Week 5- Last week in the CCM

This week honestly just flew by! Before I forget, Dad- the answer to your trivia question is obviously Gandalf... That was awesome though, keep sending me quotes!!  And with that said, Dad and mom thanks for the letter- I think normal mail is definitely the way to go, pouch mail is taking as long as a month to get here. Oh  yeah and don’t send anything else here please, send it down to El Salvador because it wont get here in time- Thanks you guys are the best!

Yeah so anyways this week flew by and was actually pretty good. If I am being honest there was only one day where we didn’t get a little scolded by a teacher for doing something "Wrong", but this was by far my best week so far.

And don’t worry, I am not breaking real rules or anything. In fact, the CCM President, President Cox, saw me and my companion studying one day and just sat down across from us and talked to us for like 15 minutes about his time in the training place and how they used to be able to go to all the BYU football games and how much more relaxed it was. He told us not to get him wrong, we need to follow all the rules, but don't be afraid just to have some fun and mess around a little as long as we are serious and spiritual when we need to be---- Seriously the Coolest President I could ever ask for!

So Josh won the bachelorette we hear, is that what you wanted mom??

Random fact- I now sleep with my flashlight because we started playing this game with like 45 other elders where we night raid other rooms and it is way to complex to explain, but super fun... Not quite sure why I am telling you this but whatever.

I have been studying from Jesus the Christ a lot (Even though if I truly cared about my "Investigators" I wouldn’t-- Whatever) and have been learning a ton about Christ and the atonement. I always have known all the parts to the atonement and such, but I think for the first time in my life I am finally starting to begin to understand... ok, that probably didn’t make sense, but I don' t really know how else to say it.

Oh yeah, before I forget, I don' t know if I will have a P day to email next week because I will be sitting in a bus for 6 hours going down to the El Salvador mission home!!! So if you don’t hear from me I am probably still alive.

We went to the temple today and holy crap! I cant believe I was weirded out the first time I went! Every time I go I am starting to learn more, and I feel like whenever I am there and searching for an answer I receive one! It is just Awesome!!

On the 24th we thought the CCM was under attack! We hear all these gunshots while we were at sports and we all just instinctively dove to cover! Turns out there was some event going on next door and they were just firecrackers... Super scary and awesome for a minute though... And all the Utah kids claimed they brought Pioneer day down with them.

Yeah so overall great week and super pumped, even though I am probably not ready for the field next week!

Love, Elder Davis

Harrison 3rd Row, 7th from right

 not pictured in this one...

4 weeks in...

This week went by pretty fast, luckily. 

I had tons of notes of what I wanted to tell you, but accidently left them in my room. 

I guess I'll start with yesterday.  This elder in my district was not looking like his normal self and I asked him what was wrong.. After a while he finally opened up and said he had gotten word that not only was his grandpa probably going to die before he left the MTC , but that his mom has got breast cancer for the second time. We talked for a while, and he asked me if I would give him a blessing of comfort. All the guys in our district were able to lay our hands on his head, and I was able to deliver the blessing. It was an amazing experience for me, and I know it helped him as well. 

Random CCM fact, we have miracle milk!! It doesn't go bad until mid Febuary 2015!! Oh it tastes just so interesting! 

My spanish is getting better, I feel discouraged at times, but as I look back, I know I have learned a lot. I never take notes into lessons anymore, and can get through a 30 minute lesson using spanish I know pretty easily, so that is good. 

I love you all and miss you. Thanks again for your little emails! They are the highlight of my week!!

Love, Elder Davis

 (Harrison is 3rd row, 5th from the right)

Week 3

        I am half way done with the MTC!!!! So pumped to get out of here!! Ok, that may have sounded bad, but every Sunday our CCM president gives us a devotional...and he is just awesome! He gets us so pumped to go preach the gospel, half the time I am convinced I don’t even need to know Spanish! I just want to get out there and begin changing lives!
         Ok, so last P-day we had less time because we were going to the Guatemala City Central Market. It was awesome! I negotiated with some locals and bought myself a sick hacky sack and probably the coolest native/tribal shirt you have ever seen! Then we went to Wendy' s and it tasted soooo amazing... we were all so pumped to taste some cheep fried American food again!        
         Later this week we gave the best lesson of our lives! Like our Spanish was high quality and the spirit was there and I know it was obviously just practice, but on the reals it was awesome and helped boost my spirits.  I think God knows just how far he can push me before helping me out... It seems like every time I get down He gives me a little something that makes me happy again.  Whether it be a fellow nerd moving in to my room that loves Harry Potter and Star Wars and has read Fault in our Stars, seen gossip girl and vampire diaries, or the amazing trip to the temple we got to have this morning.
Overall things are going good. Thank you for all the emails and letters! They help a ton!!

Love, Elder Davis

Week 2

So we only have half as much time to write today, and I spent most of it reading your emails to me.  Thanks so much! They are awesome and I love hearing from home.

Oh pictures.. We got our cameras confiscated day 1 at the MTC because of some problems they had in the past... sorry.

So this was a hard, but good week. The Spanish is coming along, but I am still not close to being ready.

All of the Latinos that came in the same time I did left today- pretty sad about it actually because they were awesome! And I really just kinda want to get out of this place! I have like half of my floor calling the CCM (MTC in Spanish) the concentration camp for missionaries! Like it really feels like we are in jail! And this Nazi (that is what we call him) started directing us with a whistle... so I now I really feel like a prisoner. But whatever, I guess I will be blessed for following the rules!

Mom, before I forget My scripture is D & C 11:21 (Thanks Brenna!)

