Death by Mango ...

HOLA HOLA HOLA

This week has been amazing as usual! The Lord blesses us so much!
Lets start with a quote. Pray as if it is all up to God, then Work as if it is all up to you!

Here in our mission we have a standards of excellence where we have to find 20 new people to teach every week. That is a lot of people. At times it can be discouraging to fall short of that number and you may start to think it is impossible. But nothing is Impossible with God. We prayed to be able to find our 20 nuevos. That we may be able to fulfill our purpose and Invite all others to Christ. We wanted so bad to be able to fulfill the numbers that the Lord asks us to fulfill. After we prayed, we got up, got out, and got to work. Everyday we had a goal to find 3 new people. Monday we found 3, Tuesday we found 4, Wednesday we found 3. We were so blessed. Thursday we were blessed in a different way. We weren't able to find any nuevos because we had a lot of meetings set up with the investigators we already had. And we were blessed to be able to go to every meeting we scheduled and that none of them cancelled. Friday we had a multi zone conference that went all the way until 4 and then we had to do all of our studies. After we only had an hour and a half to work and in that small window of time we were blessed to be able to find another nuevo. Saturday there was this Catholic holiday or something so everyone was out in the campaña celebrating. The streets were dead. But we were blessed to be able to help out a family whose abuela recently passed away and in doing so found 2 more nuevos. Sunday, we were blessed to find 3 nuevos as well. And even though we didn't get our goal of 20 we got closer than we every had by getting 16. That is more than anyone in our district has had this whole cambio. The Lord truly does bless us.
  

This week was very busy. Since we have a whole new area now we never knew before we have been trying to explore and meet people but it is kinda hard without maps. Sunday was the first day both of the barrios were combined as one. There were so many people at church it was a little overwhelming to try and talk and get to know everyone. It is funny because there was 140 people there which is like a small ward in Utah. But it is like the biggest ward in all of Paraguay. 

Oh as to why my subject line is death by mango. So we were teaching this lesson with this family. They are super awesome and we were talking about how faith is like a little seed. If we take care of it, it can grow into a huge tree and make delicious fruit which we can enjoy. Well I think God wanted us to make it an object lesson because out of no where we hear this rustling and then this mango falls from the tree next to us and just barely misses Hermana Robinson. Now mango trees are huge. I don't know about in Norte America pero acá they are like huge. I don't even know how to explain it. But it came with just force it like buried itself in the dirt. If it would have hit Hermana Robinson she would have been knocked out cold. We say death by mango because sì o sì it would have done some serious damage. It hit her foot and afterwards she was telling me how much it hurt. It was bad but so funny we were talking about fruit and then BAM fruit came falling. But it was good. I love you all. Thank you for the support and love I can always feel it!

We took a generation pic. This is my trainer and her trainer.

More studies by candle light

And of course I gotta have my rice and seaweed

--

To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

Happy 9 Month Anniversary for Hermana Robinson - cookies and ice cream!

Hola Everyone

MBA' EICHAPA

That is Guaraní.

       This week has been pretty normal I feel like compared to all the other weeks I have been in my mission. It has been super hot. We have to be really careful not to get dehydrated or heat stroke. We have been working with Juan to get a family name to go to the temple before it closes! Anytime we see him now he has a smile on his face. He is so happy and definitely a changed man. He is so awesome. And on Sunday he received the priesthood, which is like all he has ever wanted so he can bless his family. He is just always smiling now which he never ever did before his baptism. Like he wasn't always depressed  but he like never smiled. El es super Bueno

 

Its been really hard not gaining weight here jaja. The meals are carbs on carbs with more carbs. Like just a pile of pasta in oil and bread. The weather here is pretty fun too. I thought Utah was a little bipolar with its weather. It would be sunny and then windy all in the same day. But here it is crazy.

On Saturday it was like 100 degrees. You would walk outside and feel wet from the heat and humidity. And then after lunch, we were walking to an appointment and it got super dark all of a sudden and then just started pouring. It was pretty funny. So it poured and we got soaked. The roads were like rivers and it was really fun to be able to jump all over the puddles and rivers. I didn't make some of them and got more soaked, but I never fell so that was good. And Paraguay after the rain is so pretty. The rain stopped after a few hours and the sky was so pretty. The clouds looked like they were painted on. And it was so golden, the sun, it made the sky a yellow, pink, light blue, I cant even describe it. It was really pretty and I was sad I didn't have my camera.

