June 26, 2017: Pretty Slow

HELLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO,

If you couldn´t tell by the full-caps subject line, this week was pretty slow. haha

I had a couple health issues going on. So I couldn´t work as much. But I am getting a lot better so don´t worry! Also, The last three days of the week was a huge Brasillian holiday here. It is called São João. It is commemorating Jogn the baptist. But, nobody really knows that. It is just a huge party weekend. The whole city shut down. Everyone just listens to suuuper loud music in the road and drinks beer. haha Pretty great. So during the night we didn´t have much success in the work. Everyone had huge parties or had travelled to a different city for the holiday.

We had a good time though. We ate lasagna one day! Also, I learned how to make really good rice. So I will be able to make that when I get home. Now I just need to figure out the beans.... hahah

But, I am loving it out here in the mission. Sorry that this week was pretty lame. I have just been a little under the weather, and would rather not get into the details. haha I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Davis

June 20, 2017: Uncle Josh

Hi everyone! Well this is going to be super super super short. hehe

So I went to go get my visa renewed. And..... I am still legal here. haha So that´s good. I had to travel to Salvador this weekend and get all that figured out. It was really fun though. I had a great time and got to see Elder Vander Werff and Elder Castlemain again! It´s the first time that we have been all together since the first day in the mission field! AND... I forgot to take a picture. haha DANG IT. It´s all good though. And now I gotta catch up to visit all the people that I couldn´t visit. 

On Sunday a returned missionary came to Valença because he served there. He brought his violin and I accompanied him on the piano. haha He played on all the hymns and he played very well. It was awesome. The spirit was super strong. 

I got a new companion last week. He is a great guy. We are getting along just fine and doing good work here in Valença. It is much better and easier to work.  Ednaldo´s surgery didn´t go as planned. So please pray for him. Hopefully he gets better soon to get out of all that pain. He hasn´t been able to come to church yet. 

So that is the week boys and girls. I will write more next week. 

Love,

Elder Davis

PS  I can´t believe that I am an uncle!! That is so crazy. ahhaa I can't believe Jordan is a father!

Holland Abigail Davis:)

June 12, 2017: Interesting Stuff

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone is doing great. This week was great here in the fair city of Valença. We had many cool experiences this week. 

Valenca

Well, the transfers came through. My comp will leave and my new comp will be Elder R Santos. I already served in the same district as him. I will send a pic of him later. A lot of people think he is weird and tease him. So I will try to be as nice as possible and help him out. He is a cool guy. Just a little different. 

So we had a service project this week with a member. We helped him move houses to the house next door. It was really nasty though. He was living in a very poor house, but it also seemed as though he hasn´t cleaned his house for a few years. We had to pull out a lot of rotting wood full of rat poop. The house was full of dust and had a strong smell of urine. Very gross. Anyways that took a solid 4 hours of work. I bruised my bicep when I was carrying the fridge. I think it is because I am so ripped. My skin just couldn´t control it. Unfortunately it turned into a big yellow mark on my arm. It looks like I have leprosy. Just kiddin. 

So after the Service project, my companion got sick. So we didn´t work as hard as usual. Then, the next day, all the rest of us got sick. So we have been sick for the past week. I think it was because all the nasty dust in that house. We are getting better though. 

Other good news...we met with Igor and marked his baptismal date for the 24th of June! He is super excited. He wants to make sure he receives an answer first though. Also, we met with Ednaldo and Maiana. We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My companion and I were super sick. We were sniffing the whole time. But, we committed them to baptism as well. They are very excited and eagerly accepted. So, they will be baptized on the 1st of July. Ednaldo also is going in for surgery tomorrow so be sure to pray for him to heal up fast! They are the coolest family. He wants me to get a Whatsup (an app that is like the messenger app on the iphone) to share art with one another when I get home. haha I am so happy I found a fellow artist. Send your prayers his way so that all can go well!

Happy Birthday Abby!

I have been studying in the Book of Mormon. In my reading, I studied 2 Nephi 2. It was really cool. It was a very interesting chapter. I invite all of you to read that. Nephi talks about Self-Mastery. Self-Mastery is learning how to master the temptations of the Natural Man. Very interesting. So give that a study this week and let me know what you all think! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Davis

June 5, 2017: Well Golly Gee Mister

HELLO,

This was a great week! I have had a lot of fun. One cool thing that is happening right now is that I have the opportunity to talk with an American! I was talking in english with him and everything. SO cool. haha He is a writer and is living on an island closeby. haha

She has a crush on me haha!

So this week had a couple of cool stuff. We went to a member´s house in a different city to help him clean out his water storage and motel. He lives right on the beach. So that was cool to see. And sad too... hahahaha That was quite the experience though! It was a tough clean! haha The storage is made out of fiber... I was leaning against it for a super long time and I got tiny little artificial hairs all over my body. It was itching for the whole rest of the day!

So our best investigators that we have right now are Ednaldo and Maiana. They are a married couple and have two kids. haha We have had amazing experiences teaching them. Every single time we teach them, the spirit is super powerful. We taught the Book of Mormon to them and they started crying. Also, Maiana said she received her answer to her prayer. She prayed on Sunday night to know if this was all true. The next day, on Monday, she picked up the Joseph Smith pamphlet to read it. Right when she picked it up, we passed by her work. I don´t even know where she works. hahah Definitely wasn´t planned. They are really great. The only problem that has came up is Ednaldo got super sick. He can´t really walk around and doesn´t sleep. He will go in for surgery this week I think. So pray for him that his health may improve! 

We also had a cool experience on Sunday. In the earlier part of the week, we were trying to get all our investigators to go to church. But, they couldn´t. I was worried that we wouldn't have any investigators come to church with us. On Saturday, I prayed for help. We planned and left for the day. We had a few lessons fall through and my companion suggested that we visit a man that we taught a while ago. We went there and taught him! It was great. When we invited him to church he said that of course he would go! We were super excited. The next morning, we left early and went to his house to walk with him to church. After 20 minutes of walking we got there, and he wasn´t there. That was rough. I was sad and confused. But, I knew that God helped us the day before. I was hoping and hoping that he would still show up. During the testimony meeting, out of nowhere he just walked into the meeting and sat down! I couldn´t stop smiling. haha It was so great. 

I have been studying a lot about Jesus Christ and his teaching that he gave us. Especially the acts that he did in the last week of his mortal life. I am amazed at His love and dilligence. I know that he lives. His presence is in all things. His light is the power that created all things. 

Love,

Elder Davis