot of fun!

Silent Night - Kelson on Ukulele and singing :)

I actually played Silent Night on the Ukulele with Elder Williams from another zone and it was lots of fun but we couldn´t really practice till during the program so I kinda didn´t know the second verse so I just kinda mixed it with the third verse...I always do that, don´t I? It´s alright...everyone speaks Spanish, my companion said no one noticed...haha!

Hot Chocolate and Referrals - Zone Activity was a success!

On Wednesday night we had our Zone Activity! We got permission to not do it on Monday during P-day a few weeks ago to do a proselyting activity! We made a giant cauldron of Hot Chocolate and gave it out in front of the Hospital next to the temple and gave out cards of "A Savior is Born" and got some great referrals! It was so fantastic, we had a LOT of success and gave out a TON of chocolate!

Christmas Eve was fantastic! Here in Mexico, the big celebration isn't Christmas Day, it's the 24th in the night where they have a HUGE dinner and get drunk and all that fun stuff! But the members don´t get drunk, so don't you worry about that! We are teaching a man named Gabriel who is homeless, so we went and say him on Christmas Eve because everyone was busy...and we had a great lesson! We are trying to help him not smoke and drink so he can be baptized in January! He has actually already been to church a lot but hasn't been able to give up smoking and drinking, so pray for him! After we finished with him we went to the Stake Center to see if the baptismal font needed to be cleaned and on the way there as we passed the Visitors´ Center a lady got out of a taxi and she asked if she could go in the Temple Square to see the lights. The one day of the year when Temple Square is closed is from 3PM the 24th of December till 3PM on the 25th, and that is when she came! We talked to the security guards and they opened it up and gave us 15 minutes to go in and show her all the Christmas lights! Her name was Dana. We began immediately teaching her the Restoration, and she explained that she had been looking for these answers for so long. She has Pneumonia and every time she has tried to come to the Temple she has gotten REALLY sick but she was SO glad she came and we were so glad we found her there! She lives far away, but we are going to get her hooked up with the missionaries there!!

 

On Christmas Eve, we pulled out our beds and slept by our $7 Christmas tree, and that was awesome!! 

On Christmas day I got to talk to my beautiful family!! We skyped from the mission offices and when I started my call there were like 6 missionaries watching to see my family and what was our surprise when my 3 older brothers were in Luchador masks and my dad in a BYU poncho HAHAHAHA!!! I just died of laughter and so did everyone else! I love my family. We put the "fun" in "dysfunctional"! HAHA!

Also I found out in that skype call home that I will be the Uncle of a BABY GIRL!!! WAHOO!!! Mom and Dad, I hope you feel old because you´re gonna be GRANDPARENTS and I´m never going to stop calling you Grandma and Grandpa! HAHA!

On Saturday Danna Paola got Baptised! Wahoo!! It was a beautiful baptism and our convert of 1 month, Axel, got to baptize her! I was able to confirm her on Sunday and Axel blessed the sacrament for the first time! There is nothing that makes me happier than seeing someone get baptized...and the only thing that really compares is seeing someone who was just baptized baptize someone else!

Danna's Baptism

Well I love you all so much, I hope you have a GREAT week and......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!! Make some good New Year´s Resolutions and let´s see how many days we can keep them all!

With Love,

Elder Davies
P.S. Today I ate CARLS JUNIOR!!! MMMMmmmm!!!

Tastes like home!

Missions make you HAPPY!

Yep, sure need the roof rack for this huge tree. HAHA!

Week 58 - Merry Christmas! Little Ceasar's, Ronald McDonald & Selfies Candies?

A Little Ceasar's Pizza opened up near Kelson's Apartment. YUM!

Hey everyone!

IT´S ALREADY CHRISTMAS AGAIN!!! What?! I feel like it was just barely LAST Christmas! Can you believe that? Time flies when you are in Mexico. Isn´t that a saying? It should be...

Well this week was very exciting! I did splits with the Assistants I went with Elder Matos from the Dominican Republic (Shout out to Elder Valenzuela!) and that was AWESOME! I learned a lot and we had the chance to teach a lot of really amazing lessons! As we were walking to the food we ran into a random Ronald McDonald (bench and all) in front of someone´s house hahaha I can only imagine how they got a hold of that...I decided if I ever get really rich I´m gonna have one of those benches outside me house too! Haha!

So last week we found this REALLY awesome family! I think I wrote about them...but they are so great! Their names are Ruperto and Adriana and they have two ADORABLE little girls! We went back with them yesterday and taught them and they accepted a baptismal challenge for the 17th of January!! YES! We just have to get them married...Ruperto had to work so he couldn´t come to church but Adriana showed up at church like a half hour early with her little girls and she LOVED it all! So pray for them that we can get them all married up and such real soon! All the civil registries are closed...soo it´ll probably be in the new year but we still have like 4 weeks to get it all worked out!

Dana is getting ready for her baptism this weekend so pray that that all works out! We are also working with Estela her mom and her cousin Patricia so pray for them too! Also we have a family that is great (they´re actually family members of Estela) who have three little girls that all want to be baptized but their dad won´t let them...so you could pray that Carlos has a soft heart!

