29 September 2014

Dear family,

I may just stop writing and send pictures. I think it is more interesting for all involved.

It has been a good week, with at least one very important miracle: E got baptized. His wife has been waiting for this moment for a long time and missionaries have been visiting him off and on for a year (to say nothing of the missionaries who visited when the wife was learning about the church and was a recent convert).

On Tuesday night, we had a noche de hermanamiento (fellowshipping night) in the house of a member. We invited E to the event, and afterwards he went to the chapel with the Elders for his baptismal interview.

We visited him frequently during the week and on Friday we had his baptism. A couple of sister missionaries who had also taught E got permission to come to his baptism. It was a small but very nice baptism. E was so eager to be baptized that as soon as we had taken pictures he essentially asked, ''Now can we get started?'' What a change from someone who used to hide from the missionaries or only listened to please his wife.

On Saturday, we went out to teach with the Webbs. In the morning we drove to a small town about 20 minutes away to visit a family of members. The mom is a returned missionary, the dad is a member, and there are three young sons. The mom has a strong testimony but the cost of transportation to the chapel prohibits regular attendance. She tries to send her 14-year-old son when she can. (And the dad has to work every day except Tuesday.) The Webbs let everyone share favorite scriptures and shared their own. Then they taught a short English class. Before we could leave, the Hermana insisted on feeding us lunch. I think she was really happy to have a member of the branch presidency and several missionaries in her home.

We made a few more visits that afternoon and then in the evening, we went to the Women's Conference in the chapel in T. Our chapel doesn't have a satélite dish, so the other building is kind of the stake center of the two branches. It has the family history center and the satélite dish. I watched some of the sesión in English on the computer, but the connection kept stalling, so in the end, I went to listen in the chapel in Spanish so that I could hear Pres Uchtdorf's talk. I will need to read the talks to fill in the gaps, but it was a good conference.

On Sunday after church we covered the Webb's English class, and then I taught a piano class. It's about the fourth time I've taught the class. I am mostly teaching my budding pianists to play ''I Am a Child of God'' by rote. With a few of my older students I am teaching a few basics of note reading. But there is no magic way to train a new pianists in just a few months. But President Klein said it was worth the time to plant some seeds. So that's what I am doing. If nothing else, I am planting, and I have a couple of devoted students who love piano class.  

Thought for the week regarding E's baptism. Ether 12:27

I love you all! Take care!

Hermana Davis 

22 September 2014

Hi family,

This week I had a great birthday present. I got to go back to Palermo!!!!!! I was on divisions, with Hna A. I loved going back and being able to see some of the people there that I love so much. I had my birthday lunch in the house of Hna M and Hna M E. That afternoon we went to review the Plan of Salvacion with Hna L who was baptized in December. She is doing really well, and she is still working in her calling with the Young Women. In the evening, Hna M and Hna M E invited us to baleadas for dinner. And they got me a cake. (My comp had secretly sent a message telling the Sister training leaders in Palermo that it was my birthday....I have a good comp). Hna M decided to just smear frosting on my face instead of making me face plant, but I turned my head, so she got it on my hair too, which she wasn't trying to do :)

Hna A and I took the bus back to T, and we got on just the right bus. The sister sitting next to Hna A lives in Hna A's first area in the mission and is currently meeting with the missionaries there, so they got to talk. I wanted to listen in, but I realized that the sister next to me wanted to talk. She's twenty-something and believes in God, but doesn't go to church. She had heard some about the church and Joseph Smith. I taught basically the entire message of the Restoration and invited her to go to General Conference. I don't usually pull out my Bible to teach on buses, but this time I used various scriptures. I know that Hna A and I were on the bus we needed to be on and in the seats where we needed to sit.

Saturday afternoon, we got a reference from one of the members. We stopped by that night to meet G and invited her to church, and she came! Wow! Usually bringing people to church requires more effort. She has various challenges she would still need to overcome before getting baptized, but she is open to our visits.

