This Week from Elder Davis

Family and friends,

The baptism of Lester was a success and his family is progressing a lot, yet it is difficult to work well with them because they are working a lot in the cornfields. We have also found many new investigators that are very positive, so we will see what happens there. 

I am really hoping not to leave the area. I have come to love the members here and we are working with some truly beautiful pèople... Keep me in your prayers and know that I am praying for you. The Church is true. 

-Elder Davis

This week from Elder Davis and Finally Some Pics!

To The Gang,

This week was a tiring one in which we had lots of discussions and good member-missionary correlation. From all of that we will end up having one baptism to show for it. The investigator is the 9 year old Lester, son of an inactive family, however the real victory that we are seeing in this circumstance is the reactivation and overall faith of the family. We have have some really good experiences with them and how we found them was especially cool. We have found many other positive investigator that we feel will progress but unfortunately we couldn't get them to come to church this Sunday. That is quite honestly one of the hardest things here... simply getting people into the chapel. I have also been focusing lately in working with the members effectively and building productive relationships with them. From the start of my mission I was always taught that the way to obtain such relationships you need to simply be their bros and make them laugh a lot. Yet as fun as that is it is not very fruitful. I have been studying a lot and getting good advice from successful missionaries in attempt of improving this aspect and I have been putting it into practice. We will see how it goes.

My companion and I are getting along very well and working hard. Obedience is not one of his priorities by any means but he is pretty good for a Honduranio. We are even having comp study, and that is a rare thing in the mission Retalhuleu. We are also having some good fun too.

Today we had a really fun P-day and went to some beautiful waterfalls. The trip was really rushed and uncomfortable (see photos) thus I wasn't able to get very good photos, but... it was a lot of fun and I'll send some of the photos that I managed to get.

I love you all, Guatamalas is amazing, and the Church is true! -Elder Davis

The latest from Elder Davis

Emergency Changes!

To my surprise this Tuesday my comp; Elder Raymundo had changes. It was an answer to my prayers especially because my new comp is Elder Argueta, a Honduran who was a friend of mine in the ccm. He is also a big boy, but I have been in the same district as him and know that he is a good worker. Right now we are trying to motivate the members to be more dedicated to their callings and help us progress the branch. We are also working hard to find new investigators due to the lack of such with my last comp. 

I have noticed a lack of energy lately and have been trying to drink more as well as maintain a more healthy diet. To do so I have been going to the market and cooking with fresh produce... Thanks mom for teaching me a little bit in the kitchen.

Well thats my bit for this week, the church is true! -Elder Davis

A Short Note from Elder Davis

Hey Gang!

I had a very complicated p-day today for a myriad of reasons... so I don't have much time at all... But today we went to the funeral of a member that had died. It was a very different experience due to tradition and the the course of the funeral something that really hit me; we are very blessed to have a complete understanding of God's after-death plan for us.... Alegrate mucho! 

The church is true and God has a plan for every one of us! Keep me in your prayers. -Elder Davis

The Latest from Elder Davis

The Baptism this last Tuesday was a success. Saudi, the handicapped girl, broke down crying before the ordinance. I pulled her aside and she told me that she felt afraid to fail and wasn't going to be baptized, however, after a few of inspired words she decided to go forward with the baptism. Phew... Now we just have to keep them in the church. They have been wanting us to come over everyday to visit and eat, yet we simply don't have time because they live 45 minutes away and there isn't a bus after 4:30. The difficulty is that here a rejected invitation, no matter how justified, is a huge lack of respect. So I am having a bit of a hard time with that because my comp is completely fine with being there all the time and does a good job of making me the bad guy when I tell them that we can't make it. I also have to be extremely careful because Eidy (30 something) told me she is in love with me... and touches me a lot.

Today we had a joint p-day with 2 other zones. I saw a lot of other friends I have made in my previous zones and had some good fun. I also enjoyed a good American-style meal of a hotdog with chili-nachos. hallelujah 

So my comp and I had a good inventory and I put all of things I wanted us change in the air... afterwords he just kept doing the same things, like asking every person we visit to let him check his Facebook or listen to inappropriate music... The hardest part is that when I tell him not to do it the people just think I am being a jerk. I talked to him about it again yesterday and he said that I need to learn to enjoy the mission...and not be racist. I still dont understand how wanting to obey has anything to do with racism, but what can I do. Whenever the Latinos have problems with their north-American comps they just about always pull the racism card.

We just lost power and the computers are turning off one by one... photos next week... Love you all! -Elder Davis

This Week from Elder Davis

To the gang...

To get right into the juicy stuff; our three dates (Eidy, Saudi, Jefferson) are getting baptized tomorrow. The devil has been working hard to make them change their minds, but thankfully they are still on track and animated. We are baptizing them in a river, so that will be a fun first. We dedicated our p-day to making a lunch for the baptism along with other preparations and that's why I am writing later. For that same reason that is why I don't have much time. However, I am doing good here in the Guat. I am having a hard time getting my comp to work and be obedient but all of the mangos keep me going. My comp even calls me "monkey" due to my mango consumption... I am trying hard right now to be a more consecrated missionary, something difficult in an incredibly disobedient mission.

Thanks for all of the love and support, keep me in your prayers. The church is true. -Elder Davis

Sweat and Mangos

This week was a really hot one but not without fruits (literally and otherwise; I eat 3-7 mangos a day). We have 3 people scheduled to be baptized the 19th that all accepted baptismal date in the first visit. They are two women and the child that are close to a less-active that we have been visiting. The hard part is that they live in one of the farthest reaches of our area which makes it difficult to work with them a lot. My current district leader is Elder Lagos, the crazy Honduran who lived with me in San Pablo. He is brand new to the position and is doing lots of weird things. For example, I was in divisions for 3 days this week... I hope it just because he's fitting into the boots of DL. I can finally say that I know my area a little bit, but there are still a ton of areas I haven't even seen yet. I want to contact like crazy since there are so many people but my comp doesn't like to walk... we get along very well but he is hard to motivate. Yet its nothing knew and I feel that god is really trying to beat a stronger personality into me. I am so thankful for all of the spiritual and temporal growth I am making in the mission... there is really nothing else that compares. Best decision ever... (Shout out to my cousins of age ;) )

Keep me in your prayers and know that you are in mine. The church is true. -Elder Davis

Sorry for the short letter, didn't have much time... tell Tawni congratz for me, and Katlyn as well.