Sunday, November 30, 2014

Pictures



11/24/14

Hola everyone! another week went by so fast! Well, I am going to be leaving this area! My next area could possibly be my last area in the mission! So next I´ll let you all know about my new area and new companion

We had a really good week this week! We went on splits with the members and were able to teach a lot of people this week. We have done that a lot of times in the past, but in the past most of the appointments would fall through. But this week less appointments fell through, so we were able to teach more people. We also found a good amount of new people to teach. So I think that i am going to leave this area in good shape.

I attached a photo of some of the people that we are teaching. Juan, and Martha and their children Fernanda (11 years old), Michel (8), Edgar (5) and Juan jr. (4). They are already in the habbit of daily family prayer and scripure reading, and the do family home evening every monda; their ardest challenge is getting them to church consistently.

Recently, the area presidency of Mexico said that we can now to zone activities again (a couple months ago started a new rule that we couldn´t have activities on Pdays with more than 4 missionaries). Now we can do activities with more than 4 missionaries as long as we are in a church. So today our zone had a zone activity: we played with water baloons and had a water fight. It was fun having a zone activity again, I started getting bored on Pdays.

I still haven´t gotten the package, I´ll let you know next week if I get it. I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving! Tell me what you guys do and tell everyone that I love them and miss them! I am excited to go to a new area and work hard! I give you guys the update next week!

Love
Elder Shane Davis

Saturday, November 22, 2014

November 17, 2014

Hello and good afternoon everyone! That is a scary story about Jamin! I am glad to have gotten the message that everything is alright and not the other way around! Tell Kim and Eric´s family that I said hi and I love them!

This week was a pretty good week. I learned a lot. Something that I have a thinking about a lot lately is working with the members. In Preach my gospel, it teaches us that the members have a great importance in missionary work. The ideal teaching situation is that the members introduce us, the missionaries, to their friends and to the people that they know. When this happens, there is instant friendshipping, which softens the hearts of the investigators, and more people accept the gospel and join the church. The members have a huge responsability in missionary work. Wards where the members work with the missionaries are wards where there are a lot of baptisms.

You, as members of the church (talking to you family) have the success of missionary work in your hands. If the missionaries in the Running Springs Branch don´t go out their way to invite you to participate, invite them to work with you guys! So that is something that I am trying to learn right now, to work better with the members of the ward.

Anyways, things are going good in the area and they are getting better. Next week Ill let you guys know about transfers, whether I am leaving or staying. Anyways, I love you all, Thanks for the letters, And i´ll try and talk more next week.

Love,
Elder Davis

November 10, 2014

Hello and good afternoon everyone! Thank you for the letters and the pictures... In the picture of Duck creek... John looks HUGE! is that because he really is huge or because he is closer to the camera??

Any ways, we finally had a full week to work this week. And I think that we had a pretty good week. In some ways it was a little difficult because a lot of our appointments fell through, but when appointments fall through (which happens a lot here) we look for other people that we can teach and talk with people in the way. So that is what we did a lot of the week. Talked with a bunch of people in the streets.

Something that we want to do better in working with the active members in the area. Preach My Gospel says that the ideal teaching situation is that the members introduce us to their friends and acquaintences and acompany us in the lessons. When that happens, there is imediate friendshipping with the investigators. When this happens, more people join the church, and stay active. Something that I have learned recently about working with the active and less active members, is that if we as missionaries teach in a way so that the members feel the spirit, they almost aways think of names of people they can introduce us to. The hard part of this area is that there are very few members in the area, active and less active. So we are going to work hard with the few members we have

Somthing that I have been thinking about a lot recently is this girl named... just kidding... i am staying focused. But I have been thinking alot about how to teach more with the spirit in the lessons, or rather, how to let the spirit teach through me more. One things that I thought of, is that if I want the investigators to feel the spirit more, I first have a closeness with God, I have to have more than just a satisfactory conviction of the gospel. So that is something that I want to improve on: building a closer relationship with God so that the spirit can teach through me and testify to the people we teach. But that is something that I will probably improving my entire life.

Anyways, the mission is awesome but short. I am super happy with the progress that I have seen in myself in this short time. I plan to work hard until the end, because there are lot of missionaries that don´t. When their mission starts coming to and end, they stop working hard. I don´t want to be like that. I love you all! Tell all the family that I said hey! I am excited for my package! Until next week!