We also took Hna A to church. Another miracle! We met her a week ago, and then she came to church with us Sunday. In the afternoon we stopped by her house. She asked if it was true that we don't drink coffee. We explain that we don't because we have a health code revealed by a prophet. A few minutes later she announced that she was going to stop drinking coffee (and she is used to drinking a lot). Just like that. You can tell she is ready to change.

And yesterday Hna O told me about her other language, giringonza (spelling?). They don't use that here, but they do in parts of Guatemala. So now we are practicing a little :)

I love you lots! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Davis

15 September 2014

Dear family,

This week we did a lot of contacting....and contacting...and contacting....

Aside from a few established investigators, we don't really have a pool of investigators. Someone counts as a new investigator if they let us teach short lesson (doctrine and a prayer) and then let us set a return appointment. But most of the people we are finding don't stay in our teaching pool for very long.

The search continues!

Our investigator who wants to get baptized still wants to get baptized, but we're postponing his date a little so that he can be truly ready.

Thursday at lunchtime....we cooked...no bake cookies. Then while they were cooling we ate sandwiches. At least I know how to cook dessert even without an oven :).

Friday Hna O and I got twin blisters playing with machetes :). We went to find an investigator that the sisters here had been teaching a couple months ago. After sharing a short lesson, we offered to help around the house. At first our help was rejected, but we convinced the mom that we were sincerely willing to help chapear (cut the grass and weeds in the yard area by hacking at the ground with a machete). She is essentially a single mom with children too small for the job, so she was really tired.

Saturday I got to go back to P for the baptism for two sisters I had been teaching while I was there. And it was wonderful. The elders also had two baptisms, and a child of record was baptized. It was quite the event!

Sunday we had church in the afternoon. Today is independence day here. So today and yesterday there were lots of parades. Marching in the parades is required for the school children, so the branch president got permission to change the church schedule so that people would actually come. :)

Today we went to the center, and saw some of today's parades. It was a nice chance to be part of what's going on here. I was glad that independence day fell on a p-day this year.

I hope you have wonderful week!

I love you lots.

Sister Davis

8 September 2014

Hello family!

So here is the rundown of my week.

On Monday after writing you, I took a trip to the beach with my trio. It seemed like we ought to take advantage of such a convenient and free resource. :) And we took lots of pictures, including jumping ones. And I saw J, one of my investigators from P who had come to T for the afternoon.

Tuesday morning my new companion arrived. That afternoon I mostly took her to visit members, recent converts, and the couple of investigators that we still had.

On Wednesday we set out to contact and contact and contact. It was really the only option we had. Our area doesn't have many members, so we have to find investigators on our own too.

Thursday we had zone conference. Hna O had been last week in C, so it was her second round. 

Friday we contacted and contacted and contacted. Are we noticing a pattern? We are definitely going to have to work hard and follow the Spirit's guidance if we want to find people to teach. Part of the problem is that our area is large and even the part that is close to the chapel is a 10- or 15-minute walk away. So we have to help people have a sincere desire to go to the church. 

Saturday we had a baptism. Almost a year ago the sister missionaries (Sister H!) started teaching the nephew of the Relief Society president. However, he didn't get baptized because his Mom (who lives in the states) didn't give permission. However, shortly after I arrived the mom said that her son can do what he wants. J's desire to be baptized has increased and his mom has seen that he has stuck to this desire for a long time. Hna O and I reviewed the key points of the lessons because he'd already had them all. Then Saturday he got baptized. Yeah! We didn't even have to do much to organize the baptism. I almost feel guilty about being in the pictures. 

Yesterday we had a miracle and we had two investigators at church. I thought we would have none. One of them was someone I considered an eternal investigator. But he showed up at church and announced that he now wants to change and be baptized. His wife is a member, and she says he has never said that he wanted to get baptized. This time it isn't missionaries pushing. He said it himself. Wow!

Today we went back to the beach, and I discovered how to use the panorama setting on my camera. So we took some goofy pictures, running to appear twice in the same picture.

I hope you are all doing well. Have a wonderful week. I love you all very much!