January 27, 2018: Terminator of the Future: Brotas

HEllllooooo everyone,

This was another great week in the beloved Salvador!

Found Herbie's Sister Maria...

THis week was pretty normal, compared to the past two weeks. We didn´t have any meetings with president. President has been travelling for the week to the other zones to do the zone conferences. He decided to have us stay and work in our area. So we have been working hard. We met with him on Monday though to talk about all this. Also, President told us that Valença (one of my old areas) Is now a Branch! AND that Ednaldo was called as Second Counselor. SO that was awesome to hear. That made me super happy. 

Mayana and Ednaldo 

 We ended up spending all of Tuesday in the office finishing off these Number booklets. We did them earlier, but president wanted to make a couple of changes to make sure it was perfect for this year. So we fixed it all, printed it out, punched holes in the pages, and spiralled it up with that black plastic spiral. 

The rest of the week we worked hard and taught great lessons. Our group is growing and we are meeting new people. We visited a new member named Ana Rita and we met her husband, who isn´t a member... yet. We talked with him for a while and made a friendship with him through talking about Guitars and stuff. Then we talked about the First Vision. We showed the "Ask of God" First vision video and the spirit was very strong. We then taught him about it and bore our testimonies. We were almost crying. Pretty awesome. I hope that he gets baptized, that would really transform him and the family. 

Another great lesson that we taught that really hit me was when we were teaching a man named Omar. He is a member´s friend and is very friendly. He had previously told us that he is 'cold' towards churches and things like that. He stated that he was willing to hear our messages but that he wasn´t ready to go to visit any church. We entered into his house prepared to share the message of the Book of Mormon. However, the Spirit directed us to teach the Plan of Salvation. We taught it. It went super well. He believed it all and was very impressed with how much sense it made. He said that it was similar to the Spirit Religion to which he pertained. He liked it so much that out of nowhere he blurted, "You know what? I will go and visit your church. I need to see what it is like" So he told us he will go this Sunday and we will pass by his house to go with him. 

Yes there is Pizza in Brazil!

We also taught a lady named Edinivalda. She has been an investigator for a long time. She hasn´t been baptized because she had previously been living with a man. But, they got separated and she is able to be baptized. She accepted to be baptized but said that she wants to wait until March to resolve some things. She tried to convince her that she can be baptized much sooner but she wasn´t willing to change. Which can be a problem because she won´t tell us what it is that she needs to resolve. But we taught her and showed her the same video. It was cool. We bore our testimonies and then we talked to her how important it is to read the scriptures and pray every day and to go to church. We told her that these simple things will prepare her for baptism and that she will feel ready. So we made goals for her to fulfill each of these commitments. We will go to her house to take her to church as well. 

We have other investigators that we are teaching but these were the experiences and lessons that stood out to me. 

There are thousands of houses on top of these hills. It looks like a giant wall of houses.

This city, Brotas, is a tiny part of Salvador...it is the poor area. This is where we work:)

Those tiny little lines going down the hill of houses are 'roads'. It is like a labryinth down there. AND there are houses on top of one another. But different people live in every level. So it is super crazy. 

SO to explain the topic of the email. Our house in Brotas has been INFESTED with Cockroaches for years. IT is sooooo nasty. There was so many cockroaches.When we arrived we threw out a lot of the furniture and even the stove. Because it was all really old and fulll of baby cockroaches. We needed to call Midwest Pest Control. But I didn´t have their number. So we took this matter into our own hands. We bought a ton of cockroach poison dens and spread it through our whole house. So the cockroaches would walk into the dens take the poison and bring it to the hive. Then, all of the bugs would eat it and die. IT WORKED. hahaha Everyday, we would walk inside our apartment and see and least 100 dead cockroaches on the floor. It was like that for a whole week. haha

My companion Elder Thevenin does not like cameras

ALSO, this week I have focused my study on the Atonement. I have understood so much more about the doctrine, importance, and effect that it has on our lives. My mind has been opened.. a little. There is still so much that I don´t know. But, I recommend everyone to study this! It is something that every individual has to discover for him/herself. 

Anyways things are great. AAND geez this is a big email. My mom is going to be so proud of me. hahah You´re welcome mom! Also, shout out to my beautiful sister! She is gonna be 17 and is the best basketball player that I know. She super nice and if any boy is looking for a girl to date, She is the one! But, they just gotta talk to each of her brothers first to see if he is worthy of her. ;) hahahha Just kidding. BUT Happy Birthday Sally!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Davis

January 20, 2018: Good Morning BRASIL!

HEEELLOOOO Everyone! BOM DIA!.... Na verdade é boa tarde agora. Mas eu não comi então ainda é bom dia. 

