8/27/18 - Cambios and More Miracles!

(prologue- a few photo's from Hermana Davis' BD activities, for some reason the computer wouldn't let her upload photo's last week)

Hey everyone.

So this was the last week in this cambio. So that means... TRANSFERS!! There are so many changes to the mission. None of the Hermana's are going home only Elders and we got about 21 new missionaries so they had to open a lot of areas for Hermana's. Its super awesome!
 A lot of people are training this cambios including my hija Hermana Fife!! 
But as of me nothing changed. Hermana Gomez and I are still here working hard. I'm her last companion. The biggest change for us is that they are having 2 other Hermana's live with us and opening another set of missionaries here in Oviedo. CRAAAZZZY! So yeah this week was super great. 


On Monday we had a very powerful and spiritual lesson with a lady named Cinthia. She had shared with missionaries before a while ago. When we started sharing with her, she wasn't really too interested in what we had to say. Just let us in the be nice. After we told the first vision you could feel the spirit super strong. 
So I asked her how she felt. She said fine. So I started to testify and she just told me that all the churches are good. There isn't one that is better than the other because they all talk about Christ. I told her that was true, all the churched talk about Cristo but He only established one and only the church He established is the truth and can take us to live with our Father again. She looked at me and said well I assume you believe that your church is this church. I asked her if I could respond with a question. I explained how Cristo in the scriptures talks about how His church should have His name and if it has the name of another man it is the church of that man not His church. She agreed with me. SO then I asked her if she could think of a church who had the name of Cristo. She could only think of ours. I was able to testify and it was such an amazing and spiritual lesson. My heart was going to jump out of my chest. It was great. After I testified she agreed to pray and invited us over again! 

With cambios I wasn't able to write much so this email will be a little shorter. Sorry. Lately we have been sharing with a guy named Alberto. He is super cool. He reminds me a lot of my uncle so we get a long really well. We have been teaching him and he was so curious as to why we were here. He thought we just wanted to baptize him like other churches. I explained that we wanted to help him find the truth to be able to return back to Heavenly Father together... ARRIBA JUNTOS!! Our lessons with him are always really good and he always has awesome questions and isn't afraid to ask them. I have a really good feeling about him and I know he will be baptized. So then when we invited him to church he told me that he had a headache and he didn't know if he was going to come. 
I asked him if he knew what Dengue was. He described it to me. Then I asked him if he knew how painful it was. He said yes it was super painful. Then I looked at him right in the eyes jaja and I told him that I have had dengue for 3 months. He was shocked. 3 months! he told me. I said yeah 3 months. And then I asked him but do you know what I did. And he said no. And I said, I WENT TO CHURCH!! If I could go to church with dengue for 3 months he can go with a little headache. He started laughing super hard and he told me okay he would come no matter what. The saddest part is that he got called into work and still couldn't come on Sunday. 

On Friday we had taught a lady a while ago and decided to go back to try and find her again. But she wasn't home just her son who was about 13. He started to talk to us and was like hey I have a book of Mormon. We were like really that's so cool. Next time we share with your mom we are gonna talk about it you should join us. He was like yeah okay I love to read. We were like that's great your gonna love it. He was like yeah your right. My favorite book is Alma. We were shocked. We started talking more about Alma and he really knew his stuff. It was so cool. I am excited to go back and teach him. Sunday night we were working and we were in an area that I never have really been in. Maybe when I first got to Oviedo but we didn't work there much. We were walking around contacting houses but it was about 7 and dark and cold so no one wanted to answer us. We started to walk in this dark path and we kept passing houses. I had said a prayer in my heart to be able to find a family to teach. 

So we were passing houses and my companion asked me why we weren't contacting them. I told her I was looking for the right house. We kept walking and I saw one house and it was more like a super small shed. But I felt the need to talk to them. So we contacted it. A mom came out and let us in right away. We shared with her and her 2 sons who have 9 and 10 years. It was a really great lesson and they all want to pray and learn more. It is a strong testimony builder to me that God will guide our footsteps if we are willing to move our feet. The spirit doesn't yell at us but he will guide us with small promptings. We need to listen. We need to pay attention. We have to do our part. I know this church is true. I know that the Spirit leads us and testifies of Christ. I know that there are miracles in our everyday lives. I am so grateful to be on my mission and I cant wait for this next cambio to work even harder and find even more miracles. I love my mission!!!! Till next week fam!!