On Sunday there was this really big conference with four different wards close to our area. Our area is our ward and so when we heard about this meeting, we knew things were going to be changing. And man were we right. So they changed the limit of our area. So they cut the bottom of our area, Fernando De La Mora and put it with other area, and then they took out Mantelindo y combined it with our area. So we share an area now wither other missionaries and we have a huge area. It is a lot of change. But it is going to be good. We are basically opening a new area half of it because it is all new. We are in a part white wash and it is going to be crazy trying to understand and find everything but it is going to be an adventure. Also sorry I am emailing so late. I had to do paperwork this morning for Paraguay so we are emailing later. The sad part about this week is that Juan was going to receive the priesthood Sunday so we could go to the temple with him before it closed. But because of this big conference we had with all the change, he didn't get it and we cant go with him. He even went to church without his family, which is huge for Juan. He would never go without his family. This week though was awesome. We have been looking for this one antigo for a really long time and his address was wrong on our paper so we were trying really hard to be able to find him and we couldn't. So we were looking around and we saw this girl who was outside her house so we went to go talk to her and she had said she talked to the missionaries before with her Uncle. Immediately Hermana Robinson and I looked at each other and we just knew. We asked her if her uncle was Freddy and she said yes. So we started talking to her more. Than this big guy came out with tattoos all over and he like looked mean and he had his arms folded and said can I help you. So we introduced ourselves and said we were the missionaries and he said he was a member, baptized a long time ago. I thought he was going to tell us off about the church but he started talking to us about how he loves the church and wish he could learn more and start going again and he was super friendly. He told us he got involved with the church through the family of his girlfriend. We asked who she was and in fact it was another antigo we had been searching for for a really long time. It was such an answer to our prayers. God truly does have a plan for us but we have to wait until he puts the plan in action, because faith in the Lord means faith in His timing. I love you all, this is the work of the Lord!

Also I don't know if I mentioned this but Hermana Robinson celebrated 9 months so we made cookies and had ice cream. It was awesome!

Rohayhu

First Baptism! 10/16/17 email

Hola Everyone!

This week was awesome. Most of the time I end my emails with something spiritual that happened but this week I got to start it with it because it was so awesome. So we have a couple who we have been teaching and they came to General Conference and we were going to teach them after and invite them to be baptized. But the week after we could not find them. We would pass by their house everyday and the gate would be locked or they wouldn't be home. When we called them they wouldn't answer. Pretty much they were ignoring us. But we were determined not to give up so we were praying so hard to be able to find them. Then one day we were walking to go to an appointment and we saw Nestor walking down the street. He waved at us and walked over to us. So we started talking and he was wondering why we hadn't visited them in a while. So we explained how we were trying to visit them and what had happened. He was understanding and we set up an appointment with them. It was such an answer to our prayers to be able to find them. And then! This same day we were trying to find this old investigator that we were going to visit and see how he was doing. But his information on his paper was old so we couldn't find the house. We were walking up and down the streets and trying to find it. Finally we stopped in front of this house and we were going to ask them for directions. So we clapped the door and when the lady opened it, to our surprise it was a member. They had moved and no one knew where because when you move in Paraguay you still go to the ward you were first going to even if you are out of the boundaries. So we didn't know they moved. So we started talking to them and the mom was really hard to understand. But we sat and talked with them and then had a short lesson. When she kissed us goodbye she said something to Hermana Robinson, probably knowing I wasn't going to be able to understand her. She told Hermana Robinson she was wondering when we were going to visit her. She had been praying and praying for us to go visit her. That just shows how important it is to listen to the Spirit when it first prompts you because we were going to tracked the opposite side of our area. But we prayed about what antigo to go visit and this one came to our mind. But they didn't even live there anymore. The address we had didn't even exist.

 You never know who you are going to help when you listen to the Spirit but you most likely are going to be an answer to someone else's prayers. 

It has been super hot here recently. Like so hot we are sweating drops of sweat like we got out of a pool or something. It is so gross and the pants don't help, but I am still so glad we are in pants because it is so much more comfortable and nice. The funniest thing is it was like 100 degrees plus, then it was super humid and then on Friday it rained so hard to like flooded again. The thunder was so loud it was shaking our house. We also had intercambios and I got to go with one of our Hermana Training Leaders. It was weird to have a Latina companion jaja. I spoke in only Spanish the whole day and my Spanish is so much better than I think it is. It was so fun to be able to see how other misionera teaches. I learned so much. It was fun too because it was like a sleep over.