Funny story... the Latinos in my room tell me that every night I start speaking perfect Spanish (like I legit sound like a Latino) in my sleep...Why the heck cant I do that while I am awake?!!
Then I realized... I Pray for the gift of tongues before I go to bed!!! I need to start praying in the mornings! (I know it makes perfect sense)

So the other day I was having a pretty hard day... like nothing was wrong, I am just bored of doing the same thing day after day, and possibly feeling a little homesick. But this sister in my district was having a terrible day. She was just crying and crying. I think regarding how she left some things at home, but I am not sure. And all at once the 4 of us elders in the room got the exact same prompting to ask her if she wants a blessing of comfort. Like it was kinda freaky because we all looked up at the same time and knew that is what we needed to do.  And holy cow it definitely helped her, but it also helped me. The spirit was so strong and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. It is weird to think 4 kids who a month ago were messing around in high school, now hold the Melchizedek priesthood and were able to do that... It was just awesome!

So the 4th of July was tough... All I could think about all day was every year going to the clinic, and this year Stadium of fire! President Cox knew it would be a hard day though, so he had the chef cook American food all day. We got burgers and fries for lunch, and RIBS for dinner!!! Nothing can cheer me up like some good old ribs!

Doing good and working hard.
Love you all,
Elder Davis

Week 1 Guatemala MTC

So yeah today was our first P day and I can’t tell you how pumped I (and everyone) was to write home. Thank you guys so much for all the letters! We are pretty limited on time so I don’t know if I will be able to reply to them all, but know that I read them and loved them and it helps so much hearing from home.

This week was really long. We got to Guatemala around 6 am, and sat on the side of the airport for like an hour waiting for a bus to pick up us 32 missionaries that all flew down together. They carted us to the MTC in 2 school buses and then gave us 2 hours to rest and then we went directly to classes. All of that jet lag and lack of sleep (I couldn’t sleep on the flight much) led to the first 3 days being SUPER LONG, but it is getting better. Days are starting to go by a little faster and all is good.

My District is awesome!! There are 3 elder companions, 1 trio, and one hermana companionship. We go to class together and just have such a hard time focusing because someone is always cracking a joke or telling a story. We are always laughing and that has helped a lot. It gets so much easier when you can just forget about missing home for a few minutes and just laugh.

My companion is straight up the most annoying kid in the world. Ok that was mean and I am trying not to be as mean on my mission, but he really is. Evidently God knows I need to learn patience, so he is forcing me to. He thinks he is a pro at Spanish, but he really isn’t!  Like every 5 minutes he is asking me if he can teach me something because he knows so much more than everyone!!! It drives me crazy! He makes me wake up 20 minutes early in the mornings so he can go get ready, so I get ready in like 10 minutes and then sit up for a half hour waiting for him!! He is from Smithsfield Utah, and he tries hard and follows all the rules which is good, but also annoying. Like I am trying really hard not to be an anti rules person here, but when my companion insists on following me into the bathroom I have to draw a line... Ok, sorry I am done venting.

Oh yeah the bathrooms, surprisingly pretty dang nice here in the CCM (MTC)

I (most the time) really like the food! I don’t know if it is because I am starving, or if it is pretty good. Most of it is kinda like Mexican food, but like not at the same time... I don’t really know how to explain it. We had Spaghetti on Sunday though, and it was awesome to eat something I was really familiar with and it made me think about Sunday spaghetti dinners at grandpas and grandmas.

Oh yea before I forget- dad and Brandon, can you send me some world cup updates when you give me those awesome weekly dodger updates? It is all the latinos talk about, and it will give me some conversational topics for meals (we Nortes (North Americans) are supposed to sit by Latinos to practice our Spanish) Gracias

My favorite day this week was Sunday, because all of the classes are in English!! You don’t know how comforting it is to just hear people talk in English and actually completely understand what is going on for once! Except sacrament meeting, that is in Spanish. Now we all know I had trouble staying awake when sacrament meeting was in English, Spanish was so much harder!! I was passed out before they even said the blessings on the bread and water! oops, but I mean I am studying church stuff like all day every day so I doubt God would be to mad at me.

Our Mission presidents name is President Cox, he is from California and is just AWESOME. He motivates us and is always there to just talk with or joke with at meals or whenever. This MTC is a ton smaller than like Provo, I think.  I am sure I have talked to everyone here at least once already. I really like that though, because it makes the president so accesible. Like a guy in my district was just super homesick and wasn’t getting the language at all, so he went and just talked to the president for like an hour and now he is doing great!

In my room we have me and my companion, 1 norte companionship and 1 latino companionship... they are both awesome! The older guys helped us get settled pretty well, and the latinos talk to us for like 20 minutes each night to give us a chance to practice our Spanish.

Umm what else...

Oh I am pretty sure I have lost 5 to 10 pounds... we have an hour to work out in the morning and I have been using that time like crazy. When the first few days were hard something familiar like an eliptical and weights were really nice, so I have been working out really hard. I think all of my fat is almost gone again so I will be able to start getting back into shape pretty quick. Today I took a break from training to play soccer with some Latinos, They kicked my butt in exchange, so then I showed them basketball and slayed them (they are really short). It was fun!

The Latinos are so humble!! holy crap, the ones in my room have one white shirt each that they iron every night. I thought about offering them a couple of mine, but they aren’t near my size. They make their beds perfectly each morning and are just super awesome and come from super humble circumstances.

Overall all is well.  I am starting to acclimate a little and trying to just stay focused.

Love you all,
Elder Davis

P.S.  I don’t want to sound to much like a missionary already, but you should read Alma 36:3. It is awesome and an elder in my district shared a story on how one night he randomly read it and prayed and it just saved his life. He went from wanting nothing to do with the church to taking steps to go on a mission, and here is, one of the most spiritual guys I know.

(Harrison is not in this picture.... so not sure which group this is- maybe he is the photographer... Haha)