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To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

8/20/18-One more day, One less Year

++ no pics would upload this week

SHOUT OUT TO MY MOM FOR BEING THE BEST MOM IN THE WHOLE WORLD. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 29 NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD. I LOVE YOU!!!

Man this week was great, what even happened?

Well first it was my birthday. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wished. It was a good day. To be honest we didn't do anything. I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday. I just wanted to work and not make a big deal out of it. But somehow Hermana Gomez told a family here and they invited us over to have a family home evening. So we went and we planned this awesome lesson. We played bean boozle. If you don't know what bean boozled is, its a game with good tasting jelly beans and really awful tasting jelly beans but they look the same so you don't know which one is which. They have flavors like peach or vomit. Pear or booger. Tootie frootie or smelling gym sock. So we played that and we compared it to how sometimes Satan makes sins look appealing. But really they are awful and leave a bad taste in your mouth and we need to stay as far away from them as possible. Also how some sins don't seem as bad as others for example the flavor vomit compared to toothpaste. And how sometimes we get lucky and continue to get pear and peach and berry but if we keep tempting our luck we will end up with vomit. It was a super great lesson. It was very spiritual and fun at the same time. Familia Recalde alse made dinner and bought me a cake. It was really sweet of them. 

On Tuesday I went to Caaguazu. It was great. We were able to work really hard. We also had our consejo de distrito so we got to learn about the importance of teaching repentance. The other Hermana's in our district also found out it was my birthday and made a cake for our treat afterwards. It was super nice of them. The elders were really grateful I had my birthday jaja. But it was funny because everyone I talked to thought I was turning 22. EVERYONE. So I don't know jaja it was funny to tell people I was only 19... well 20 now... what a sad moment jaja. 

Wednesday was my 1 year mark in the mission. We also didn't do anything jaja. Well that's a lie we got to work. We found new people who are super nice and I have a good feeling they are really gonna start progressing. She shared with missionaries when she was a little girl. It was super great. Thursday we spent the day in this one part of our area that is super super far. Its called Barrio Costa San Antonio. It is like 1 hour to walk there, maybe a little bit more and we decided to go out and visit some of them members that live there and find new people. It was really great. It started to get dark so we decided to leave and maybe work a little closer to the house. But as we were leaving there was this path in the woods. I felt like we needed to go down the path. My companion however did not feel like that was a good idea. But with a little persuasion we went down the path and found a house. We clapped and a lady came out. We started talking to her and her mom is really sick. So she let us enter to say a prayer for her and her mom. We taught about the Restoration and it was really great. We set up a day to go back. As I left the lesson I felt really good. The spirit had guided us to this house. They are very nice. 

Man Friday was super great. So we had intercambios again and I went to Piribebuy. The Hermana's in Piribebuy are having some problems in their companionship and don't really have the desire to work. So when I got there I was determined to work so hard and follow the spirit that by the end of the day the Hermana would think I was trying to kill her jaja. And it worked. We found 14 nuevos and we were able to serve and offer prayers to 6 more new people. We taught members and recieved referencias. It was a really really great day. By the end the Hermana I was with, her whole body hurt super bad, mine too jaja. It was a great day. But at the end we had 10 more minutes until we had to be in the house. I want to find one more person. But a dog ran up and bit Hermana Suqui. Poor thing. So we ended up going home to fiz her up. Luckily it didnt break the skin but it was pretty purple. But igual it was a great day. Saturday I got back to Oviedo. We were then able to work in our area. We found this huge family with 10 people who all were listening to us and the grandma started going on this huge rant and one by one all the kids started leaving. So that was kinda sad. But we have another appointment with them and we are gonna try to take control of the lesson and teach a short but powerful lesson with the spirit. 

