January 9, 2017: Life in Ilheus!

Hows it going everyone?!?

This week was good! and kinda boring to explain maybe...haha

This is a picture of my favorite investigators in Porto Seguro Sandro e Joice

But lets start off with my companion. My new companion is Elder Fernades. He is a really really cool guy! He is very crazy... but it's awesome. He likes to do croquet.. I think that's how you spell it. (Like when you use a needle and thread and make scarves?) Well he made a pretty awesome pink scarf.. lol!!! Also he is really good at making dream catchers! haha Yeah, also, he is 24 and he has been a member of the church for 2 years. His girlfriend introduced him to the church, he proposed to her and then went on the mission. With less then one month out, she sent a "dear John" and ended things with him.. hahaha But it's all good now. He has a year out on the mish so now he just jokes around about it.

A weird photo of my comp I just edited on my camera.

SO in the week.....

I got to Ilheus on Tuesday. The house is pretty big because there used to be 4 missionaries there but now it's just us. LETs see, so there´s a senior couple that was gonna come to our house on Saturday and check out and see if our house is clean. haha So we literally cleaned EVERY DAY until Saturday morning. hahah we deep cleaned EVERYTHING. It kinda sucked guys. But we made it! We survived!  Also, the first day my companion didn't have any clean shorts so he just put a shirt on his legs... I'll send a pic. hahaah it was really really funny. 

There is his beautiful bottoms....haha...and he is very short!

Well, also my comp got sick so we went to the doctors. So that sucked we were there for 4 hours... hahhaha The only other notable thing this week happened on Sunday at church... So first of all sacrament meeting was very irreverant. People were getting up and walking around all over the place. It was weird... we are gonna work on that. haha Also, at the end of church in the priesthood room there were two brothers in there. One of them wanted to leave, the other didn't... So the one that wanted to leave got really mad, yelled at him and then started a fist fight... In the church! It was like punching the face, choking each other fist fight. Really ugly. Anyways they got pulled apart but it was weird man. haha So hopefully that doesn't happen again here. But I´m doing good everyone! I hope you all have a great week! Take time to remember Christ EVERY DAY.

This is a pretty good sunset... I have seen way better but never had my camera with me. haha

Love-
Elder Davis

December 25, 2016: Skype with Josh!

Christmas Skype!!!

Today we got to Skype with Josh!  The wifi connection was pretty bad so most of our call we just listened to his voice!  At the end of the call we were able to get this video of him bearing his testimony in Portuguese!

January 2, 2017: The Best Year of My LIFE!

Welll Hello Everyone!!!

2017!!!! This year is gonna be so awesome!! My lucky number is 17!!!!!! So this year has gotta be the best year of my life! haha

This week has been very lame. It was the last week of the transfer. Being the last week my companion got very lazy. He slept in a lot more and he didn't work as hard. I decided not to get mad at him because I didn't want his last impression of me to be that we got in a lot of fights. I shouldn't have done that. I should've stood up for the rules and guidelines of the mission. Anyways while he would sleep in more I studied and then studied some more and other times just sat and thought. I hate doing nothing out here on the mission. I hate wasting my time. It's pretty funny because before the mission it didn't really matter but this time is the Lord´s. Anyways let me fill you in on the highlights of the week.

Monday. We played ping pong and some card games. haha It was really funny. We didn't have a ping pong table but we made it work. It was very ghetto but it was fun. 

Playing Ping Pong

Tuesday I watched the District and finished my 12 weeks of training. We did a lot of verifications. There's a huge number of inactive members in our area. So we went around trying to find them and figure out why they stopped coming to church. We are trying to reactivate all that we can. So that was a good productive day. 

All the other days seemed to merge together.... hahaha It went by very slow and I was a little miserable. I will never let something like this slide again. But this week I did talk to my companion again. I basically lectured him for 45 minutes that he has gotta change and become better. I felt the spirit while doing it though and afterwards he wasn't mad at me for it. I believe that he is now inspired to better himself. He said that he has made some goals and he is going to change. I guess I don't know how much he will change but that fact that he is willing to put in some effort is worth it. New Years Eve was also good. During the night it was as if the whole city either left or was drinking. I guess in the center of town they had a lot of parties and concerts and a lot of other people went to the beach to pull an all nighter. So we visited a member and then spent the night at Elder J. Sousa´s house. He is such a cool guy and a really good friend. We played some card games and stuff. It was pretty cool. 

