Monday, March 31, 2014

Week of March 24th

Hello family! 

Well, here is the news that you have all been waiting for...(drum roll please...) I am in the area of Tlaxcallan 2 with Elder Ramirez! Right now, I am right next to my first area, Atempan, and we share a church building with that ward. So on Sunday I got to see a bunch of members from Atempan. I didn´t see any of my converts yesterday, but I am going to look for them a little bit harder next Sunday.

I don´t know if you guys remember Guadelupe, the mother of Enrique, Angel, and Fernando whose, three sons were baptized without here because she had to work on Sunday. Well I was notified that she was baptized a couple weeks ago.

My new companion, Elder Ramirez is a stud. He is from Chihuahua, Mexico, and he has been out in the mission for almost four months, And I am actually his 2nd companion. He seems to have learned the missionary life pretty fast, he only seems a little bit like a greeny. But he´s awesome and he works hard. We get along great.

The people in this area are a bit different than my last. In Teotlaltzingo, the people were very willing to listen to us, but they weren´t very willing to change or apply the teaching to their own lives. Here the people are less willing to listen to us, but the people that we find are more willing to accept the gospel, kind of like Atempan. 

Another funny thing about this area is that there really aren´t a lot of men. Walking along the streets there are probably 3 women to every guy. Almost all of our investigators are single mothers. The problem with that is that we can´t enter houses of women without another adult male. So it´s a little bit difficult sometimes finding brothers in the ward to work with us so that we can enter their houses and teach them, because they are all flakes.

Right now. we are working hard and talking with a lot of people. There might be two baptisms this Friday. but it isn´t 100 percent sure, so i´ll let you guys know next week. Their names are Verenice and Corina, a single mother and her 15 year old daughter, who have been listening to the missionaries for a couple months and have recently made the decision to be baptized. Right now I really don´t know them that well, but they seem like they´ll be stong members.

I attatched some 2 photos that didn´t go through last week, and one of me and Elder Ramirez. Well my hours up! Thank you mom and dad for the letters this week ( I feel like my sibblings grew tired of writing every week). Keep working hard and staying strong! I love you all!

Until next week!
Elder Davis

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Week of 3/16/2014

Well, I am 20 years old now. Yesterday was kind of funny, I didn´t even remember it was my birthday until 2 hours after I got up when my companion told happy birthday. But my birthday really didn´t feel different. Other than some members giving us cake, it just felt like a normal day, which isn´t a bad thing because I didn´t get distracted or sad.

On Saturday, they told me that I am being transferred. Tomorrow I am going to get my new companion and go to the new area, wherever it may be. But I am excited to have a new area! Saying goodbye to people in one area never is fun, but it´s going to be fun to get to know new people all over again! But, you guys will have to wait until next week to know where I am, and who I am with, so wait patiently!

This week, we saw some miracles. We found a bunch of new people to teach, 15 new investigators to be exact. Last week we talked to a lot of people in the streets about the gospel. Some of the people that we talked to happened to be relatives of an active family in the ward (the Arellano Castro Family). They accepted and a couple days later we returned and started teaching them. The Arellano Castro family was happy that we started teaching their relatives and then they felt encouraged and they presented us to some other relatives and they all started listening to us!

One thing that surprised me is that the Arellano Castro family never presented us to their family members before until just last week. I don´t know why they waited so long. The Church right now is pushing us to work through the members to find people to teach. And they are encouraging the members to work with the missionaries, to give the names of all of their friends and family members. Everyone that we know should have a chance to accept or reject the gospel. They also have told the members here that they shouldn´t judge someone before giving that person´s name to the missionaries, but everybody should hear the gospel, even if we think that that person will reject it. But the gospel is true, and the Lord is preparing people to hear it.

Today for Pday, we got permision from the mission president to go to Cholula (a city outside of the mission) with one missionary that is ending his mission (He goes home tomorrow). In Cholula, we got to see some pyramids, and we got to go inside one of them, it was pretty cool. The Spaniards that first got here built Catholic churches on top of the pyramids to show Christian dominance over the traditions and beliefs of the Natives that were already here. It´s an interesting story.

I attatched a photo from inside the pyramid (I´ll send more next week), and I attatched a photo of me cooking hamburgers for a farewell for Elder Strom, the elder going home.

Thank you all for the happy birthday wishes! I love you all a ton! You´ll find out about my new area and companion next week!!

Love,
Elder Davis

PS: I had to send the pictures in two separate emails

Sunday, March 16, 2014

TODAY IS SHANE'S BIRTHDAY! HE TURNS 20 TODAY! Week of March 10th!

Hello Family! I´m glad that all is well at home! This week we had a pretty good week! I now feel like we are starting to talk with more people. This week we talked with 20 more than we have normally been doing, but there is still alot more room for improvement. We found some people that seem like they will be pretty good investigators.

This week we did a ward activity in the church. We watched 17 miracles and invited investigators and the members. None of our investigators showed up, because the church is too far for them, but it was a success for the other elders in the ward, because the church is closer to them. But it was fun, I think that we´ll do it again in the future and try harder to get more people there.

