Week 79 Feliz navidad y año nuevo

Great but weird week!!  

Talking home was awesome!! Even if it did take 4 hours to find a computer to call home with. haha 

Our Christmas party was awesome and we had mashed potatoes with our lunch so what else could I really ask for?! 

Christmas night was interesting. We ended up having tortillas with salt sprinkled on them for dinner because Pizza Hut was closed so there was no delivery and it was too late to leave the house for food. haha  It wasn't your traditional Christmas dinner, but it was chill hanging out with some other missionaries and just relaxing a little. 

Saturday we passed by everyone, inviting them to go to church. Sadly the tradition here is get drunk Christmas eve and then stay drunk until New Years, so we didn't have much success this week. haha

One super cool experience was when we showed up at Hermana Yolanda's house. She is a convert of about a year now and is probably 45 years old. About 5 months ago her mom died, and this was going to be her first Christmas without her. She felt so sad and alone and scared for a bunch of problems that were going on in her family that in the end she decided it would be better just to drink away the holidays like everybody else. She had just sent a kid to buy her some alcohol when we turned the corner walking towards her house. She quickly told the kid to come back and without telling us what had happened invited us in. We are teaching a son of hers and without even knowing the situation had planned to teach the Word of Wisdom. About halfway through the lesson we asked her what blessings she had received for obeying this commandment. At which point she broke into tears and explained to us that she had almost broke for the first time since her baptism. She cried as she told us she had been praying for God's help and when she had finally given up he sent his 2 little "white angels" to her house to protect her from falling into temptation. 

It's hard to describe the feeling you get when God sends you to answer someone's prayer. It's something hard to compare with any other feeling, something unforgettable. 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and had the chance to be the answer to someone's prayer this week, through an act of service. 

Love you all and thanks for your constant support!

Elder Davis

Pics:  Christmas punch we made, at an activity, tortilla Christmas dinner, and me passed out at the church after a super long night 

   

Week 78 Merry Christmas!!

This has been one of the most interesting weeks in my mission. Full of lots of things, but ended super awesome!! 

Tuesday we did service for a member who had planted a ton of corn on the side of a mountain... we woke up early and got to his field at 6 am and picked/hauled corn until 1:30 pm. It was exhausting but super fulfilling. The slope where he had planted the corn was so steep we kept falling and then sliding for a ways before being able to stop... it made the work harder but really fun at the same time. 

Thursday we gave service again and helped get the foundation going to add on to this persons house... pretty much just digging holes and mixing cement for a few hours, but lots of fun. 

Oh yeah and guess who is giving singing lessons to the branch... yup Elder Davis hahahahahahaha who would have ever thought... I am tone def. It's a long story but yeah just call me Elder Tune if you want (do you guys remember Elder Tune?? hahaha)

Sunday we had the district Christmas devotional. We headed out to San Vicente after church and got back around 8 that night. It was a fun trip and some investigators really liked the presentation. They talked about the classic Christmas stories and the importance of remembering our Savior this year. They invited everyone to give the gift of taking your own names to the temple this year to the Savior for Christmas. Really neat day. 

Well that's about it... Can't wait to talk on Christmas! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and can do at least one thing to serve someone else Christmas day!

love Elder Davis

Week 77 Changes!!!

Changes are always sweet because it gives you a chance to start fresh, start new goals, and get to know a new companion and area... but at times they are kinda hard as well. 

I am now in the beautiful hilly (honestly it is all hills- you are either walking up or down steep hills at all times... there is no flat) town of Sensuntepeque with Elder Gutierrez from Guatemala. 

It was pretty tough saying goodbye to San Miguel... I really love that place and had to say goodbye to some really great people, but I guess it was the will of the Lord and I'm excited to see what we can get done here. 

Our branch is one the smallest in the mission (about 30 attend sacrament meeting each week, about 15 in sunday school, and us 4 missionaries and 3 members stayed all the way through the 3rd hour haha) Last week the branch president turned his keys in and said he was done with the church, but its all chill because we got a new branch president this week... an RM who got home from the mission 2 weeks ago!! 

I'm pretty pumped though to see what the Lord has in store for us here. I kinda like being in little branches because you can see the fruits of your efforts a little more, and the other 2 missionaries in the branch are both good friends... President met up with me and Elder Durbin (he was ZL in the zone right next to mine in San Miguel so we worked a ton together) after the change meeting and pretty much told us, "save the branch and save your companions".  I didn't really understand what he meant until we got here. hahaha

Also side note, I have heated showers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't know those existed here. It's just this little electrical thing they hooked up to the shower head and it feels so good to feel hot water for the first time in almost a year and a half.  haha

So yeah that's pretty much it. I'm happy, pumped for the work and trying to get to know the area. 

Hope everyone is doing good,  and that you can give service to someone in some way this Christmas season. 

Love Elder Davis

Week 76

As always this week was awesome. Some tough moments as usual, but overall super great. 

Being in a trio has been really fun. It's hard to get teaching down, but I like both my comps so it was really cool. I'm going to miss it:(

So we did divisions with a member on Tuesday and my comp supposedly found a couple super positive people living in the same house. Apparently they both accepted baptismal dates, the invitation to go to the temple, and the invitation to go to church. He set another appointment for Thursday and all day Thursday he just talked to us about how great of a lesson it was going to be. So we get there and an old man welcomes us into the tiny house and when we ask if the people were there he told us to go ahead and pass to the next room where they were. As we walked in there was the lady (who was supposed to be super positive) a random man, and a male prostitute who was dressed and acted like a girl getting off the ground.... we were so shocked and it took us a second to take it all in... not to mention the vodka bottles that were on the floor. The lady tried to make an excuse, but almost fell over drunk and started looking for the pamphlet my comp had left with her in a bag full of not so great stuff that the prostitute brought. We left the house, turned the corner and my comp sat on the sidewalk so confused while me and my other comp just busted up laughing... it was probably one of the funniest moments in my mission!! None of us could teach another lesson afterwards so we just went and bought pupusas and tried to stop laughing at my companion who had been talking all day about how great a lesson it was going to be! :) The El Salvador mission life never gets boring!! hahaha

Other than that we had our temple trip Saturday. It wasn't as successful as last time because none of the wards had money at the end of the year to pay for buses and it is a big blow financially on these people to travel up to San Salvador, but the people that we got there had a great trip. We got home and then I had probably the most spiritual and one of the happiest moments in my life, but I'll tell you about it another time. 

I am going to have changes Wednesday and have no idea where I'm going or who will be my comp for Christmas so it should be fun. I'm really going to miss this area and San Miguel. It is by far my favorite area in the mission and I am leaving behind a bunch of people that I love like family... but I am happy to see where the Lord sends me. 

Love you all.  Hope you have an amazing week!

Elder Davis

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