A donut thingy I found. It isn't as good as normal donuts!

So also, I am getting transferred. I am going to Ilheus and my companion will be Elder Fernandez. AND I am officially a FULL missionary!!! My training is OVER!  BOO YA! haaha Well that's it for this week. Pretty lame. But I did learn a lot from Jesus the Christ too. My testimony of Him continues to fortify. I know He lives and loves EACH and EVERY one of us. Love you guys!

Love

Elder Davis

December 26, 2016: Merry Christmas

Oi boa tarde! 

I hope your Christmas was great! I had a great week this week. I think that my letter might be a little shorter this week because I did skype. But either way there´s some good stuff to talk about.

SO one of the biggest things that happened.... was on Monday. Monday night, right before we went to sleep, me and my companion was in bed and I finally got the courage to talk to him about his problems and how he needs to change. I talked for awhile and said that he needs to be a better example for me. And that he has to think about why he is here on the mission and basically be a better missionary. I was worried he would be mad. But he just went to sleep. The next few days he changed his ways bit by bit and told me that he is going to change to be a better example for me. SO that was good! 

Really cool sunset!  Reminded me of Way of Kings a bit!

On Tuesday, we had a very very spiritual lesson. It was for our investigator Henrique. The previous appointment we left him with the commitment to read the first 16 pages of the Book of Mormon. Because the prophet promised that if we do, we will know the book is true. He hadn't read it. So, my companion looked to me to decide what to say. I paused for a bit. I was literally just talking from the promptings of the spirit. I talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is to read it. After I said that he is invited to read the first 16 pages if he wants to. It shouldn't be just like homework for him. I told him he needs to read it with real intent. I also challenged him to start every study with a prayer. The spirit was really strong. And after my companion bore his testimony about everything too. It was really cool. After he said that he made a goal and if he keeps this goal until Friday he will be baptized. 

The next few days we taught other lessons and he wasn't home until Friday (so we werent able to visit him). Friday afternoon, we went there and talked with him. He said he will be baptized and that he wants me to baptize him. It was really cool. So then on Saturday we had the baptism and it went great. 

Baptism of Henrique

This is the same day but with the other Elders and their investigator too.

Sunday he came to church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I also gave a talk in church. It went very well the spirit was strong and a few people were crying. I hadn´t even prepared anything. But, they really liked it and said it had helped them out alot. So that was my week. 

Oh, one funny story, on Thursday we had Mutual, and we played Ninja with the members after the lesson. AND, I accidentally stepped in a bag of vomit. So it was super stinky and my shoe and sock got vomit on them. Why was the bag there? I have no idea. A lot of people just put there trash in bags on the side of the road because they don't have those big trash cans. So that really sucked. But it was funny too. Anyways, that was my week! It went by really fast and was really great. Sorry my email is a little bit shorter this week, but we are having problems with the wifi. It keeps failing. haha First world problems right? 

Here we fit 6 people in the back of a tiny car. It's basically like a taxi but a smaller crappier car. Luckily I was in the front.

Anyways I hope you all can think more about Christ this week. I think a cool principle is that we show our love for Christ through our actions and through our obedience. So reflect on what you can do better in your lives to show that love you have for Christ. Love you all!! And have a great New Year!

Love, 

Elder Davis

December 19, 2016: FAT

Hello All....

I hope everyone is doing good. I am doing great. haha This week though was for the most part pretty lame... not sure what to even write about. I will do my best though. 

SOOOO to start it off, on Monday we played more soccer... and im getting a lot better. I still suck compared to the brazillians, but I'm making improvement. haha So that's good. I think the highlight of Monday was when we got home. When I walked in, there was a tiny lizard in our house. SO naturally, I went for my blowgun. Because, who knows, it could've been poisonous. So I took a shot at it, kinda as a joke, and I actually hit it! So it kinda died. I know! I'm a terrible person. For all you vegetarians out there, I'm sorry I'm wasting good meat! But I kinda just threw him out to the rabid dogs! I did take a picture though!!! That is actually probably the highlight of the whole week... I felt like one of those naked indians I saw on the history tour!