Well, this is the last week of the transfer, by next week i´ll tell you guys if I go or stay in this area, and also by the next time I write, i´ll be 20 years old! I think that I am going to be leaving the area, because I have already been here for 4 months, but i´ll know for sure by next week.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

3/3/14

Hello everyone! This week we had alright week. Thank you for all the letters! I still haven`t been able to send the handwritten letters that I wrote to you guys. There isn`t a post office nearby, so just to find one in a city that is somewhat close to our area.

I feel like I am starting to become a bit better in talking to people now. I don`t have problems with approaching people on the street and talking with them, but what I am trying to learn right now is to talk with more people in public transpotation. That is something that is a little bit harder for me but I feel like it is a challenge that I can overcome. In this mission and in many others in Mexico, we have been told to completely abandon knocking doors. Here, we contact people in the street, on busses, and it`s pretty fun learning to open my mouth and proclaim the gospel, going way out of the comfort zone.

One thing funny about this area (I may have told you before, but I don`t remember) , is that there are very few people walking in the streets. This area has about 7 or 8 small towns in it, they are all pretty quiet, and we can walk for 15 or 20 minutes without seeing a single person in the street. Here we can`t choose the people we want to talk to, we have to take advantage every time we see someone. One good thing about this area is that the people are receptive and I`d say that one in every 5 people say yes to the invitation to listen to us. The problem is that they are almost never in there houses because they are working, so when we pass by their houses, they usually aren`t there.

Right now, as I said in the last letter, i am trying to be more than just a good missionary, but an excellent missionary. We aren`t here in the world to accomplish mediocracy, but excellency. Our mission president asked us all "Are you willing to pay the price to be excellent". This principle can be applied to everyone. Now I ask you all the same thing: are you willing to pay the price necessary to be an excellent member/Young women/young man/counsellor/parent/disciple of Christ/future missionary? Are you all willing to make the changes and sacrifices to be better?

Thank you all for the support and your prayers! I love you all so much! I attatched another photo from the mountain (it took 20 munutes to download). My hours up but keep being awesome!

Hasta la pròxima semana!
Elder Davis

Sunday, March 2, 2014


February 24, 2014

Hey everyone! Another week in the mission field! Well, I guess that Ill start by answering some of the questions:

Question: will you get to go to the temple while on your mission?
   -I already got to go once a couple months ago. A couple weeks ago they closed the Mexico City temple which is the closest temple, and the next closest temple is in Veracruz, about 4 hours away. I can only go to the temple if one of my converts goes and invites me. And to be able to go to the temple they need to have been a member of the church for 1 year, so that means that I need to baptized them before i have been out for a year in the mission. Right now 4 of my converts have the possibility to go to the temple before I go home, so let´s hope and pray that one of them goes and invites me!
Question: are you working out on a regular basis?  If so, what do you do?
    -Well, for the past couple of weeks I have been bad about working out. But when I do workout, I usually do some push ups, sit ups, I sometimes use these elastic bands that they gave us in the MTC.
Question: what do the youth do for there Tuesday night mutual activities?
    -Right now, there is no young men´s president. And even when there was one they didn´t do any activities. Its kind of sad
Question: do the young men go on campouts or work on scouting?
    -They do nothing of the sort.


I have some mildly bad news, Isa, the investigator who is awesome, was going to be baptized this next week, but her sister, Teresa, had to leave for 3 weeks for her work, and Isa want to wait for her and get baptized together with her. I respect that decision, but Teresa needs to attend church 3 more times before she can get baaptized, so that means that i probably won´t be here for their baptism! But they are both awesome investigators, an I am sure that they are going to be strong members of the church.

Last week, the mission president, President Christensen, talked to us a lot about being excellent missionaries, not just decent missionaries or good missionaries. To become an excellent missionary, we need to pay the price, we need to sacrifice everything that prevents us from being better. Something that I have decided to do better is talk to more people, open my mouth and boldly proclaim the gospel to everyone. You guys know me pretty well, talking with people is a little bit out of my comfort zone, especially in a foreign language that im still learning. That is the price that I have decided to become and excellent missionary. I am sure that this priciple can be applied to your lives as members of the church and disciples of Christ. What is that price that you guys need to pay, and the sacrifices that you need to make to become extraordinary, better than you are today?

Oh yeah, last week, when we climbed the mountain, we got a quite bit higher than the last time (we ditched the sisters and the slow elders to go up higher). I´d say that we were an hour and half from the top (but it´s the most difficult hour and a half). I have already decided that I am going to go back there and climb all of it before I end my mission. One thing that was funny is the way we transported 20 missionaries to the mountain: one member of our ward is the owner of a cinderblock company, he offered to give us all a ride on the back of the truck that he uses to transport cinderblocks, and we went al the way to the mountain on the back of a huge pick up truck (It´s legal here in mexico). It was a pretty fun trip, I would say that we got up 15.000 feet up, we weren´t very far from the top, but there wasn´t any time left.

Oh yeah, and some birthday ideas...I have no idea what I want, surprise me!

Well my hours up. It always go by super fast! But the mission is an awesome experience! Thank you all for the letters. I am sorry, but I couldn´t send a lot of photos because this computer takes forever to download them, so next week i´ll send more! I love you all so much!

Love,
 Elder Davis