Atentemente
Su amado y humilde misionero
Elder Davis

November 3, 2014

Good afternoon and hello evyone! Happy november and I hope you had a great Halloween. Luckily this week my companion already feels better. Last week he felt bad so he couldn`t work very much. So we did splits with the members again so that I could go out and teach people. They pulled his tooth on thusday, he felt bad on friday, and he really wasn´t able to work until Saturday (so kids, brush your teeth good or you`ll end like my companion). This week we both are going to work our hardest.

So, in the little time we had to work this week we had some good experiences. On Halloween night, there really wasn´t anybody in there houses, so we couldn`t teach anyone, so we walked around talking to people in the streets. Right when we were super tired and ready to go home early (it was about 8:15 and it was tempting to go home) we decided to look for one other investigator that we hadn´t been able to find. When got to the investigator`s house, she wasn´t there, but there was a Lady sitting down in front in the dark. So we contacted her, and she was super interested. In the most unexpected times, the Lord puts us in the path of the people who are willing to listen. Small miracles happen alot if we are working hard.

Halloween is interesting here in mexico. We as missionaries really didn`t do anything, but the people here have wierd traditions. First off, trick or treating last for at least three nights here, and the kids go from door to door, person to person, business to business and basically ask everyone they see for candy, or, if the people don`t have candy they ask for money. I didn`t have candy, so I gave a couple pesos away (1 peso is worth about 8.5 cents).
On November 1st and 2nd, they have what is called day of the dead. Where the people, in remembrance of their dead family members, put the dead persons favorite foods on a table with the picture of the person and leave it there. Then they put flower petals of a flower they call the flower of death  (it`s a bright orange color), outside of their house on the ground in the shape of a cross, forming a path from the cross into the house to the food. They believe that on the day of the dead, the spirits come from heaven, find the flower petals on the ground, follow the path, then they find and eat the food (they eat it "spiritually", supposedly making the smell go away). So that is a mexican tradition that I would like to start in the Davis family next Halloween... What do you think? (just kidding).

A couple weeks ago, I started doing excercises again (implying that I had stopped before that). I have just been doing the basic things, such pullups, pushups, some ab work outs. Last week, I got a little bit sick (just a little bit), so I didn`t do a lot of excercises, but this week I´ll do some more. But anyways, when I get home, Im gonna hit the gym and get shwull! I am also gonna need a tan, because there is no difference in color from my feet until midway up my neck... but I´ll cross that bridge when I get there.

This week for Pday, me and my comp went to down town Pueblato explore around a little bit. That is a place the you guys (parents) should see when you come to pick me up. There are plenty of places for souvenirs and pictures. Sorry, I didn`t take any today.

Anyways, this next week is going to be a good one, hopefully without sickeness and tooth infections. I love you all ton! I am excited for the care package (you should send me cheez-its or goldfish and maybe a tie or two). Keep working hard and praying for missionary opportunities, set the example and then open your mouths!

Until next week!
Elder Shane Davis

Sunday, November 2, 2014


10/27/14 Almecatla 1A with Elder Delgado

Good afternoon everyone! Thank you all for the inspiring letters encouraging words. This week we had an interesting week but a good one.

The interesting part was my companion. He had a tooth infection this week. On Wednesday he said his tooth hurt. Then on thursday morning, it got so bad that he had to see a dentist. The dentist said that he has a bad tooth infection and that she needs to take the tooth out. But before the dentist can do that, my companion needs to stay out of the sun, avoid eating some certain foods, take some antibiotics, all so that the infection dies down so that the dentist can take the tooth out. So, since thursday, we haven´t been able to work much in the day time. On Saturday we did splits with two members in the ward, one stayed with my companion in the house, and the other went out and worked with me. They were going to pull the tooth today, but the inflamation hadn´t died down enough, so they are going to do it on thursday. So until then, my companion can´t be outside until the sun goes down.

So, in the little time that we had to work this week, I feel like we had a good week. We found a couple of new people to teach that seem like they are going to progress very well. Last transfer, I don´t know why, but we had a hard time finding new people to teach. We worked hard and talked with a good amount of people. But this change we are finding a good amount of new people to teach. And we are also seeing a progress with some of the investigators that were already in teaching.

Juan and Martha are progressing well towards getting married. Their relationship has improved alot and they finally started attending church as a family. Now with them we need to work on helping them make that a habit.

Anyways, sorry for not writing that much. There isn´t much else to say about last week. But this week we are going to work even harder. Time is going fast. The mission is awesome! I included a picture of me and my companion, and a picture of my companion in the dentist. I´ll write you more next week!

Love,
Elder Davis
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