Dead lizard that I killed with my blowgun!

 ANYWAYS, Tuesday... Tuesday was good a little weird though with Elder Ferreira. We didn't have lunch so we met up with Elder J Sousa and ELder R Santos to make food. Me and Elder R Santos bought it all because they didn't have money. After, Elder R Santos told my comp to hold the groceries and he just smiled and said no. SO I was like, dude you gotta do something, if you don't help you don't need to eat. And Elder R Santos said the same thing. AND he said, OK I won't eat then..... I thought it was a joke but we made dinner and he didn't eat. He just laid in bed. Really weird. haha But after that it was fine, the day went well. 

Drawing of my brother Hunter!

On wednesday we had splits and I went with Elder J Sousa in his area. He is such a cool guy. He's one of my best friends out here. I hope I get to be comps with him. AND then...the rest of the week was kinda lame. Because on Thursday I woke up with Huge fat lip, Diarrhea, a fever and a headache! So that sucked! So we didn't work that hard... President said to just take it easy. SO I was like that until Saturday... 

Some kind of bug bit me and gave me a fat lip!

Then Saturday, we had a baptism! It was great! I baptized Kalebe. He is a 9 year old child of a less active... so it was a quick teaching process but it was still a good baptism. I had to baptize him twice because I said the wrong words the first time.. hahaa. Then on Sunday, we went to his house to pick him up for the confirmation and he wasn't home... So we told his mom if she can make it by the 2nd hour we could still confirm him. (the second hour is our sacrament meeting) HE SHOWED UP. It was awesome. I wanted to jump with joy. hahaha But it was great. SO that was my week my friends. Pretty nifty. 

Baptism of Kalebe

Also, Christmas is coming up! I love this time out here because we testify of Christ even more! I know He lives and loves each one of us! Keep that in mind this holiday!!! AND..... MERRRY CHRISTMAS YA FILTHY ANIMAL!

Love,

Elder Davis

December 12, 2016: Monkey Business

Ola! Tudo bem amigos??

Esta semana foi muito bem. A gente teve uma conferencia de zona para Natal. So yeah we had a conference for Christmas with our zone. It was good! It was basically just training and stuff for the most part but it was good. That was definitely the highlight of the week. And I saw monkeys, in REAL LIFE so that was pretty freaking legit. 

But, anyways to start it off, last P day we played some more soccer and stuff. really cool. I can't even find the words about how much I love soccer. Brincadera!  It sucks! haha But it still is fun. Basically I'm just not very good at soccer but I still play and have a good time every time. haha But yeah that was pday. And I didn't feel like taking pictures of people kicking a ball around so I don't have pictures for this week..... hehe!

Tuesday I´m gonna be honest... I don't remember what happened.. OH I did share a good message of being a light of the world with an inactive family. It was great. The spirit was really strong and I think they are slowly starting to change. 

Wednesday the AP came down and did splits with us. He is an american from Texas. We still talked in Portugues but he was really cool and it was fun to talk to him and learn from him. AND we did a service project!  We cleaned 8 dogs. ONE MEMBER owns 8 DOGS! I don't understand. But yeah we cleaned all of them. It only took like an hour. 

Thursday was basically just full of training.. It was good but long. We woke up earlier and went to the center and had the zone conference. After training we had lunch and went to the history center. But I already went there. So it was kinda just a repeat. Then we went to a museum of the history of how Brasil started in Porto Seguro. All of the pictures were suuuper blown up pictures from like Wikipedia so it was pretty ghetto looking. But for some people it was probably kinda interesting. And there was a tent building about the indians and it just had a bunch of pictures of naked indians. I guess they didn't believe in clothing. So us, as missionaries, weren't really sure what to look at. Especially with the Mission President right there with us... hahaah But we got through it. lol The best part was I saw monkeys! They were trying to eat a baby bird though... so that was kinda messed up. haha Then we did a white elephant and for my gift I bought 10 packs of ramen noodles and wrapped them up. It was pretty funny. I got a rubix cube. So I'm trying to figure that thing out without throwing it against the wall.... 