HOW ARE YA ALL?

This has been a great, crazy week. Things are going really well over here in Salvador. I am liking the area Brotas. It is a good area and we are working hard to find new investigators and bring them to church. 

This week was full of field-work, office-work, and zone conferences. It was great. We had to stay in the office for a while finishing all the number booklets. We have reformed all of them to make them look better and be more useful. So I spent the whole time creating Excel documents and making it look all pretty. haha Then I went into the excel worksheet for the numbers of the whole mission and created a new one. The old one had a ton of bugs. So I had to learn how to do all the formulas and spent a good time doing all that. BUT it was cool because I figured out how to make it highlight all the numbers by itself. SO if the numbers are lower than usual they are marked red, and medium is yellow, standard-high is green. So that was cool. It´ll save us a lot of time. BUt yeah so Monday was full of that. It is the day that we stay in the office. The other days we are in the field. 

Good ole Brasilian Food!

Tuesday we had the Imbuí Zone Conference. It went well. We gave some trainings during it and at the end we watched the message from President Nelson. 

Wednesday we had the Salvador Zone Conference. ALSO went well. haha It was basically the same thing all over again. SO it was great. 

On these two days, the conferences went long so we only got to our areas at like 5 or 6:00 pm. Which kinda sucks. It is harder to find new people at night. The péople are less likely to let us in to teach them. But things are going well. 

My comp is awesome. He is a great elder and we are having a great time together. We are putting many new teaching techniques into practice. So it is going great. We also had a little family night I think on Sunday. I am sending a pic of that. The members are great here. We have been receiving many references from them. LOVE IT. haha 

Elder Thevenin (my comp) is on the left, than Elder Gomes, and Elder Antunes

SO this week I have studied about Jeffery R Holland´s last conference talk. Click here to read his talk.  Which talks about the fact that it is a long path to perfection. That we shouldn´t beat ourselves up. BUT ALSO, we also shouldnt let down our standards or stop with our righteous habbits. For example, perfection might take a lifetime or more. SO I shouldn´t beat myself up at every little mistake. However, I shouldn´t take it lightly either. We should always keep in mind the infinite sacrifice that our Savior endured for us. I think that getting too relaxed can be one of the biggest problems. We find so many inactive peopel and the reason that they are inactive is because of the simplest things! haha They stopped reading the scripures, they stopped praying individually and in family. It is sad to see that happen. But, I think that it all ties in to what he said. We can all give our best. Our 100 pence. 

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Davis

January 8-13th 2018: Transfers to Salvador

January 8th...Monday

Well, like I told you, this week was crazy. I had to pack up and leave my area super quickly. SO I just said goodbye to everyone and left! But, It was good. I will be serving in Salvador. I was pretty stressed about coming to my new area because I got some new responsibilities...President called me to be his Assistent. So I just have to do my very best. Yesterday during church, a lot of the testimonies and comments that I heard helped me out. So I am excited it will be great and I will work my hardest to do what is right. Well, like I said I don´t have much time today but I will write more on Saturday. 

My little friend...Vito Hugo

January 13th...Saturday

SO I am doing very well. I have been super busy this whole week with meetings and trainings and preparations for the trainings... yesterday was the first and only day that I have worked in my area.... hahah But I am loving it. 

Elder Prince and I

I got the package too!! I LOVED IT MOM!! THAT WAS SOOOO AWESOME. I can´t believe they have T-shirts from the Way of Kings. I am still eating all that candy (I really missed our candy..) It was awesome. Made my week! SO thank you all sooooo much! 

Candy "HIGH"!

My new companion is awesome. I love this guy. His name is Elder Thevenin. HE is from the Dominican Republic. He is really funny and a great Elder. We are working hard and had some amazing lessons yesterday. So that was great. I am learning a lot from him. The new area is great too. I want to just spend all my time in my area. I desire to just teach lessons all day and stuff. This next week will be better though and we will be able to do that. 

Our Zone's Christmas Presentation

I make a GREAT Joseph haha

I read an awesome talk that you guys have to read!  It is called "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane" by Bruce R. Mcconkie. It is an amazing amazing amazing talk. You will love it. I am sure you already heard it before but it is great to read again and to break it down part by part. LET me know what you think about it all! 

Click here to read this talk:)

SO yes, My pday is now Saturdays...Anyways, I hope you guys love the talk. It really helped me understand the atonement and all the doctrine of it all. Have a great week. 

Love,

Josh

January 2, 2018: Feliz Ano Novo!!

OLA!!!! TUDO BEM?!

How are you all? 

Wow... It feels like I only talked with you guys last year! 