We had our Zone Class this week and it went really well! The Sister Training Leaders and the Assistants helped us doing examples of how to teach effectively and how to challenge people to baptism. Our Zone has a lot of new missionaries (with less than 6 months) so we are hoping this will help them! I love new missionaries because they are just so willing to learn and try everything!

Now that there is a Little Caesar´s here I have eaten there a LOT recently…sometimes the families we eat with want to give us food so we can eat out and guess where we go…I think I am eating more Little Caesar´s pizza here than I did at home haha! I love it so much.

Selfies Candies - Disgusting. HAHA!

Okay let´s see the eventful moments of this week…well I found candy called Selfies and just in case you´re wondering, they are absolutely disgusting. Gross. I also am trying to stop saying dumb missionary slang like fetch, heck, all those fun words so my companion and I have made a deal that every time we saw one of those words we have to give each other a peso (that´s like 7 cents, a fortune as a missionary). Needless to say, my language has improved but I am a little poorer. Totally worth it!

I love you all and I hope you have a FANTASTIC Christmas! Send me lots of pictures!

Love,
Elder Davies

Zone Picture

Random Ronald McDonald by a house?

Week 57 - Tijuana Temple Dedication & a great big BUG :)

Kelson didn't send a picture this week of himself - so here is one from a year ago!

Hey Family and Friends!

How are you all? This week has been SO cool! Well on Wednesday night as we left our apartment building we found his crazy bug so I took a picture....that´s next to a 2 peso coin for all you American folk which is like a little bigger than a penny. It was crazy.

We found some good new people this week! Elder Gallardo and I have been working like crazy and loving it! We found a family their names are Ruperto and Adriana and they two little girls one is 3 years old the other is 3 months old and they are SO cute! They were walking outside the Visitors´ Center and their little girl said, "I want to go in and see Jesus!!" so they went in! They loved the order and organization of everything! We taught them some of the plan of Salvation on Sunday morning and they are excited to keep learning! We will go back with them next Sunday because they work all week but they also committed to come to church next week! YES!

Video of the fun bug Kelson found. Awesome!

 Also pray for Estela and Dana they are progressing and I hope we can help them be baptized before the New Year! They are so great!

So the 12th of December is the day the celebrate the Virgin of Guadalupe which the Virgin Mary which returned to Mexico to a guy and now they all worship her...so that got pretty crazy! They do pilgrimages to the Basilica, which is like the big Catholic church of the Virgin, and they get pretty into it! We saw thousands of people walking, on motorcycles, in trucks and cars, etc. There are even people that come from other states but they come CRAWLING ON THEIR KNEES! Wow! The best part of the Virgin day was all the fireworks. There were just a TON of those! I can´t complain. I never understood why we had the second commandment until I got here. How much clearer can it be? But I love the Mexican people!

Virgin of Guadalupe Pilgrimage

More pictures of the "Día De La Virgen De Guadalupe 2015"

As a lot of you know, the Temple of Tijuana was dedicated yesterday by President Uchtdorf and Elder Oaks! There were three dedicatory session and I loved every single one! I wish I could share all the wonderful things I learned but I just can´t! Axel our convert was there with us in the second session and that was so awesome! One of the stories I loved was a story President Uchtdorf told. I invite you all to read this story because it is very beautiful and very Christmassy! You can read the story here:

http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2892/

 

Tijuana Temple Dedication - Kelson got to see it at their Stake Center

Elder Oaks taught in the 3rd session about how we should seek revelation to understand the deep symbolism of the temple ceremonies. He said something like the temple ceremonies which were given by revelation must also be understood by revelation! Read Jacob 4:6-8, those scriptures also explain the importance of revelation!

 

President Uchtdorf Dedicates the Tijuana Mexico Temple

Mormon News‎ - 1 day ago
149th Temple in the World Is Dedicated in Tijuana, Mexico. 13th Mormon temple in Mexico.

President Uchtdorf in his last talk spoke of three experiences Jesus had in the temple that teach us what WE should do in the temple. The first was when he was a little boy and his family found him in the temple speaking with the religious leaders. He mentioned how more than anything, Jesus was asking questions and LISTENING. He learned line upon line as well in his youth the gospel, and we should seek to listen just as much as he did when we enter the temple. The second experience was when he found the money-changers in the temple and he cleansed and purified that holy house, the House of the Lord. Our bodies are also temples in which the Holy Ghost can dwell, but we must be also purified and cleansed. He said we will never be perfect, but a good indicator of our worthiness and cleanliness is how worthy we feel to have a current temple recommend. The third story took place little time before Jesus atoned for our sins. They asked Jesus what the great commandment of the Law was and he said we should love the Lord or God above all else and love our neighbors as ourselves. He asked to frequently ask ourselves questions such as "Do I love God? How do I manifest that love? Do I love my neighbors? How do I demonstrate that love?"

I love you all and I hope you enjoy your week! Make an effort to go to the Temple this week, there is no place more holy upon this earth then the very dwelling place of our Heavenly Father and His Son.

Love,

Elder Davies