Friday we did freak.. I cant even remember.... I think we taught some lessons... then we had family night and played Ninja. I taught the Brazilians Ninja and now they are obsesssed with that game. hahaa its pretty funny. 

Saturday was lame because we really didn't do much. My companion was in a bad mood. So we are working on that. Also, the guy that was supposed to be baptized didn't show so that was kinda rough. I think this next week we will have 2 baptisms though. 

Sunday we had a District conference (and it was a translation) and Elder Holland talked. At first he tried talking in Portugues but then spoke the rest in english with someone translating it all. It was good though! After that we had to go ask all the members for them to make lunch for us because we didn't have any food. Luckily, a nice lady made food for 4 starving members and we were saved. haha 

So all in all this week was good! It just went by really fast. Kinda weird. It was really cool this week testifying of Jesus Christ. Reading Jesus the Christ, I have learned sooooo much about Him. I'm so grateful for his love for all of us!

Love

Elder Davis

December 5, 2016: Boa Tarde!!

Boa Tarde!!!

How is it going everyone? I hope life is great for you guys. This week has been a crazy one. I gotta say... it´s been a little challenging with my new companion... but it´s alright. I´m learning to love him and have patience for him. 

SOOOOO Monday... we went and played a card game called President. It is pretty fun. haha And I always was the president. I just am too good I guess. Afterwards, we went to the center and played some more soccer. So nothing crazy cool. So I didn't take anymore pictures..... Sorry guys. I will take some next time... There was a freaking beautiful sunset this week and I didn't have my camera so I couldnt capture it. But maybe I will start bringing my camera around with me so I can take more pics. idk

Tuesday... This was the interesting day.... In the morning Elder Ferrera was kinda grumpy and I was kinda grumpy too. We didn't have anyone make us lunch so we went to Elder J. Sousa´s house to make Macarrao. We were there pretty long becuase we had some troubles with cooking. it was like 2:00 already so we needed to get going. So I went to get Elder Ferrera and he was trying to take a nap in a bed. I told him that we needed to go and get work done. He didn't really like that and got really mad.... I will send a voice memo describing it. But yeah so the whole day he was mad at me and I was just basically not talking to him. I wasn't rude I just kinda shut off socially. haha It was awkward. 

Luckily, Wednesday was better.... hahha we had a Zone Conference early in the morning. It was good. I got my suit finally. haha So that was sweet! After the zone conference I started talking to Elder Ferrera about the mission and his goals and my goals and stuff and kinda got him to change his views about everything. We got closer and he decided to work a little harder and help train me better. Because he's kinda a slacker... He just doesn't have the best work ethic. He has a lot of potential though. He is a really good teacher for the investigators. haha

Thursday and Friday were good. Not a ton happened. I don't even know what to write every week guys to be honest... hahaha I'm waiting for another crazy story. But with our investigators we are doing great. We have a batismo this week for an investigator named Berg. He is pretty cool. He was really easy investigator but yeah this week he will be baptized. Next week we have at least one more baptism for a young boy named Kaleb. Also, this month our investigator named Henrique will be baptized and another one named Aline. Also, it´s possible that we can help more people out too. Those are our best investigators though. So pray for them to continue to progress and to recieve the holy ghost in their lives. 

This week we have passed out Christmas promotion cards for the church. It is about being a Light to the World. I think this is a great thing to do in our lives. There is always so much each of us can do to improve the lives of the people around us. I have made it a goal to be more Christlike and to do everything I can to improve the lives of the people here in Baianão. I believe that is the most important thing we can do in our lives. Baptisms are good. But the most important is to come unto Christ and through our examples and actions others will come unto Him as well. So that is my biggest thing I am focusing on here. However, it isn't something that is exactly measurable so it's hard to report it every week for you guys. But honestly, I know that Christ lives. Every time I try to be more like him, my relationship with him grows, and everytime, I am amazed at the sacrifice Jesus did for us. So I think during this time of Christmas, all of us can do something to come unto Christ better, to be better followers of him. I know he is our Savior. He lives!

Love,

Elder Davis