28 April 2014

Hello Family!

So I sent a lot of pictures this week. So that means I only have to write a short letter, right?

This week has been a roller coaster. We had one day where we only managed to teach two lessons. It seemed like everything fell through that day. (Keep in mind that the mission goal is an average of five or more lessons per day.) But the next day we were able to teach eight times! (Not unheard of, but not something we manage every day).

On Saturday, Nery came to a baptism in the ward, but we still can't get him to come to church. He reads what we leave...we aren't quite sure what's holding him back from coming to church on Sundays! That's kind of where we are at right now. We teach lots of people, both members and investigators, but we struggle to help them take the step to go to church. (In the case of investigators to go to church for the first time, and in the case of so many members to become members who go to church consistently.)

Any ideas? What blessings have you seen, specifically associated with observing the Sabbath day and going to church? Maybe something you have seen will transfer into something we can share with members and investigators as we teach.

I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful week!  And just so you know, I still go running with cows in the mornings. (Well, I go running every morning, and depending on where we go running sometimes there are cows.)

Love you all!

Hermana Davis

21 April 2014

Dear family,

Thanks for the Easter wishes. Hna Lopez and I crafted an Easter message that we shared with some of the members as I went to meet them. But other than that we didn't do much in the way of Easter festivities. The strangest part was that Sunday was just a normal Sunday. The talks weren't focused on the Atonement and Resurrection, and we didn't sing the Easter hymns. I missed that. 

This week was Semana Santa, which means that just about everyone goes to the beach or out of town if they have the chance. It meant it was a somewhat challenging week to find and teach people. Friday especially, the streets were empty. Only the missionaries (us) were crazy enough to be out walking in the streets. Since I'm new in the area, we took some time to visit the members who live in our area, as well as a few members who live in the area of the other sister missionaries. We shared our message about the life of the Savior, talking a little about his birth and ministry, but especially about his Atonement and Resurrection. 

In the mornings we go out running, and sometimes we share the road with cows (Grandpa would like my area). A few days a week members invite us to lunch or dinner, but aside from that we're going to be doing our own cooking. We'll see what we dream up. Dinner is sometimes just a repeat of breakfast, but lunch has to be a little more substantial so that we can hold up under the sun the whole afternoon. 

On Thursday, I met Nery. He is a short little man (about 1 meter), who fixes shoes. When we showed up, he showed us that he had not only read his pamphlet of the Restoration, but had answered the questions that are in the back. Keep in mind that I have only had one other investigator who answered the questions in the pamphlet. We weren't able to really teach a lesson with Nery because he had visitors.

On Saturday we went to teach Ricardo, who is an inactive member of the Church. He has a small workshop fixing bicycles. When we arrived, Alexis, who works there too, said he would join us for the lesson. At the end of the lesson, I offered Alexis a pamphlet of the Restoration. He said that he had already answered the questions in the back. He had done the favor for his cousin--Nery. Wow! It turns out Nery wasn't quite as diligent as he claimed, but we have a new investigator who has already studied the message of the Restoration. It was amusing and at the same time gave me hope that we'd found someone that the Lord has been preparing.

Love,

Hermana Davis

16 April 2014

Dear family,

Today was transfers, and I am now writing from my new home for I don't know how many months. I am once again in the Lima! In El Porvenir. It's my fourth area in this stake.

I was pretty sure I was going to be transferred, but I thought that I would stay in Palermo until Wednesday morning. But Monday afternoon we got a phone call from the assistants. They told us that Tuesday we were going to go to the airport to greet the new missionaries and that I should bring my suitcases with me. So I spent the rest of Monday saying some hurried goodbyes. I finished off the evening with a family home evening with Hna Lesly, her family, accompanied by Hna Hilda and her kids. It was my last chance to try to leave something that would help one of my converts and the rest of her family. I shared Alma 37:6.  

´´Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.´´

From there I invited them to keep doing the small and simple things that will keep them progressing (Prayer, scripture study, family home evenings, going to the temple when they can). I hold onto the hope that if Lesly stays strong in the gospel that one day Rides will follow her example!

Monday night I did a hurried job of packing. Tuesday morning we took my luggage and went to La Paz. From there we went to the airport to greet the new missionaries. (5 Elders, 5 Sisters) I never thought I would go back to the airport during my mission; it was a little strange to be there, remembering what it was like to be so very new. It was also different because this time I understood what everyone was saying and I wasn't just swimming in a sea of noise. We spent the rest of the day in orientation with the new missionaries and spent the night with the new sisters. 

This morning it was off to changes meeting and then to my new area. So far I've only met the bishop and one of the sisters in the ward (she made us lunch today). But for as sad as I was to leave Palermo, I do feel like this is where I need to be now. And I'll see what I can do to serve the ward and people here with whatever time I have. 

Hermana Davis

7 April 2014

7 April 2014

Dear family,

I am grateful for General Conference. I am even more grateful to be able to listen to it in English. I am quite sure that the details of many of the stories would have been lost on me in Spanish. And I still have a firm testimony that something gets lost when you try to translate a Holland talk.

Saturday was a bit of a wake-up call, wasn't it? A lot of the talks focused on being prepared to pass through trials and ready to accept that some people will reject our faith.  

Hey, did anyone notice that the auditing letter changed? It now expounds on church financial practices, reminding us to live within our means. It's a good reminder for us and I think something that the church is emphasizing right now. We're spending a lot on expanding missionary work and we have numerous temples pending. Now we are going to finish what we've undertaken before adding!

I loved the Sunday morning session. Uchtdorf's talk is destined to be a staple on the importance of gratitude. And I liked Elder Ballard's reminders and invitations.

There were some interesting repetitions in the conference--sure signs of things that should catch our attention. For instance, there were back-to-back talks that used the story of the 116 pages to talk about obedience. Just about every talk mentioned the importance of passing through difficulties with faith. And there was a non-trivial emphasis on getting to know our ancestors and continuing family history work. (I loved Elder Walker's talk.)

My favorite stories were truck stories. The jumping out of the cabin was my favorite hook of the conference. And it's so true. It's so hard sometimes to see the logic of what someone else did unless we take the time to reflect or to ask them what they were thinking (but not in the sense of condemning, rather asking with a sincere desire to understand). And the truck story by Elder Bednar to explain why we need challenges to give us spiritual traction was my favorite analogy!

Other than that, I spent a somewhat busy week traveling (perks and challenges of my current assignment all wrapped into one). Originally I was only going to be gone for one night so I only brought one change of clothes and tried to limit the rest of what I brought.  But we had a last minute change of plans, and one night away from home became four nights away from home. On the bright side, you can always wash the clothes in the pila at night to have clean clothes, and you can buy a small packet of shampoo in the pulperia when it turns out the missionary you are staying with doesn't have any shampoo either! It was an adventure in being flexible! But at the same time it was fun to have an adventure. And the most important part is that I got to watch conference and that there was another North American sister there to be my companion in the English room!

Well, I hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Hermana Davis