Saturday, June 21, 2014

6/16/2014

Hello and good afternoon!

So first off I recieved my new companion  last tuesday: Elder Salazar, from Veracruz Mexico (which is like 6 hours from here). He seems like a great missionary and we get along pretty good. He is a hard worker and I think that we are going to get a lot done this transfer. He is an awesome missionary... but he has a lot of wierd habbits: for example, he whistles like a bird every couple of minutes, he drums on everything. whistles to every song that we hear in the streets or in the house. moans in his sleep etc. But, I realize that I also have a lot of wierd habbits, so we are going to get a long great!

The other good news is that Rafael was baptized on Saturday! He repented of a lot of things and changed his life a lot and he is going to be a strong member in the church. I don´t know why but he doesn´t smile for the camera, but despite that he is a happy guy, and getting happier.

This week we worked hard and found some promising new people to teach. Cesar Lara is 19 years old, he contacted us in the streets wanting to find out for himself if God really exists (I might have already told you guys this story) and this week we finally had a solid lesson with him. Cecilia, who is 24 years old, claims to be Buddhist (I don´t know if I believe her) but she started listening to us and said that she learned alot from the Restoration pamphlet that we gave her. And we have Hector, who is looking for two things: the "religion with the pure doctrine", and a job. We are also going to start to teach again Diana and Natalia, who were about to be baptized but because of pressure in her family stopped listening to us for a time. So things are going pretty well this week.

Last night, I read and was inspired by the talk that was given by Henry B Erying in the General Conference, "The Priesthood Man". President Eyring talked a little bit about prayer. He said
"We all pray, but the priesthood holder you want to be prays often and with real intent. In the evening you will get on your knees and thank God for theblessings of the day. You will thank Him for parents, for teachers, and for great examples to follow. You will describe in your prayers specifically who has blessed your life and how, during that day. That will take more than a few minutes and more than a little thought. It will surprise you andchange you."
Prayer is something that we all need to improve on. We need to learn to really communicate with the Father through prayer. It´s easy to pray out of responsability, because we know that we have to do it, But are we really communicating with the Father? President Eyring also said:
"One way you will be changed by such fervent prayer is, I promise you, thatyou will feel truly that you are a child of God."

So, that is something important that I learned this week, about prayer. That we need to learn to how pray fervently. But my hour is up. I love you all a ton! Thanks for all that you guys do! Thanks for your prayers and support. Keep working hard and planting seeds in the hearts of friends, family, etc!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

9/6/14 Tlaxcallan 2 with Elder Ramirez

Good afternoon everyone!

As I said last week the transfer is ending! I will be staying here in Tlaxcallan 2, but Elder Ramirez is leaving! So tomorrow I will be recieving a new companion. So i´ll tell you all about him next week.

We are starting to see a lot of progress in this ward. They are starting to participate more and more in missionary work. The ward mission leader is starting to do more plans with the ward to befriend the people we teach. The members started doing family home evenings in their homes and they bring their friends and we bring our investigators. The members of the ward are getting better, but they´ve still got a long way to go.

This Saturday, we have a baptism planned for Rafael. He is the ex-husband of a recent convert in the ward, Lucresia. She was baptized in February, she has 5 children, of whom Rafael is the father. Right now Lucresia and Rafael are good friends,, and he has just recently made the decision to be baptized. He remembered really well everything that we taught him and he has a testimony, but in the last visit we found out that he just needs to repent for a few things before his baptism. So if he does that he´ll be ready for baptism this Saturday... everything depends on him right now. So next week i´ll let you guys know how everything plays out.

Something awesome about the mission is just teaching people the gospel according to their individual needs. Every morning during companionship study, we talk about each person that are going to teach that day. We talk about their needs, and what is it that they need to learn and understand about the gospel. And then we go out and teach. The spirit helps us know the words we need to use, the scriptures that we need to share, the questions we need to ask, etc. That is why it´s important to study the gospel, because if you don´t understand it you can´t apply to the individual needs of the people you teach.