We had plans to teach Ariel because we haven't been able to see him since Sunday but he cancelled on us again. I think something happened with his mom because she doesn't like the church and so we are really praying for him. But on Sunday we pasted for hs house to see how he is and he was reading his Book of Mormon when we passed. He said everything was fine he was just really tired that morning and so he didn't come to church. He told us he knows it isn't an excuse and he should have gone. he promised he would go next week. He is super great. I think something did happen and he just doesn't want to tell us. But he is super awesome. On Sunday we also found a girl named Clara. She is 20 and she was standing outside washing her clothes. When I looked at her we made eye contact and I knew that we had to talk to her. So we walked over. She let us in right away. We taught about the Restauracion and at the end of the lesson we asked her why she let us in. She said that she was just praying for someone to come and help her feel peace and help her grow closer to God. She said that she knew God had sent us to her. She is super cool.

Sunday night though was interesting. So we were walking home and we saw a group pf dogs. Not like one or two. There was 15 or so. Hermana Gomez is super super scared of dogs so she wanted to take another route. But all of a sudden this motorcycles passed with two guys on it. The dogs when crazy because the guys were throwing beer on them. They started chasing the moto. They were coming right to us. Now Hermana Gomez started freaking out because the dogs where coming so she was holding on to my arm. I was on the road. In front of me was the dog. I had 3 options. Get run over my the moto. Run into my companion and push her into a ditch with the dogs. Or stay where I was and get hit by the dogs who were coming and get beer poured on me. Needless to say I stood my ground. But I did not do a good job because there was one dog that just knocked the legs right out from under me and I flew. Landing super hard and getting liquid poured on me. It was super funny though. I laid on the ground for a good few seconds reevaluating my life jaja. It was super funny. I got up and we decided to try and visit one more person. We went to her house and she has a huge dog who is still a puppy but he is like bigger than me. When we got there he ran up from behind and tackled me and whipped me with his tail. It instantly left a mark jaja. It was an interesting like 20 minutes. Goodness jaja. I wished I had it recorded because it was super funny.

Anyways I know this church is true. I know God is watching out for us and that he hears our prayers. I know Jose Smith was a profeta and that Russell M Nelson es nuestro profeta today. I am so grateful to have this chance to serve in Paraguay and get tacked by dogs jaja. It truly is the best. I love you all!!!

--

To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

8/13/2018 -Best birthday gift ever... ARIEL WAS BAPTIZED!!

Best birthday gift ever...ARIEL WAS BAPTIZED!!

But lets start the week with Monday. On Monday we had our activity of our district. It was super fun. A while ago Hermana Robinson and I had an idea to make like these cookie caburey. Here they make this chipa but on a stick like a smore. Chipa is like this bread thing that is super good. So Hermana Robinson and I were gonna do it with cookie dough and ice cream but sadly we never had the chance. So for our district activity we played ping pong and did that. It was a lot of fun. We played other little games like we all had a side on the ping pong table and then we could only use our breath to move the ball. It was super funny peoples faces. It was a good day. 

Tuesday we had intercambios again. I went to Caacupe. Lets just say Caacupe is the capital of where all the Catholics in Paraguay live. So as a missionary from a different religion it can sometimes be a little difficult. But we had a great day. We were able to find new people who were super sweet and great. Also the Hermana had a baptism on Saturday so when I was there I got to go visit the little girl who was gonna be baptized. 

We had quite the adventure though on Wednesday. Because Wednesday morning she was gonna have her interview to see if she could be baptized. But she lives super super far away in the middle of no where. So we went in the morning to get her before we switched companions back. So I had my bag with all my stuff in it and we waited and finally found a colectivo and was waiting outside on the main street for Esequela and her mom. But it was raining super super hard. So we were worried they weren't gonna come because they lives super far away. But we waited and we decided to go and start walking to their house which is about in hour. We started walking in the rain and we met up with them. They were soaking wet. I was glad I had my duffle with me because I took out all my other clothes and gave it to them because it was dry. We waited for the colectivo and after an hour it came and we could make the walk to the church. We finally got there and she could have her interview. It was great. 

