¡Bautismos!

This week was great, especially because we baptized Armando and his mom Eluvia! Teaching them was a beautiful experience which I will never forget. Armando even went to seminary this morning at 5 am and says he wants to go on a mission within 2 years.

We are also working with a woman named Floridalma whois is very quick to understand and has a very strong desire to find the truth and attain eternal life. She is the investigator that every missionary dreams of finding every day. The kind that fulfills her commitments and even requests us to leave her chapters for her to read. She says she believes that the Book of Mormon is true, but she works on Sundays and is a single mom... So the trial of faith has come, I hope that she passes it. Not to mention her little girls are super cute.

I honestly don't feel very trunky at all, however i am inexplicably really tired sometimes. For example, the other day I woke up and felt as if i hadn't slept at all. I feel like it is being testified to me that the rest of my life and the mission are going to have a lot in common; diligence and a good attitude are crucial to a happy and successful life... How great it is that God gives us so many opportunities to learn, grow, and prepare.

The Church is true.

Love Ya!

-Elder Davis

Still alive... barely...

This week flew by and was full of victorias and setbacks as most weeks in the mission. The zone at the beginning had many baptismal dates that seemed to be secured. By the time Saturday came around a couple had fallen but the majority were met. All week we were in a trio with one of the District leaders and had to run around like chickens to get all of the investigators interviewed. It has also been raining a ton, therefore we have been getting drenched just about every day.

We had a very cool experience baptizing Oscar, a diabetic man who, due to his diabetes, is missing a leg and losing his eyesight. We baptized him in a river, and getting him to and fro and carrying out the ordinance was a memorable experience. I wasn't the one who baptized, rather I got the man in and out of the water, and kept him from being swept away by the river as he was baptized. This brother has a lot of faith and has made huge changes in his life, interviewing him was especially cool.

We also baptized the two children of the less active family that we have been working with. In the same baptismal service a 30-year.old sister was baptized, and whereas she was a bigger lady, the font was pretty full. When the two kids got in the water the water was up to their shoulders. The nice thing is that baptizing them was pretty darn easy thanks to that.

This week I have reflected a lot about perseverance and the importance of being persevering. Christ was persevering, so we should be to, it brings many blessing. It is not an easy attribute to develop, I am working on it, but i know that it is one that will serve me throughout eternity.

-Elder Davis

Alegría y Desilusión

This week flew by and was pretty busy. We had a bunch of meetings, did exchanges, and had to deal with a few issues that stole a bit of time from us. Therefore we weren't able to find a ton of new investigators. Yet I am just about used to being the zone leader .... We were also able to put a baptismal date with Armando (Eluvia's son). His date almost fell through, because he didn't come to church... but my companion and I weren't going let that happen, so we went running to his house and brought him to church. He even wants to starts attending seminary.

I was very disappointed by some of my friends in the mission this week that made some mistakes. One is going home early, another is finishing but without honor and another had emergency changes... From what I understand, they weren't being very diligent and allowed some things to happen. Moral of the story, idleness is the den of iniquity. There is a reason that the Lord has said that we need to be anxiously engaged in a good cause.

The Church is true, miracles still exist, nonetheless the enemy is very real... get on the Lord's side and be not moved!

Love ya!

-Elder Davis

Gettin Drenched Every Single Day

This week was a lot of fun and started off with a multi-zone with president Goodman and his wife. I felt like it was a bit long (8 hours...) but much was learned, and as with al multi-zones, I was able to see lots of friends. After the conference it started to rain hard and my companion and I were the last to leave because we had to lock everything up and do a bit of cleaning. Ironically, when it rains hard here the tuctuceros stop working and anyone in the streets is left to fend for themselves, therefore we had to walk a good mile or two in pouring rain back to our house. I finished the day working in flip-flops... It rained like that for 3 days in a row and really hampered our work. Nonetheless, we were able to find some really cool families. The rain has also been revealing some other very interesting things which I have been finding all over the place while working... but I am not going to get into that much, because I am trying to stay as focused as I can given where I am at.

About a month ago the assistants baptized an amazing family that is really fired up to do the work of the Lord. We took them with us to visit Eluvia y Armando. The visit went great and they both said that they want to be baptized, the testimonies of the two converts brought a very strong testimony which was much needed by these two souls that have recently been through the death of a husband and father, diabetes, and cancer. These people are so prepared, I can't wait to see them baptized.

We are also preparing for baptism an 11-year-old boy named Marjony. His parents are less actives and are getting active it he church again. We are trying to help them understand that being faithful to their covenant is what will bring them more happiness and success than anything else in this world.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to have a very friendly bible "discussion" (not bash) with a former investigator that claimed to know a lot about the bible. He did know lots of scriptures and stories and had lots of interesting questions and ideas, but was unable to answer one simple question we asked, phrased different ways; Why are we here? I have realized in my mission that even the most successful pastors can't answer that question... some get close by saying that it's because we are Gods children, but nobody knows exactly why. I am so grateful that by way of prophets, the scriptures, and personal revelation, I have found the answer to some of these questions... Its pretty convenient being in the true Church.

Keep on shining!

-Elder Davis

Leonardo go baptized (2 weeks ago) Jeser and Michael were going to be baptized as well but there father, who is in the states, didn't give them permission and says that they have to go to the Catholic Church... Hopefully they will take the step in a few years, maybe after they are mayores de edad.

Cuandos sudas estando dormido... sabes que hay calor...

Here in sunny Reu its been HOT and we've received very little rain surprisingly. Although we have had some good electric storms. Maybe it is because I was in the mountains for so long, but I can't seem to get used to being sweaty and sticky constantly, and I have kind of given up on trying to style my hair... pero todo ello es superficial, llegemos a lo interesante...

This week we found an awesome single mom who's husband passed away about six months ago. Her name is Eluvia, and her son, Armando, and her were positive from the very start and accepted to prepare to be baptized the twentieth of this month. As you can imagine they are going through some pretty tough economic situations and weren't sure if they would be able to make it on Sunday... but, they said they would try. On Sunday morning my comp and I went to go bring them to church, hoping to find them at home.  As we walked towards their apartment complex we saw Eluvia walking towards the church with here 3 year-old-son. We assumed that Armando had gone to work or run errands, when we saw him come running around the corner! He had gone to run errands, but he did it at 5 in the morning to be able to attend church. I can't wait to see them baptized. We were working with some other very cool people but we ended up having to give them up to the assistants because they live in their area.

I would like to write more but I always end up running out of time because I type slow... gonna have to make that a priority when I get home...

I know this church is true and that being anxiously engaged in the Lord's work is the most satisfying thing we can do.

-Elder Davis

P.S. The fotos are of some great exchanges we did on Wednesday... and of AWESOME archeological pieces members have...