Now to the super awesome part of the week.

WE HAD A BAPTISM! AND NOT JUST ANY BAPTISM. JUAN WAS BAPTIZED. THE SAME JUAN WHO HAS BEEN AN INVESTIGATOR FOR ALMOST 10 YEARS. JUAN WHO DIDNT WANT TO LISTEN TO ANY OF THE OTHER MISSIONARIES! MY FIRST LECCION IN THE MISSION FIELD AND NOW MY FIRST BAPTISM. I literally can not believe it. He is such a changed man. When he got out we asked him how he felt and he said changed. He said he could feel the change. It was so amazing. I literally can not express how happy I am for Juan and his family. And his wife bore her testimony and it was so spiritual. It was so amazing. We also taught another couple. They went to watch conference with us so we tried to answer their questions. They had lots of really good questions and we answered them all to the best of our ability. We got on the subject of baptism and they asked us how they can be ready to be baptized and when. It was so amazing. They are so solid, son super buenos y they have just strong spirits. It was such a spiritual leccion. Sunday came so quick it is weird how fast the weeks fly here. We got to church and bishop came and started talking to us. Well 10 minutes before church he asked if one of us would like to give a talk. So Hermana Robinson said she would love to and the bishop shook his head and said I should do it. So I told him Hermana Robinson knows more Spanish and that it would sound better if she did it and she happily said she would love to speak. Bishop shook his head and said that I needed to do it. I wasn't going to say no so I happily agreed while lowkey panicking on the inside jaja. Luckily Hermana Robinson, being the amazing trainer she is, helped me out with my talk. She had a draft of a talk she was asked to give when she hit her 2 month mark so it was perfect since I just hit mine. I got up and gave a talk in Spanish. It was actually pretty cool. Wow 2 months in the mission. I felt like I just got here. I love you all!!!

Les Quiero

Hermana Davis

10/9/17 Family Email

Hola Family!

So this week has been crazy. I feel bad because in the CCM I didn't really have anything to talk about and I had all this time but now we only have an hour and I have so much more to talk about. Sorry if I don't reply to your guys emails. I am going to try really hard, especially since I like ragged on all of you for not emailing me. This hour just flies by too fast. But lets start!

First Happy Birthday Zach!!! I was thinking back to when you were on your mission and it was your birthday and we were taking pictures of a picture frame of you and then ate your cake jaja it was good times. Oh and I really like the milk here. It like isn't real milk but it is pretty much the same and it is so good. I like chug that stuff. I have been starting to have dreams in Spanish but I don't think they make sense all that much. But it is still cool to think about. Conference was awesome. Luckily I did get to watch it in English was that was really fun. And it sounds like yall had a really good time. While I was watching I kept thinking like yeah my family is probably there right now. That was really cool.

So I was held hostage jaja. Not really but it felt like it. The family that was hiding us and wouldn't let us leave. It felt like we were like escaped convicts or being hunted or something. And it was so much scary because I had no clue what anyone was saying or what was going on. The dad was yelling in Guarani and the kids were like running frantic and I don't think the mom likes us very much so she just sat there. It was pretty sketchy. Also this whole week it has been raining like crazy. Everything floods and its like rivers we have to walk through. It is definitely fun but hard because there are also a lot of like potholes and so when we are walking through the water you cant see anything because it is mud and you like step in a pothole and fall into the water. That may or may not have happened to me. And it is really hard to do laundry because when it is raining we cant hang up our clothes to dry jaja. It is pretty funny.

Hermana Robinson is the best. She is so sweet and nice and patient with me. Her and I are actually really similar. She tells me stories of when she was going through training and how we are struggling with the same things so it is nice because she helps me a lot because she went through the same things. She is so active. She makes me look and feel fat jaja. In morning exercises she is just non stop beast it is so cool. She will run for like 20 minutes straight and then do like 30 burpees and wall sit for what seems like forever. She is awesome. She also loves rock climbing. And did it all the time. She has her own gear and she lead climbs and does all this stuff. We talk about it all the time. What else. She also has a really great voice. She sings really well. I am really grateful she is my trainer. We laugh and have such a great time together. And she really helps with my Spanish a lot. I am learning so much on how to be a better missionary from her. She is a great missionary. Our apartment is small but it is perfect for what we need. We literally never here. Just for studies and sleep. And it is so easy to clean. What else. I want to tell you guys everything but I don't know what else to tell you. It feels like I have been here for months already. Time flies by. I want you guys to meet Hermana Robinson and one day you will but there is cambios right before Christmas when we skype so I am hoping something happens we can stay companions so you can meet her. Also it is her birthday so I want to celebrate it with her. I love you guys so much. Oh I bore my testimony in church yesterday. It was so weird doing it in Spanish and I hope it made sense. I sounded like a Landon Jack but he is smarter jaja. It was good though. The members are so nice about it. They all were so sweet. 