But we were also planning our own baptism so on Wednesday night Ariel was gonna have his interview. We were waiting at the church with the elders and waiting and waiting. We called him but he didn't answer, his phone was off. We waited for an hour and a half almost but he never came. So that was upsetting. But the next day we tried calling him again and his phone was still off so we went to his work. (Just a clingy missionary over here no worried) and we talked to him. We told him he couldn't be baptized without his interview. He understood and said he would come Thursday night. So we cleaned the baptismal font and once again was waiting for him with the elders. It was super sweet because the elders brought us lomitos which is an Arabic taco pretty much. But way better. So we sat and ate and waited. At 9 Ariel showed up and we had his interview. It was super great. The elder told me he cried during his prayer and that it was a very spiritual moment.

 Thursday we had conferencia de Zona. It was super great. Everyone came to Oviedo so we didn't have to get up early and travel. We learned about how we can find people more effectively and how we can spread the gospel better. Key just be their friend. Be nice and serve just like Cristo did when he was on the earth. For the conference they asked me to give my testimony and to give an example of how to contact. They also asked me to translate for la Hermana Hansen. It was lots of fun. After the conferencia we had our interviews with Presidente and it was fun because we were last because we had the keys to the church and so we got to talk to la Hermana Hansen the whole time. She is so great. I got to translate for her has new people came in and were talking to her. She told me I was the assistant to the presidents wife jaja.

 So then we had our entrevistas. It has been so long since I've had ann entrevista. It was super great. After we had our baptism with Ariel. HOWEVER, no one showed up!! Ariel couldn't come because he left work early Thursday so he could come to his interview. And we knew that was a possibility. But no one else in la rama came. Not the people we asked to give talks. Not the person we asked to baptize Ariel. Not even our leader misional. I was, not going to lie, a little frustrated. Everyone always wants the missionaries to have baptisms. All the members here always ask us why we aren't finding people, but when we do they don't do anything. So Friday night when I got home I was disappointed but as I said my prayer that night I felt a calmness. 

Saturday we woke up and worked really really hard. We were praying a lot that we could have our baptism and that we could make up for the time we had lost on Friday. We had a lot of lessons and walked probably our whole area. We had lots of spiritual lessons and great lessons. We got close to the time of our baptism and Ariel's phone was off so we were worried. We ran to our house to change and all of a sudden we got a call. It was Ariel. I answered with half panic half excitement. I didn't know if he was gonna tell us he couldn't come or if he was on his way. I asked him if he was gonna make it. He said he was waiting in front of the church jaja. It was so awesome! We ran to the church and the elders were there. It was really great, but no one else was. So we called a few members and luckily 3 showed up. So we had a small service and heard a testimony and had the baptism. The water was cold but it was super great. Saturday as I walked home I was so happy for Ariel. 

On Sunday though I had another panic. Ariel's phone otra vez was off and we couldn't call him and he wasn't at church. We waited and prayed. But right before sacrament we got a hold of him and he said he was 5 minutes away. He came to the church and told us that he had some problems in the morning but now he is okay and ready to receive the spirit. After the confirmation he had the biggest smile on his face and he just looked so happy. It was so amazing. I know that he has a testimony and knows the church is true because if not he would have stopped talking to us a loooonnngg time ago because I am definitely a clingy and annoying missionary jaja. I called him so much and we went to his work but when he left the water and after he received the spirit he just glowed. He was so happy. I am so grateful to be a missionary. And sunday when we were working we were walking past a house and I saw a lady sitting outside, a little old Paraguaya. I felt the need to talk to her. We started talking and asked if we could offer a prayer to bless her and her house. She let us in and I started to pray. I felt the need to ask for health and tell her she was going to be okay, she was being watched over. After the prayer she was crying and told us she has been sick for months and cant walk and her head always hurts and all these problems she has. It was one of those moments that you see in the church films where they are crying and kissing the hands or feet of Cristo. I knelt down next to her and hugged her as she cried. The spirit was so strong. 

I know this church is true. I know that God hears and answers our prayers. I testify there is power in prayer and fasting. I have prayed and fasted more this past few months than I ever have in my life and I see the hands of God in my life. I know God is right there next to us. He has a plan. We just need to be willing to listen and to put His plan into accion. God will guide our footsteps if we are willing to move our feet. I know this is the work of the Lord. I know that every moment I am here, with every person I talk to and help, God is helping me. I love this gospel. I love my Savior. I love all of you. I hope you know how much your Heavenly Father loves you too. Enjoy the little moments in every day. Till next week.

