Week 75 "HOY"

A little San Miguel culture fact in case you choose to visit some day... when approaching a friend or answering a call, etc. You generally will shout, "HOY!" in a high pitched voice before begining to talk.... I have been a while here in San Miguel now and I have kinda got used to doing it so just be prepared if I do it when I get home. It's not that I'm shouting at you... Its a good thing:) 

This week was crazy! We couldn't work Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday we had some tough responses from investigators that had been progressing. It's really sad to see people turn away from the spirit they had felt, but not much we can do at this point.

Friday and Saturday was the carnival of San Miguel. This thing is HUGE. All of us missionaries here had to go to other cities to work because the entire city converts into a huge party. Everyone goes... We met quite a few people this week from the states and other central american countries who had come in for the carnival. We went to work with the assistants and got to sleep in air conditioning for 2 nights so it was awesome. 

Sunday we went to church and then visited all the investigators we hadn't been able to visit all week. Sadly not many had progressed without us there, but a few have gotten kinda far into the Book of Mormon so that made us happy. 

This next week we are praying that the ward helps out with divisions so we can get a bunch of stuff in, but not quite sure who will be willing to help us, so pray that the ward members want to visit this week with us!!! 

Thanks for everything, hope you all have a great week!

Elder Davis

My new comp Elder Acosta (we are in a trio) super cool guy... we talk baseball a ton so its awesome. But he is a Yankee fan/ Jeter worshiper  (he's from Penn) so generally we will could never be best friends haha

Week 74

Sorry I couldn't write yesterday... but president gave me 15 minutes to write today. 

Overall a good week, finished it off with another sweet wedding... but really I should be a wedding planner when I get back because I would make bank.  hahaha

And now I'm in a trio.. they sent us another elder... he's a cool guy so we are happy and hoping we can do lots of divisions and cover more ground. 

Everything is going great. Thanks for all your emails and pictures!!

Love Elder Davis

Week 73 I am exhausted

I am soooooo tired right now. The latest we woke up this week was 5:00 am and the earliest was 

3:00 am... I just want to find my hammock and pass out!!! 

But actually this week was super awesome (but exhausting)!!

Tuesday we spent all day looking for a house for a new area they were opening zona San Miguel!! We walked from lunchtime until 7:00 pm, and finally found one!!! 

Wednesday we went to the changes meeting and they sent a ton of sisters to our zone!!! We are now almost half sisters and half elders.... sisters are way more loving and can do so many things that us as elders are just incapable of doing... but having a zone full of sisters can sometimes be such a headache. I may have grey hair in a couple more months but then maybe mom wouldn't feel so bad when she finds grey hair so maybe its not all bad! haha

Thursday we tried to move the sisters into the new house we found for them, but the owner practically turned into a big jerk and changed a ton of terms and they couldn't move in and I had to waste $10 dollars of minutes to call the United States because that's where the owner is illegally living right now. Finally we just paid a guy to come take all their stuff and throw it in the other sisters house. 

Friday we went to San Salvador for leadership council. It was such a good meeting!! Inspiration and revelation are so real! 

Saturday we tried to cram a week of work into 1 day. It was a super great day. 

Sunday- we woke up super early and moved the sisters into the house a terrible investigator, but great friend found for them. Went to church, and then did a baptismal interview... another great day. 

Today we rented a bus and all headed out to Alegria Laguna... a sweet little lagoon about an hour from San Miguel where we played soccer and welcomed all the new people to the zone. Super great p-day.

I'm happy, healthy,etc. 

Have a great week! and thanks for everything

Love Elder Davis

Week 72 Another change in chapa

We just got the changes call and it looks like my comp and I are sticking together here in Chaparrastique, San Miguel! We are excited because things are all good here. 

Sunday was a great day full of great experiences. It all started when we went to get investigators in the morning and take them to church. We left earlier, but found nothing but 4 closed doors. We got to the chapel about 5 mins before the meeting started and not a single investigator was there. The bishop asked us to bless the sacrament and so we went to sit on the stand. As we began singing the first hymn I began to pray. I was pretty upset with myself for not having any investigators there... and more than anything was asking for forgiveness (a few months ago a 70 came to our mission and one of the things he said is that if we don't have investigators in sacrament meeting we need to be on our knees begging forgiveness). I felt pretty bad and was trying to come up with ideas of things I could have done differently to have had people there. As the opening prayer finished I felt peace come over me, like God was telling me he was content with my work and everything would be ok. Before we knelt down to bless the sacrament more investigators than I have ever had in this area showed up to church. It was an awesome and humbling experience that helped remind me no matter what I do, without the help of God I will never succeed. 

Other than that we found a few super great investigators and I went an entire week without eating chips to prove to my comp that I'm not addicted. A new investigator has a new BMW 7 series and he asked if I had a license and then offered to let me take it to San Salvador for changes Wednesday (probably the biggest temptation I've had on my mission haha) because he lived in California and said California drivers are the best. Wasted 2 hours fighting with a Jehovah witness because he offended my comp when my comp couldn't find a scripture and then we just let lose and attacked him with scriptures, ate some of the corn that we planted last change, and played a ton of soccer!

Overall another great week filled with blessings!

Super excited to see who comes into the zone this change!! Hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Davis

Week 71 Day of the Dead

This week was awesome. We got an email Wednesday giving the details of what our mission president wanted for the Day of the Dead activity Sunday and yesterday. It was crazy getting everything together! For Day of the Dead everyone in this country goes to the cemeteries and visits the graves of their ancestors or family members that has died. Last year nearly all of us missionaries had nothing to do because nobody was in their houses to teach, so this year we decided to go where the people were.. the cemeteries.

We got permission from the government (most cemeteries here are owned by the gov.) but some bureaucratic dweeb told us we could only do it Sunday because Monday the cemetery gets to full... So my companion and I spent nearly an entire day in the town hall complaining to anyone who would listen... finally the mayor got to work and we told him if he loved Jesus and wanted any christian (the entire world here is christian) to vote for him ever again, he would let us do our activity. hahaha Maybe he didn't know all other churches pretty much hate us but he bought it and gave us permission to do the activity both days:) 

In the end we had stands all over all the cemeteries in San Miguel with tons of information about the plan of salvation and family history. It was a huge success and we had hundreds of references!! The spirit of Elijah touched the hearts of so many and we are so excited to start contacting a lot of these positive people! 

Great week that ended even better! 

Hope everyone is doing well

Elder Davis