Merry Christmas!!!

Well this has been a great week. First off, it was super great to be able to see you guys!!!! Yeah skype was great. Loved it. Yeah. That was great. Yep. Don´t need to say anything else. hahaah

Skyping with the Family on Christmas Day!

WELLLLLL let´s see so I don´t have that much time.... because yeah we have to hurry on this email so we can get back to work today.

Let´s see this week was great.... I guess like we said in the skype we have been playing basketball a lot. So I like that. It is super great. Love playing basketball. It really helps wake us up and stuff. BUUUT, for the whole week it has been rough because I have been pretty sick. Like I have a nasty cough.... So that sucks. But, it is getting better... haha I think. 

Also this week we have worked hard and found some great families. We found one that most of the family are members but they aren´t active. So we have been working hard with them to help them get active once again. We have had quite a few bible bashes with the 14 year old daughter though. It was pretty weird. haha. She kept trying to argue with everything we taught. But, it didn´t work. We still taught and she could´nt find an error in our lesson. But it was kinda annoying at times... hahaha

I was going on splits with another Elder and we knocked on doors and one person let us in and when we got in his house, he called his family to listen to the lesson and two ladies walked in wearing churchy clothes. I introduced myself and then one of the lady said "I´m PASTORA Eliane" She said it really haughtily. AND THE BIBLE BASH STARTED...... hahaha It was pretty great. Took forever. But, I just wanted to get out of that house!!!! But she wouldn´t let us and said that we believe in the doctrine of men and blah blah blah. Then at the end, she did a prayer with us and asked Jesus to bless us to get out of our church and all that stuff. It was pretty great. Loved that prayer..... hahahaah

So basically, we are working hard and having a good time. The transfer is next week, so we will have to see what happens. I think that I will leave this area though. 

I was listening to the Joseph Smith paper´s podcast. It was pretty sweet. It talked about what other people wrote and said about their first thoughts of Joseph Smith. It was SUUUPER interesting. It´s interesting to hear what they said. I think it was really cool that either the people said suuuper good things about him and proclaimed that he was a prophet of God. OR they said super rude, terrible things about him. So it was the two extremes. Which, follows the law of opposition. AND it is just like what people said of our Savior. The said that he was either The Christ or that he has evil spirits and didn´t do miracles. So I feel like that is proof that Joseph was a prophet. That he really was a man of God. I hope all that makes sense..... 

Have a great WEEK!

Love,

Elder Davis

December 18, 2017: One Touchful week!

GOOOD MYTHICAL MORNING,

This week was fantabulous. hahah We had a great time!

So this week we have been doing a little more work outs.... so that was fun. We started running to the chapel 6am to play basketball for a little bit. So that has been fun. Definitely good for our bodies. 

SOOOO this week was full of good work. We worked super hard and met some great new people. 

We have been teaching a lady called Irmã Julia. She is our convert´s mom. She is the coolest lady ever. haha She is so joyful and faithful. She told us her life story and MAAAAANNNN she has been through sooooo much stuff. BUT she just kept fighting. Now she´s like in her fifties and lives with her daughter and son. Her son is a special needs child. He is completely bed-ridden. He is 35 and needs constant attention. So for 35 years this women has stayed at home, unable to do what she wants, to take care of her son. Changing his dipers, feeding him, washing him, and so forth. Yet, she has soooo much love for her son and is always happy. I found that a miracle. We have had some great talks about all that she has went through. I think it is awesome that because of her son, she has become such an amazing woman. So that was one of the highlights of the week. TO be able to hear her testimony and learn from her example. The hard part... is that we can´t get her to church... because she can´t leave her son... ALL day she stays home and does sewing to earn money to pay for the bills and food. SO we are trying to find a way to make this all work. BUT, either way, we want to help her understand the importance of the restoration and help her testimony grow. 

ALSO, Friday was pretty fun. We had an exposition in the morning. So we did a ton of contacts, and then at night there was the ward Christmas party. That was also fun.... kinda. We kinda just greeted everyone and then ate some food and left. BUT it was awesome. 

UMMMMMMM welll what else... with the Christmas money I bought two ties, one for me and one for my companion. AND we bought some watches. I have used it to help buy some food and stuff for the Cape Verdian Elders too. So far it has been going well. 

Yeah so this week was great... I don´t have much more to report. But we are working hard and having a great time. My comp and I are getting along. He just is a little touchy.... so that is getting on my nerves. I gotta talk to him about that. hahahaha Good ol missionary life. 

WHELP, I love you all! Have an amazing week and a great CHRISTMAS... I am very excited for skype nexxt week!

LOVE YOU,

Elder Davis