11/20/17 - Guys literally the worst at coming up with subject lines so I am sorry

Another amazing week. This area is full of miracles every day. First off we had another intercambio and this time I stayed in Fernando de la Mora. Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous about it. We had some pretty important lessons set up and I still get confused on the area because our area is HUGE. So when the day came Hermana Robinson left, I was here with Hermana Souza. It was actually really good though. We had good lessons and found new people to teach. It was fun. And it turns out I was worried for nothing because when you walk the same streets over and over again every day for 16 hours a day it turns into muscle memory and you know the streets really well. And I also had the help of the Lord. 

Oh and this one day we were contacting some houses and this guy had a pet monkey! His name is bebe and he has 24 years. He was so cute and weird looking at the same time and I was so sad because it started to rain so we left our cameras in the house so they didnt get damaged and so we couldn't get a picture with Bebe. He was so funny though. He was like a little human. He would move his mouth to talk and then sit up and fold his arms and then he would like look at you and like point and it was so cute. We are going to go back with our cameras and see if we can get some fun photos. On Wednesday we had a family home evening with Nestor y Amelia, Alfredo and his girlfriend and a young couple La Familia Ramirez. We had plans to teach diezmo and we were feeling really good about our lesson plan. When we got their, there was 8 couples besides Nestor, Amelia, Alfredo, and Paolo. We were teaching 12 people and we did not expect it. We were getting kind of nervous because we didn't want Nestor, Amelia, Alfredo and Paolo to think we were like gaining up on them to pay tithing and fast offerings. We were thinking of switching our lesson. It came to the time where we were going to teach and we decided to just stick with our plan of tithing. We have a plan we should stick to the plan. It turned out to be so spiritual and amazing. It was good to have so many couples be able to share their testimony on tithing and the blessings of tithing in their lives. Because in Paraguay like a lot of third world countries they dont really have a lot so giving up 10 percent can be a pretty difficult subject, but all the couples had such strong testimonies and we had return missionaries and converts and it was honestly one of the best lessons we have ever had. And now Nestor, Amelia, Alfredo and Paola all have some couple friends in the church. Oh also we were teaching Nestor y Amelia, we have been teaching them a lot to get Alfredo ready for his baptism but this time it was just Nestor y Amelia. So they have plans to get married and baptized on the 16 of December. And Amelia has 3 kids. So we were in the lesson and we were going to talk about having a happy and eternal marriage with them. Her kids were sitting right there so we were about to start teaching when we paused and asked if her kids knew everything that was going to happen with their baptism, hinting at the wedding without really saying it just in case. Amelia shook her head no and we didn't really know what to do. We didn't want to like tell the kids her mom was getting married because that seemed like something Amelia should do. So we were like today we are going to talk about the thing you two are going to do before you are baptized. And Nestor was so confused. We tried really hard to explain it without saying what it really was. And he was so oblivious. We all kinda started laughing and then he was like what I don't get it. I started laughing so hard. And because I was laughing Amelia lost it and Nestor was just sitting there so confused. Amelia told us just to talk and so we told him today we are going to talk about how to have a happy marriage. It finally clicked in his head and he started laughing too. But honestly that wasn't the highlight of my week. The highlight was a different lesson with Nestor y Amelia y Alfredo y Paolo on Saturday. We went over to do Alfredo's pre interview for his baptism and to sign his ficha. Which by the way he passed and did so he is getting baptized SATURDAY!!! YEAH!!!! But anyways we were filling it out and we needed his cedula, or his birth certificate or license. He was liking don't look at the photo it is a bad photo. So we were expecting it to be like how everyone says its a bad photo but really it isnt and you say no you look good I like this photo. We looked at it and just had pure shock because it looked LITERALLY nothing like him. He had like long hair and like a mexi stache and it was so funny. And again I wish I could have gotten a photo. Hermana Robinson lost it. She was laughing so hard. We all were laughing so hard. And then in between breaths of laughing she asked how long ago he took the pictures. It was so funny because her voice was like shaking from laughing so hard and he was getting so red and tearing up. She repeated the question and we all just sat their and laughed half at the picture half at Hermana Robinsons reaction to the picture. She had tears running down her face. Amelia and Nestor even started tearing up from it. My stomach was hurting from laughing so hard. It was a good solid 10 minutes we were sitting there laughing. It was so funny. Probably one of the hardest times I have ever laughed in my life and definitely on my mission. But really their family is just a miracle. It is true that the Lord prepares people to hear the gospel in the time they need it. And it is not just us. Other missionaries plant seeds and members help a lot too. Members are such a big impact on missionary work. Members and missionaries are a team working to further spread the light of Christ. 

For our district activity in the city of Asuncion there is this bowling ally that was just put in. Super chuchi. And we did that. It was pretty expensive. But it was a lot of fun. Sadly Hermana Robinson beat me. We had been talking about this for my whole training and I choked at the last frame and she beat me by 4. Oh man it was bad. But jaja a lot of fun. I know this gospel is true and that the Lord really does have a plan for each and everyone of us. And we need to be able to help him with his plan. I love you all.  