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To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

8/5/18 Stress and Travels

This week was so crazy and like usual it went by in a flash. I feel like so much happened but I am gonna try to only hit the parts that are super important. 

So Monday we tried to visit Ariel again. His family from super far away visited and so he was with them which is why he wasn't home on Sunday to visit him. But when we got to his house his mom didn't want to share with us so we had to find a women to share. So we went to all the members that we knew that lived in this area and no one could leave with us. So we called Hermano Cubas. Like a quick summary of Hermano Cubas. He is just a little old guy who has a big heart but just like yells at everyone and doesn't really help... I don't know he is a great guy but we don't really have lessons with him and his wife because he just yells at our people. But we had no other option. However when we got there with Ariel, Hermana Cubas already went to bed and we couldn't teach anyways. So that was really sad. 

Tuesday we had intercambios and I went to Rama 2 of Oviedo with Hermana Jensen. It was really great. Wednesday we didn't have anytime to work but right before we left to Asuncion but right before we left we went to visit Joaquina. She is super great and asked us when she could get baptized. So we told her and she is gonna get baptized on the 18 if she can come to church, but she was sick and wasn't able to come. So we moved it again to the 25. She is super great and I know she is gonna be baptized. Poco a poco. But then we traveled to Asuncion for our consejo de lideres. 

We were with the Leaders of Zona 9 and 8 and the Assistants to the Presidente, which are all greengos. So they were all talking in English and it was super fun to be with them. I made brownies so the elders would like us jaja. It worked. We traveled to Asuncion and got there way early. So we went to take a colectivo and finally found one and got to the offices. It was super fun.

 Thursday we had our consejo and Presidente changed like everything. We have a new schedule to follow, new rules. It is so crazy. One thing that changed is that we can go to church activities now if we have an investigator. So I asked the question, how long are we allowed to stay. What if the activity lasts for 3 hours? He looked at me, Presidente, and asked if the activities last 3 hours. I shrugged my shoulders and said I don't know I've never been to an activity. It was so funny because I was being serious but everyone started laughing and Presidente was laughing and looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. It was a good moment jaja. 

It was super awesome I learned a lot about how to be a better leader and to help and serve more. We traveled back to Oviedo and again it was super fun to talk and hangout with the elders. On Friday we put the new horario to work and it was super great. We worked for a long time. Something that Presidente Hansen is really focused on is not the amount of lessons or the numbers we have but on BEING a missionary. On going out and blessing people because we are the only ones who have the power and authority from God to bless people and their homes. So we have been more focused on leaving and serving others and talking to everyone and blessing them. It is really cool. 

Saturday we had a lesson planned with Ariel. We had one Friday but he couldn't get off work. So we have to finish all of his lessons before Sunday so we can announce his baptism but we couldn't teach him Friday. So we planned on finishing all of them on Saturday night. We had a plan to have a lesson in the church and we had a member and everything ready. But he called us and told us he had just got off from work and wanted to know if he could still come. It was 20 minutes later than we had planned but we were like of course you can still come we will wait here. So we waited and it was good we got to talk to the member and she was going through some struggles in her marriage and needed to talk. But after 40 minutes we called Ariel again and asked him if we was coming. We at 20 minutes before we had to be in the house si o si. He told us he got a flat tired and that his spare wasn't working. He felt really bad but we made plans to teach him early Sunday morning before church.

 It was kinda crazy because people kept interrupting our lesson but we finished them all and announced his baptism. This Friday!! I cant wait. He is so amazing and such a good guy. He has really changed so he can follow God in the right path. 

Any who. I know this church is true. I know that God loves us and I know that when we follow His commandments and have faith in Him then we can do all things that is convenient to Him. He loves us and wants us to have all of tee blessings in the world. The real question is if we are willing to do our part. I love this gospel. I love all of you. Hope your week is full of tender mercies. Till next week.

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To Heaven and Back!

Hermana Davis

ps:
Thank you so much. I got my birthday package. It was much needed. I got it right on time. I was out of contacts completely jaja. But you guys are the best and saved me. Thank you so much!