Sunday, August 31, 2014

8/25/14 Los Angeles, with Elder Rosales

Hello Everyone! I hope that all is well at home and that justine and Braden loved their first day of school!

This week we had a great week! We talked with a bunch of people this week, had a some miracles and we found a couple people that seem like they are going to be great investigators this week.

As we were walking one morning down the street, one lady approached us and told us that she was a member of the Church, but she stopped going because she married outside of the church. Now she wants to start going to church again and we started teaching her husband, and he seems very interested.

We also starting teach a referral from one of the members, Alejandra, who also seems very interested... she is just a little bit distracted during the lessons. Her mind changes subjects super fast, and its hard to keep a focused lesson, but she is learning little by little.

As we were knocking the door of a member`s house to visit him, we contacted a lady on the street that was walking by (the people usually take a while here to answer their door, so we had time to have a conversation while waiting). We started talking with her, and she was very interested, then as we asked her address, we found out that by coincedence she was our next door neighbor.

And this week, Juan Rojas is going to be baptized! His baptismal interview is tomorrow, so nothing is completly sure yet. But he seems like he is ready for baptism. He is going to be an awesome member of the church. I don`t know how, but he retains information super fast. He read the Book of Mormon once, and he understands pretty much the whole story.

So things are going pretty good right now!

Oh, and if you guys want to come here to pick me up in Puebla after my mission, I think that you can do that, and I think that it`s a great idea. I just need to know a couple months ahead of time so that I can tell the mission president to change my flight plans. So just let me know well in advance if that`s what you`re gonna do.

Thanks for the letters! I hope that you enjoy reading two letters every Monday now! I love you all! Your the best Family in the world!!

Until next week.
Love,
Elder Shane

Sunday, August 24, 2014

8/18/14 Los Angeles, with Elder Rosales(3)

Well this week was a pretty great week. The mission is awesome! It`s wierd thinking that Ynez has already ended her mission. Maybe she`ll write me now that she`s done :p. It`s also wierd thinking that Kannon is just beginning. Two years sound like a long time but it goes by super fast... if you work hard. The other day we ate with one sister in the ward whose son got back from the mission a year or two ago. She said that time for her was like an eternity. For me, the first few months in the mission were a bit slow because I had to adjust to a completely different lifestyle, different language, different country, I had to learn how to be a missionary, learn how to talk to people. I, sure that`s how it will be for kannon. but then after a ffew months, his mission will fly right by him.

In this part of Puebla, it is hard to find new people investigators to teach, but we have seen a good amount of progress with the few investigators that we have been teaching. And with miracles we have found some great investigators. We talked with a good amount of people this week, and most of the people that accept us are from other areas. So we have been relying alot on referrals from the members to find new people to teach. And we have had miracles with referrals.

One day as we were walking down a busy street, a young man runs out of the store where he works to talk to us. He said that he was an active member in the church from a different ward. He told us that his boss, Elvia, was super interested in the church. So later we passed by and he introduced us to Elvia, and she now has accepted a baptismal date. Then a member of a different ward, with whom we share our church building, told us about her aunt who was also interested. We started talking with her, and this week we are going to start teaching.

Anyway things are going good in the area, even though this area is a bit difficult. I feel good about the effort that we are giving. Well the mission is awesome and Kannon will do great!! I love you all so much! you are an awesome family!!!

Love,
Elder Shane

Sunday, August 17, 2014

8/11/14 Los Angeles, with Elder Rosales

Hola, and good afternoon! Sounds like this has been an exciting week for everyone! Shortly, all the goodbyes will just be a memory. But the mission is awesome! The MTC will be a short but awesome experience, and then all too soon, kannon will be out in the field working!!!

Today for Pday, one of the sisters in the ward was going to teach how to make some mexican snacks called gorditas, which are basically corn tortillas, with beans cheese and salsa, it`s simple but pretty good. But she cancelled last minute today, so instead we went to explore a huge mall that is in our area called Liverpool. There is a huge Ferris wheel in front (see picture). It`s the same ferris wheel that I went to a couple months ago after seeing the pyramids of Cholula. While exploring the mall, we found an ice skating rink... so we`ll probably go there next monday for Pday.

The people in this area are very different from any other area that I have had. In this place it`s almost all business. On every street there are a bunch a businesses, companies, stores, etc. When people are outside walking, they are going somewhere. There are very few people outside strolling around or taking a walk. With that said, most of the people are in a hurry, and they don`t have a lot of time to talk with us. Something I learned is that if we start a conversation with people talking about religion, they usually ignore us, but they are usually willing to help find a street or give us directions. So if we start a conversation by asking for directions (even if we don`t need them), they are more open to talk to us more. All in all, the way we work here is very different.

But we are starting to find some new people to teach. Juan Rojas (the guy who read entirely the book of mormon) is progressing pretty well towards his baptism. The members are starting to give us more refererrals. Something that I have learned with referrals from the members, is that if they feel the spirit, they think of names of friends or family or acquiantances that they want us to teach. But if we as missionaries teach a half hearted lesson without the spirit, the members can`t think of names when we ask them who else could we teach.

Well, I am learning so much here. Things are going great here. but I have gotta go,  we have clothes hanging up outside drying... and it just started raining... dang it. But I love you all and I am super excited to hear about Kannon`s experiences!!!!!!!!! So tell him to always send me his emails!! and I will also send him mine!

I love you all!
Until next week.
Elder Shane Davis

Sunday, August 3, 2014

The Week of 7/28/2014

Well, I am here in my new, Los Angeles ward in the city of Puebla area with my new companion, Elder Rosales, from Tamaulipas, Mexico (in the north right below texas on the east). And I am district leader now!

The area i`m in right now is the richest area in the mission. There is so much money here. There are a bunch of shopping centers and malls, nice cars, huge houses. It`s a pretty nice place to live; we eat a lot of food, and we don`t have to walk far to the grocery store, but the people are a bit more closed than in my last areas. When I was in the state of Tlaxcala, it was easy to find people to teach. But now that I have an more challenging area with very few investigators, I have a greater desire to find the few people that are willing to accept the gospel. Lately we have talking with a good amount of people in the streets. The majority of them ignore us and keep walking... it`s kind of funny, but there are always a few people that accept us everyday.

The majority of the members of the ward here are rich, or in the upper middle class. So instead of cooking food for us many of them buy us food, or give us money for us to buy a meal... so we sometimes eat some pretty expensive food! There is a huge rich-person mall in our area, so somethimes we go to the food court and eat some good american fast food.

Something that I have learned is that there are many areas in the mission that are said to be bad areas, so when missionaries arrive in those areas they work with the attitude that they probably are not going to have a lot of success. With that attitude, they won`t have success. One of my goals right now is to work in this area with a good attitude. If we have faith, the Lord can work many miracles in this area.

My new companion, Elder Rosales, is from Tamaulipas, mexico. He is an awesome guy, a little bit serious, and a hard worker. We get a long great, though our companionship is a little bit quiet.

We are going to work hard this week and talk with a lot of people! I have learned to love talking to people even though many don`t want to talk to us. The mission is awesome! I only have about 8 months left before I go home. For me, time will go by super fast!! I have even more photos to send this week, but the Internet Cafe that we are using right now has the computers locked so we can`t download anything... so next week we`ll go to a different place. But i love you tons. Thanks for your emails. I always appreciate your letters! Until Next week.

Love,
Elder Shane Davis