15 July 2013

Dear Family,

This has been kind of a slow week. It seemed like every house we went to the person wasn't there or had something going on so we couldn't teach. We did teach; it just wasn't our best week.

We did have a baptism on Thursday, which was perhaps the highlight of the week. On Wednesday, I went to ward council for the first time. I could only kind of follow what was going on, but I did pick up on the fact that people in the meeting were not shy about speaking their mind.

Remember the young man who got baptized a few weeks ago? He started coming to church because one of our investigators, Walter, invited him. This week, Walter got permission from his father to get baptized, so we're going to come full circle.

Today we deep cleaned the apartment. The thing about concrete floors is you can slosh water everywhere. You don't have to worry about getting the carpet wet or anything. Concrete floors are also useful because you can hang your laundry to dry inside. Once a week I give my skirts and shirts to someone that I pay to wash my clothes, but I wash my white clothes on my own. So I'm pretty much pro. Okay, not really. My current companion has been washing clothes by hand most of her life and she actually knows what she is doing.

Another thing I am learning is that everyone here is related. Either by blood or marriage, there are a lot or family ties within the ward! I am also discovering that there are a lot of inactive people. Yesterday we visited a member. Her friend was there. When I asked if she was a member, she initially said no, and I thought that we had found a potential investigator. As it turns out, she had been baptized years ago, and then she started going to another church, and now she isn't going to any church. I am starting to think that we should just work on rekindling the testimonies of people who have already been baptized. We would have our work cut out for us and our schedule full. But we should probably also give new people a chance to hear the gospel.

Hna. Davis

8 July 2013

Dear Family,

The days, hours, and weeks kind of blur together, so Monday mornings I pull out my journal to help me remember the highlights of the week.

This week we worked on getting to know our area. Two different evenings, one of the members of the ward who has lived in the ward forever took us around and showed us where different members, active and less so, lived. What I really want is a ward directory, complete with addresses and phone numbers. However, addresses don't really exist here. The streets don't have names. The main area where we've been working is divided into five sectors, but that only helps some. You still have to be able to understand directions that include reference points like pulperias, riverbanks, trees, and other landmarks. As of yet my Spanish limits my ability to give or understand directions!

Thursday we had a rather amusing experience. We were getting ready to start our lesson and we had selected Asombro Me Da (I Stand All Amazed) as the song we were going to sing. Then the investigator whipped out his accordion that he uses in his church. The thing is, he plays by ear, not by reading notes. So he more or less accompanied us, doing his best to learn as we went. The effect was not reverent, but it was amusing! Hna Aju and I struggled to keep straight faces.

Also, this week my flip flop broke. Eventually I'll get around to replacing, but for now it's holding on with a rubber band. I drew inspiration from Heidi fixing a flip flop for a friend in like manner.

This week was kind of a struggle. We're losing some of our investigators, and we need to find new ones. It's hard to watch some of them slip away.

I love you all. I hope you have a great week. Thanks for your prayers. You are in mine too.

Love, Hermana Davis

With Hermana Aju at Change Meeting

Liquado with Hermana Orgill

1 July 2013

Dear Family,

My companion's name in Hna Aju. She is from Guatemala and has been on her mission for about 15 months. It has been a hard first week of this transfer. With Hna Nuñez gone and a new companion who doesn't know the area, I've been the one who has to know where to go, who to visit, what lessons we need to teach and to whom. In addition, I feel like a lot of our attempts to teach have fallen through (people not home, etc.) I only have a short list of key investigators that I really know to look for, and a small handful of members that I both know and know where they live. As a result, we've spent more than a little time wandering the streets as I wrack my brain to think where we can go and my companion asks the same question. It's been a little discouraging.

Without Hna Nuñez, I am slowing discovering that I have a little more language facility than I thought. I've had to talk more to our investigators and the members since Hna Aju doesn't know them. As a result, I am learning to swim a little more. On Sunday I taught the class for new converts and investigators. I taught the chapter on prophets from Gospel Principles. In Spanish. And I also survived. (Hna Nuñez had been doing it, so it fell to me, but we really need to ask for someone in the ward to be called!)

On Sunday we got a new ward mission leader, and for the first time we met with our ward mission leader. I hope having an added level of coordination with the ward will help us surmount some of our other difficulties.

We met our new mission president Friday. I believe Thursday was the changing of the guard in the mission. Anyway, Pres Klein and his wife came to our zone. They shared some thoughts and then Pres Klein had brief getting-to-know-you interviews with each of us. He's really nice and so is his wife. His wife has a blog she started when she and Pres Klein were called to serve. I've been to it before, but I can't remember what it's called.

Love, Hermana Davis