So next week i´ll let you all now how everything plays with the baptism and with my new companion. I sent Dad a Father´s Day card today, I hope it gets there soon. But I love you all! And i´ll talk to next week!

wubby wubby
Elder Shane Davis

Sunday, June 8, 2014

6/2/14 Tlaxcallan 2, with Elder Ramirez

Good afternoon everyone! I was excited to hear about Kannon´s mission call!!!! I am super excited for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is super soon! You are leaving in 2 months and that is not a long time! Something that I realized in the mission is that two years really is not a long time. I am going home in 10 months, and that does not seem like a long time for me. But work hard and remember: good missionary is measured by his dedication to improve his weeknesses and lose himself in the work.

This week is the last week of the transfer, so as usual, I´ll tell you guys who goes and who stays next week. Me and Elder Ramirez have an unexplainable feeling that they are going to kick us out of the area and put sister missionaries here. Because this area would be perfect for sisters.

This week was a pretty good week. We started finding a good amount of new investigators this week. We have one investigator that is going to be baptized on the 14th. And Elena, the investigator that has to quit smoking is starting to progress a lot better because she finally has a close friend in the ward. If an investigator doesn´t have a friend in the church, they will have a hard time progressing.

We had an interesting experience with one the members in the ward. There is one member, Janet, who has some emotional problems. She is always mad at everyone and she scolds everyone and is the cause of a lot of people not going to church anymore. So she started harassing Berenice, who was baptized recently, and we don´t really know why. But Berenice still stays strong. The Janet keyed Berenice´s car (very mature right?). Berenice has every reason to get angry and stop going to church, but luckily she doesn´t. For me, that is good example of someone that doesn´t get offended. In the world, I have seen too many people that get offended way too easily, that look for reasons to get angry. To get offended is a choice. And there are too many people that stop going to church because they let themselves get offended.

Well, I am still super excited about Kannon´s call! Prepare well and get ready to work hard! My hour´s up but I hope that all goes well for you all. I hope that you enjoy the spice mexican candy (if you don´t like it, don´t worry, it´s an acquired taste). Tell Cole congratulations for me!

Hasta la próxima semana!
Elder Davis

Sunday, June 1, 2014

5/26/14 Tlaxcallan 2, with Elder Ramirez(2)

Good afternoon everyone! I hope all is well at home. I am super excited to hear about Kannon´s mission call!! Remember that I guessed Canada! Kannon: I hope that you are preparing, reading the scriptures and Preach my Gospel, etc. the best missionaries aren´t always the smartest missionaries, or the people who are best in everything, but are the most deicated and consecrated to the work. They are missionaries without weaknesses but who try their hardest to overcome their weaknesses.

This week we had a lot of trials, but in the trials we had, I learned alot! The Otero family, who in the first lesson wanted to be baptized, we found out that they have no intentions of changing their customs to live the gospel, even though they know they need to. Arturo, Janet and Sofia, have been having some strong family issues. Arturo is an alcoholic, and apparently he is violent when drunk, so for our "own safety" the lidia doesn´t want us to teach them for a little while. Antonio is hospitalized right now, and he will probably be there for a few weeks (luckily he brought his Book of Mormon with him). And we have one investigator that worships "Holy Death" (it´s like worshipping Satan)... and he said that Death kissed him, he´s kind of wierd; we probably won´t waste too much time with him. But this week, I learned a lot! Missionary work has its ups and downs, but overall, it is awesome! We are going to work hard this week to find new people to teach!

Even at the end of a hard week, you can feel good about if you worked hard.

On thursday we had a conference with the mission president. We learned a lot more about how we should use the Book of Mormon when teaching. The Book of Mormon is the evidence of the Restoration. By reading and praying about it, we can know that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. I encourage you all to always read the Book of Mormon and have a testimony of it.

Today for Pday, we played basketball and soccer. It was pretty fun! I play basketball a lot better than soccer (at least with the Latinos). We invited a group of teenagers who just got out of school to play with us. They creamed us playing soccer, but when we played basketball, they had no clue how to play!

Oh, and today I was able to take money out on my card from home. So if the bank calls you guys and asks tells you that someone in Tlaxcala Mexico is using my card, don´t be surprised.

Well, other than that, not much more happened this week. Keep staying strong! Keep setting the example for your friends, and for the members in the ward. Work with the missionaries when they come! I am glad that the branch will have missionaries! I love you all and I can´t wait to hear about Kannon´s mission call!! (be sure to send pictures or a video)

Until next week!
Elder Davis