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To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

11/13/17 - MBA'EICHAPA

Hola Everyone

These week was transfers but because I am in my training Hermana Robinson and I were safe and didn't get transferred. However, it kinda felt like we did because it was a crazy 2 days. So on Monday you get a call to tell you if you are getting transferred or not. Then on Tuesday you leave first thing to where ever your new area is. We had to go pretty early and help the other Hermanas we share an area with because one was going home. So we went and helped her with her bags and stuff. Then we were in a trio because this other Hermana couldn't be alone till Tuesday when her new companion came. So we spent our p day in the house. We made these little pizzas and they were so good. We didn't do any of the stuff we had planned but it was still fun. After p day when we went out to go teach it was defiantly different. It was weird to teach with 3 people. But then we had to spend the night at her house. So we had to run back after our lessons and pack up some stuff to spend the night. The we had to pay for a taxi because it is a 40 minutes walk. We made it in the house literally right on time. There is a curfew and we made it with 0 seconds to spare. It was crazy. Then we made these make shift beds to sleep on. Lets just say it was a long night jaja. But it was good. We woke up the next morning and waited for the new Hermana to arrive. When she got there it was crazy. Her name is Hermana Varga. And she is from, can you guess, South Jordan Utah. Oh wait there is more. She looked super familiar, she went to Bingham and stuff but I didn't. Well it turns she is from the Country Crossing stake and we played like volleyball and basketball and went on trek and all that together. Talk about a small world. So we gathered up our stuff and were getting ready to walk home to our house to start our studies. We had lost a few hours in the morning so we had to hurry so could bust out our studies and get to work. When we finally got home we realized that we had left the phone at the other Hermanas house. So we had to go all the way back. By the time we got there, they had already left to go to lunch. So they we went home again. The whole day we were without the phone, just praying no one needed to get ahold of us. It all worked out in the end. We ran into the other Hermana's in the capilla and they had our phone on them so we got it back. On Wednesday there was a relief society activity and we really wanted Amelia to go so that she could get some female friends in the ward. So we were waiting for her and we were getting nervous, thinking she might not show up. But then she came walking around the corner. We brought her into where all the other women were and dropped her off. It was so funny. It felt like dropping a kid off at preschool or something. The rest of the night it was also cute because Hermana Robinson was so worried about her if she was having fun or not because Amelia is super shy. But we saw her the next day and asked her how the activity was and she said it was so much fun. She had this huge smile on her face and there was another one on Saturday and she was so excited to go to that one too. It was so good to see her branch out a little bit and to have some fun. 

Oh also our standards of excellencia changed again. So there is a standard number of baptisms, people with baptism date, people in church, and new people we teach we should be achieving every week or month. Last time it changed in my first cambio. We had to find 20 new people every week instead of 17. That is a lot of new people you have to find and teach every week but it is possible. We got close a few weeks ago. But this time the standard of baptisms changed. Before our goal was one baptism per month. It is a tad bit difficult. A lot of times people aren't ready when you want them to be. But the standard has now changed and we have to baptize someone every week. WOW. That is a lot of baptisms. It is going to be hard but all things are possible through Christ. And man are we going to need His help. But we did have a baptism this week. His name is Juan. He was an investigator for the other Hermana's and so we don't know him super well but he seems like a really cool guys. The baptism was nice. 

Sunday was great. We had 6 investigators en reunion. Also we got to announce a baptism for one of our investigators. He is super excited to get baptized.

This week was just another great week in the mission. Love you all. 

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To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

11/6/17 - Happy Halloween

Hola!

How is everyone doing_ How is school or work or life in general_ I am now into my second cambio in my training, which means I am half way done with my training, I feel like I just got here. I cant be done already. I mean I am not so that's good. But still it has flown by so fast. This week, I don't even remember what happened this week. Days start to mush together. But Nestor y Amelia came to church! It was so amazing. They are taking this very seriously, which they should. They went out and bought clothes so that they could show respect when they come to church. I saw them and they looked like members. They just fit in so well and they are so mature. It is incredible. We celebrated Halloween here by our lonesome selves jaja. It was super fun though. We carved watermelons. So guys here are super creepy and they like are very open about when they find a person attractive. And one day we were walking down the street back to our house to do our studies and we got catcalled a ton. People were shouting out their windows at us and it was weird because it was a lot. And people were like this is my son do you like him. It was weird because we get it every once in a while but this was like a straight 20 minutes this was happening. It was uncomfortable. What else. We are in a trio today while we wait for cambios. Which is kinda super hard to work in a trio. But it is all good. I don't really know what else to say without repeating myself from my group email. But I want you to know how much I love you guys and how much I miss you all. I seriously am so stoked to see everyone when I get home and to see how people have grown and show you how I have grown. It is so crazy. I think about life after the mission and it seems like forever away. Mainly because it is. But it is going to be so awesome. I am hopefully going to be able to speak Spanish and it is going to be so cool for all of us to speak a language and be able to mess around and oh I cant wait. But I know the work I am doing here is changing lives. Others and my own. It is hard and it is suppose to be. But it is worth it. Vale la pena. But it truly is an incredible work. I love everyone so much and I am sorry I didn't  say much in this letter but just know how amazing you all are and how you are such great examples to me. Thank you and I love you more than you will ever know. We are the Davis gang

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