Yo sè que este Evangelio es verdadero. Yo sè que la obra que estoy haciendo es real y es la obra de Dios. Sè que este Evangelio es el mismo Evangelio que Jesucristo establicìo cuando estaba en la tierra. Se que Josè Smith fue un profeta y restauro la Iglesia de Jesucristo y Thomas S Monson es el profeta en este dispensación. Me amo ustedes. Gracias por su amor. 

We forgot to take a picture in our pants so I will send one next week

--

To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

10/9/17 Raining Cats and Dogs in Ascuncion

Happy Birthday Zachery Tyler Davis!!!

Things have kinda calmed down. The first few weeks are always crazy because you just get thrown in and there are all these meetings but you still have to do the same amount of work so that is rough but it was great. So lets start off. My P day is normally Mondays but last Monday was a holiday here so everything, I mean everything was closed. So we had to email on Tuesday. Tuesday was also crazy! So we emailed and had meetings and then we went to teach the little boy who ran up to us and said he wanted to be baptized. So his mom is a member and his two older siblings were baptized but he was too young and then they went inactive. So now they are catholic because their father is catholic and they live in the beautiful area that is huge and has lots of buildings and free area and 6 kids. So we were teaching them and the dad came home and started yelling at all the kids in Guarani because their 3 week puppy was in the house. So that was like super awkward. Then we tried to finish up our lesson and leave. So we said the closing prayer, thanked them for their time and went to leave but there was some people outside their fence. So Hermana Robinson and I didn't really think anything of it. But they wouldn't let us leave. So they made us like duck down and be really quiet. So we were asking the kids what was going on. It turns out this beautiful area they lived in was a catholic retirement home or something and they are only allowed to live there if they are catholic so that is why they stopped going to church. They wouldn't let us leave because the people outside were part of their church and knew them. So they made us stay there. So we talked and tried to make things less awkward, but it was really awkward. Like 20 o 30 minutes passed and we were so behind already we had to leave to teach other lessons. So the family devised this plan and some of the kids ran out and were distracting the nuns and then we had to sneak out like this back door. Then the dad wanted us to take off our badges so they didn't see we were from a different church. Both of us were NOT going to take off our badge. All I could think was the fact we were both Greengas, wearing fanny packs, carrying around a Book of Mormon, in dresses. They are going to tell we are the Mormon missionaries. We just shook our heads, thanked him for his time, and left and walked the opposite way, so they wouldn't have even seen our badges anyways. It was so weird we were kinda held hostage jaja. I have a feelings the little boy wont be baptized anytime soon if they aren't allowed to go to church. Which is really sad. Oh also we have to wear pants now so that is fun! I love pants and I haven't worn them in what feels like forever, but it has only been 2 months. It kinda feels like I am back at work when I wear like one of my buttoned shirts and I just laugh to myself. Juan is getting baptized this week. It is so exciting. He has been an investigator for 7 years! Thursday we went over and dropped off some ice cream for his family and they were so happy. We wanted to have a more relaxed lesson because the last few were kinda deep with getting him ready for his baptism. So we talked about families and work in the temple. It is exciting. We are trying to get him to go to the temple once before it closes for 2 years. So that is our goal with Juan. The rest of the week was also really crazy. Hermana Robinson feels bad because I haven't had like a regular day here and I told her there isnt such a thing, but things have been a little crazier than usual. Friday we had a meeting at the mission home pretty early so we woke up and then traveled over there. It lasted till 3 in the afternoon, so we were traveling back. Didn't get home till 4 and started our studies. We finished and went to go contacting before we had una cita con Nestor y Amelia. Ellos son super bueno. They are so solid and I think they will be baptized. They went to General Conference with us and they don't have fetcha. So we were trying to set up a meeting with them and invite them to be baptized. Our first one we had to cancel because that is when we were held hostage and we couldn't leave that crazy families house. Then the next time they weren't home. The time after that Amelia was asleep. So we had a meeting set up with a member, which would have been so amazing. So we were contacting a little bit and met this lady who let us in. We were going to teach and she would be a nuevo, or a new investigador. So we were about to ask her if we could share a message when her house started flooding, by house I mean her dirt floor like shack thing. Because it was pouring outside so much it flash flooded. So we were trying to help her move things off the ground when the office calls us and tells us the weather is to bad to be out so we had to go back to our apartment. Hermana Robinson was telling me she had never had to go back to her apartment because of the rain like ever before so it means it was a really bad storm. So the last couple of days it has been raining a lot. On Saturday we went out to help everyone whose house flooded. So we were going place and to place and we were visiting a lady we met a while ago and her friend was there. So we started teaching both of them and her friend seemed really interested. She grabbed my Book of Mormon out of my hand and started reading it while we were talking. She said she has been looking for peace in her life. We told her how to find it jaja but it was so perfect. I feel good about her. The rest of Saturday was us running back and forth from lesson to lesson, but most of the people weren't home which was kinda sad. Then we went to church on Sunday. It was testimony meeting so that was awesome. I am not gonna lie though it was hard to follow along. Sometimes they would start talking in Guarani and then switch back to Spanish. It was nice though because you could feel the spirit. We had 4 investigators in church with us so I hope they enjoyed it all. It was good. I cant wait till I can fully understand everyone but the Gift of Tongues is so real because there is no way I could haven't gotten this far without it. This work is amazing. I hope everyone is doing good back home. Love you all !!!!

Asuncion Paraguay 1st P-day Emails

So I am finally in the mission field. It is so amazing!! I cant even tell you how excited I am to be here. So lets start at the beginning. On Monday morning we left Mexico at 6 in the morning to the airport. We weighed our stuff and sat and waited for our plane for 2 and a half hours. We got on our plane and had a 4 hour flight to Panama City. We landed in Panama, had an hour and a half layover and then got on a 6 hour flight to Paraguay Asuncion. We landed around 11 40 at night almost midnight where our loving Presidente and His wife was waiting for us. Once we finished our visa paper work we were in the field. We got to the mission home, ate something small, and Hermana Brown and I got to stay in a hotel. It was so cool. We went to bed and missed our alarm so that was not so good. But we did all these stuff for our paperwork in the field. I got my blood drawn and my finger prints done and that was cool. Then we met our trainers!!!!!
My trainer is Hermana Robinson. She is from Highland Utah and she is so nice and amazing!!! She has been on her mission for 8 months now. It is crazy. Sadly we are getting transfers the week before Christmas so you wont be able to talk to her because I will have a new companion.

Paraguay is so much fun. After Hermana Robinson and I got into our area, we put my bags in the apartment and grabbed my scriptures and we went to an appointment right away. We taught a man named Juan and he is so cool. He is shy and kinda quiet to himself but he is getting baptized next month. He has been investigating the church for 7 years and he finally accepted baptism so that is so amazing and exciting. We were kinda worried with cambios if he was going to be okay since I am new and he is shy but I guess he likes me because when I said the opening prayer it was short and to the point and he liked that jaja. We then were walking back to our apartment that night and a little boy ran up to us and said he wanted to be baptized. So we started talking to him, and by we I mean Hermana Robinson jaja, and it turns out his family isn't members but he heard about the church and wants to be baptized. Literally, guys I don't know how much more I can tell you this but this gospel is so true. There is no way with my awful Spanish that people would want to invite us back but its because I am not the teacher. I am just the messenger and the Heavenly Father, through the Holy Ghost is the teacher. 

Paraguay is so amazing though. The people here are so pure and kind. Oh and everyone is just a little crazy. It is so funny. People will go like 100 Km down the road and motorcycles drive on the sidewalk. People drive on the opposite side of the road and it seems like everyone has the right away. People just cross whenever they want and cars don't stop you do. Honestly it is so cool. I have already almost been hit by a car jaja. And dogs here are fun. They just do whatever they want. One already tried to bite me jaja. I thought my Spanish was getting better but being in a place where no one speaks English and they speak Spanish super fast and kinda mumble, man am I so confused all the time. I feel bad for the people who have to listen to be. But it was nice.

Entonces we then spent all day Friday clapping doors, yes it is the same as knocking doors but a lot of people dont have doors here so you clap outside the houses. But we went clapping and we got some contacts but not as many lessons and references we wanted to. I feel really bad for Hermana Robinson porque I don't contribute much to the lessons because my Spanish isn't super grand. But I try really hard to talk when I understand what is going on. The walking here is definitely rough on your body. There are sometimes sidewalks, I happen to actually be in a really like nice and rich area, but the roads are like all cobble stone and most of the time we walk on the road because the sidewalk isn't big enough for both of us. But we also taught Juan again and man if I could describe it in one word it would be WOW! We taught about priesthood and the restoration. Before Juan never believed Joseph Smith was a prophet. And Friday he said he believed the First vision actually happened and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Than he was given a blessing by a member and the Spirit was so strong. You could just feel how amazing it was. And at the start of the lesson Juan seemed really agitated and we almost didnt teach him but we stayed and it was definitely worth it, because he was tearing up at the end and I think it really helped him realize the power of God. Then it was so amazing because we had General Conference!!!! Saturday session literally spoke to me so much.

Watching conference as a missionary is so different because you are constantly trying to improve and thinking of your investigators. It was so amazing. On Sunday we invited 8 of our investigators to come and watch it and the morning session would have been perfect for all of them. However, none of them showed up. Then a huge storm hit and the power shut off. It was so cool because we had to do our studies by candle light. Then it got closer to the second session and we were worried because the power still wasn't on but then we prayed and it stopped just in time to watch conference again. The second session we had two of our investigators show up and it was so amazing! But then we were kind of worried with every talk that went by if it was going to make them upset or answer any of their questions. We finally realized we had to just let the Spirit guide them that we couldn't do anything about it. And let me just add when everyone said it rained here, they were not kidding. It stormed and when it rains even a little, all of Paraguay like shuts down. It is so strange to see the streets of Paraguay empty. My Spanish is a working process. I don't know how many times Ive said that but it definitely needs work. But everyone here asks me which of my parents are Latino or if I am from Chile or Peru or some other South American country jaja and I laugh and say no porque si yo fuera Latina mi Espanol seria meyor which is no because if I was Latina my Spanish would be better. I tell them I am Korean and always the next question is if I can speak Korean which I reply, no puedo hablar Espanol entonces no puedo hablar Koreano. I cant speak Spanish so I cant speak Korean which really doesn't make sense but when I say it they all laugh and I think it is because of my bad Spanish that they understand. 

I cant tell you all how much my mission has changed my perspective on life. I was so excited to get out and serve that I believe I have missed the real reason why we serve. I just wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to have a name plaque and have crazy experiences I could tell for the rest of my life. But as I have gotten here I realized it isn't just those things or sharing the Gospel. I am a messenger, a voice and some legs, to bring Gods children back to him. I feel humbled with the people of Paraguay. They are so sweet and kind and pure. They don't have much and what they do have they give to the Lord no matter what religion they are. I am in a richer area of Paraguay and still there isn't much. I find myself constantly sad that I don't have the language to be able to share my love I have for these people, but I don't need to be fluent in Spanish to do that. Because my actions and the language of the Spirit is stronger and louder than anything I could ever say. I am excited to be able to learn and grow and serve and fall and rise and do all the things which the Lord has in store for me. I love all of you so much and I know Heavenly Father loves you even more!

If there is one thing I learned from being on my mission and listening to conference it is that if you have a prompting, if you feel you need to do something for a neighbor or friend, if you think you should call someone, do it. Sometimes the Lord will send help, but that help will come from you. You could be someone's Guardian Angel. Just a thought. I love you all.

This church is true. Also side note. The temple in Paraguay is closed but Hermana Robinson and I got the opportunity to clean it. Which was very unexpected because she cleaned it last week. But I really wanted to be able to go to the Paraguay temple and see inside before I left my mission and it will be closed for like 3 years so it was a definite answer to my prayer!!! So we went and got to clean it and take lots of photos and it is so small, but so beautiful. It kinda reminds me of the Provo City Center temple but tiny. Yesterday was a holiday so we didn't get to email, that is why I am emailing today. Normally my p days are on Monday but sometimes the power will be out or things will be closed. I love you all. I don't have a lot of time so I hope this email makes sense. I cant tell you how amazing it is here in Paraguay. The things you do are so different and amazing. Hope everyone got the chance to watch general conference because it was so amazing. Much love! Chow!

To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

Arrived in Asucncion Paraguay! Noticication she made it!

Hola Family!!!

So I am safe here in the mission field. I am sorry if I got any ones hopes up that I was going to call home. I thought since that is what missionaries normally do that I would be able to do that as well. However, we were not allowed to call so I got to tell mom and dad I was safe but other than that not much. Let me tell you a little bit about my flight very quickly. I am safe. We woke up at 5 in the morning and flew to panama cit. We had about a 2 hour layover and then flew to Asuncion. We didn't land till about 11 at night and got off the plane and through the visa stuff at like 12 30 in the morning. Hermana Brown y yo got to stay in a hotel. We have been filling out paper work ever since. It has been a long two days with little to no sleep but I am so excited to be here. The plane was nice but not being able to do anything on the plane was boring. I read my scriptures and wrote in my journal. But that was about all I could do. I love you all and I am finally in the field ready to serve. Guatani is hard. Some of the elders are teaching us when we have spare time. My Spanish is better than I thought it was going to be thanks to the gift of tongues and the Lord. My mission president doesn't speak any English so that makes it hard. But it is all good because I am actually doing pretty well. I love you all and will write more on preparation day. And yes it is really hot here and humid. I will send pictures and tell you all about Paraguay on my next prep day. I love you guys so much. This truly is the work of the Lord and I know this church is true. You are all so amazing. Thank you for your prayers. 

weekly Email 9/21/17

So this week has flown by so fast. On Friday it was Mexico Independence day so there was fireworks, cannons, guns, and sirens going off all night for three days straight. Since being here I have kind of become immune to all the sounds. They go off constantly and it isn't really anything new. It is funny to watch all the new missionaries jump from all the loud sounds. It kind of just sounds like there is a war going on outside. On second note. My roommate has peed herself literally 6 times while being here in the CCM. She peed herself right in front of my closet and literally I am dying just thinking about the fact I have to walk there everyday. On Monday we got our stickers for it being our last week here. I leave on Monday at 6:30 in the morning. It is like a 14 hour flight too so it is going to be a long day. I don't think my Spanish is anywhere close to being ready but I am excited for the next adventure in my life and to learn Guatani and I just hope my trainer speaks even just a little bit of English. We have been getting close with all the elders in our district and I am excited that most of them are going to our mission so I don't have to say goodbye. Oh and on Sunday we had to say good bye to our Latino district. While we were eating dinner there was this huge storm that hit. It hasn't rained in a week and it all came down on Sunday. A mini hurricane hit us. The trees were blowing over so hard because of the wind. There was so much rain you couldn't see 2 feet in front of you. Lightening and thunder was hitting every few seconds and all the lights went out. The streets were flooding and I am not going to lie I kinda wanted a hurricane to hit just so I could say a hurricane and an earthquake happened while I was in the CCM but I didn't want any damage to come the people of Mexico. But it was over in an hour or so and just rained hard but normally the rest of the right. And another earthquake hit us again but this one was worse. The last earthquake was 137 Km away so it didn't affect us as bad but this one was only 3 hours away and it was a 7.1 or a 7.4 and it shook everything. The earthquake was so close that the alarms didn't even go off in time to warn us. Usually when an earthquake is coming the alarms in the CCM go off before so you can get to the safety circles before, but this time it was shaking and Hermana Brown thought someone was shaking the table because we were at lunch. I told her it was an earthquake and she was like no but then the alarm started going off. It was so weird because we couldn't even walk and it kinda looked like we were all drunk stumbling around. Sadly, there was a lot of damage to Mexico City and there was a lot of missionaries who had to fly to different airports in Mexico and Los Angles and even back to Salt Lake and that is so sad. I would not want to say goodbye and have to fly back for another week till I could go to my mission. There is literal tears in the earth where Mexico City airport is. But the CCM is okay and the missionaries are okay. We are packing and have to live out of our suitcases for the next 4 days. So that is not fun. But that is okay. What else to tell ya. I am actually not sure. This week was really cool though It has flown by so fast, packing and getting ready to leave. It is getting so real because we have to go to all these meetings and they always talk about the field. 

Being here the CCM is really spiritual. Everyday we get the chance to feel the Spirit and serve. My favorite spiritual moment was probably when Hermana Brown was getting a blessing from our branch president and he asked another district to join in on the circle. The power of the priesthood and the Spirit felt in the room was so strong. When I was sick I got a blessing and the next day I was over my sickness. The power of the priesthood is so strong and it really works. I know that God has a plan for each and everyone one of us. That even with all the earthquakes and hurricanes and everything that it is for a reason. Sometimes things are brought low so that God can build them higher. I have seen that. I have made friends with some of the workers here. Some are members and others are not. It is hard to communicate because not all of them know English and my Spanish isn't the best but you can tell how amazing they are as people. They have such big hearts and they are so patient. We also taught our progressing investigators for the last time. I loved them so much even though they weren't real investigators. But it is true when you truly love someone for who they are and not for what they have done, than you can feel charity for that person. And we should have charity for everyone. 

Yo testifico este Evangelio es verdad. Yo sé Padre Celestial tiene un plan de felicidad por todas personas en la tierra. Yo sé si ustedes tienen una pregunta, piden a Dios. "Y por el poder del Espiritu Santo podréis conocer la verdad de todas las cosas" Moroní 10:5. Yo sé Dios eschuacha neustros orars. Y Dios ama todas personas. Yo sé mi misión es parte de mi plan en la tierra. Me amo ustedes. 

I hope that made sense. Like I said I am still learning. I have meetings to go to but I will be back on later with some pictures. I love you all and thank you for the support. I know this church is true.

9/21/17- Last Day in the CCM!

Hey family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is my last p day in the CCM!. My p day will no longer be Thursdays, I think. They will probably be Mondays but I don't know till I get there. To update everyone on what is going on. On Monday I will leave at 6 in the morning Mexico time, 5 in the morning your time, and i will get on a plane and fly to panama city, where I will have a layover approximately 3 hours. Then I will get on another plane and fly to Paraguay. The total trip will be about 12-14 hours with driving and all. I believe I will be able to call you guys when I get there or in the airport or something but I am not positive so dad look out for that. Or should I call someone else? And to be honest I am not positive I get to call you but usually the missionaries do right? The flight information that you had, dad, was my returning flight so that it would show up I was leaving Mexico for my Visa. 

There was another Earthquake here. This one was a lot worse. There is over 200 dead and a school that was destroyed, but no missionaries where harmed. There was a lot of missionaries who are stranded in other parts of Mexico and that had to fly back to the US because the airport here is falling apart. The Lord watches out for us though and He has a plan for everyone. It was crazy though. The buildings in the CCM were shaking and you could hardly walk because of the earth was moving. All the windows we thought were going to shatter. We had to stand in these safety circles for what felt like an hour till we were all clear to go back to our daily activity. But through all the chaos you looked around and you would see groups of missionaries kneeling on the cracked road, praying for the people of Mexico. 

Being here has made me realize how much I can improve. Everyday I put on my name tag with Christ's name on it and realize how much I need to grow and improve. How much I need to learn to worthily wear His name, so I can be the best servant of the Lord He needs me to be. It isnt easy. I always want to say a sassy remark or tell one of the elders that he is being stupid but that isnt how I should be acting. The Savior taught with love, so I need to do that as well. We watched Joseph Smith the Restoration movie video and I cried like the whole time. To see a man with such faith that Joseph Smith had, to suffer everything he went through just so people can have peace and happiness. And never once was he convincing someone of it. Never once did he say convert or you wont be saved. He told people what he knew was true and he told them to ask for themselves. He told people not to just trust his word but know for themselves that it was true. Our district was messing around and our elders were eating Emergen-C packages straight and putting socks on their hands and boxing, and one elder ate 12 donuts in 10 minutes because he got dared and I know that this church is true. Because there is no way that 18 and 19 year old immature kids like us missionaries can convert people and bring them unto Christ by ourselves. It is the power of the Lord and the Holy Ghost because if it was only us there is not a chance people would listen to us. (By the way the elder totally ate 12 donuts in 10 minutes, it was pretty cool) But this gospel is true. 

Thank you for all the letters daddy and all the pictures mom. As of the other three boys in the family. I love you and know you are all super busy but it would be nice to hear from you or for yall to send me a picture of what's going on in your day. 

I am all packed up and living out of my suitcase till Monday when I leave. Time has been flying past. And even though I don't think I am learning Spanish I must be because I have been talking in my sleep in Spanish. My roommate always wakes up and write it down whenever I talk in Spanish. So I guess my mind is getting it down. 

Hermana Brown and I played Ping-Pong and she beat me one time and she wont let me forget it now so that is super funny. Everyone is so proud they beat an Asian at ping pong jaja. 

I love you all so much. And I will be back on later.