Andrew's Address while in Juarez:Juliana Orozco c/o Elder Andrew DavidsonP.O. BOX 971802El Paso, TX 79901
or go to Dearelder.com and send a letter on-line. Just put Elder Andrew Davidson for the missionary and pick Chihuahua Mexico for the mission.
Diane
Hey everyone!
SO first off how exciting that Paul is home! Weird I won’t see him for another year and a half. (Paul just came home from serving a 2 year mission in Korea)
So this week was one of the better weeks I have had so far in the mission! I felt really good this whole week and a lot of it was because I officially feel like I speak Spanish fluently. I can teach every part of every lesson and answer just about all questions; obviously I still have along way to go. But I just have to occasionally ask what a word or two means. The whole Spanish thing has just been really weird this week. All my dreams are in Spanish and I think a lot in Spanish, and am no longer aware of when I am talking in Spanish. As in before I had to really choose and think to speak, but now it’s just comes out and I talk... I don’t really know how to describe the whole thing. The weirdest part was yesterday at night we were walking home and some people we know, one of the members of the ward, walked by and we talked to them for a second or two. But the things is they don’t speak Spanish because they are from India going to school here, so they only speak English. So in order to speak in English I had to think SO hard! It was the weirdest thing ever! After, I didn’t know if I was happy or sad. It was just so weird to have to think so hard to speak such basic English. I kept responding in Spanish too and they got mad at me... ha-ha. Once I start speaking for like 20 minutes I’m okay, but just the 2 minute conversation in the street was so hard.
Anyways... So yeah that’s the latest with Spanish. I still have a LOT to learn to though and I need to stay focused on studying more grammar.
So we had another baptism this weekend. We baptized Ivete Ventura Garcia and we were going to baptize her two daughters with her but their dad took them for the week end so they are going to get baptized next week end. Sad that we could not baptism them together, but it was awesome to baptize Ivete. I was much more relaxed this time around too so that way nice. I think I’m finally used to the whole thing, well at least not new anymore. All went well and she was way excited! Oh and after we went to drain the baptismal font and we looked at the water real close and we could very visible see the parasites! Crazy! They were all jumping around and were real little... hopefully I didn’t get any during the baptism... ha-ha!
Also we are going to baptize a couple next week and they were in church this week again so all is going great with them! it’s rare to baptize a couple here so I’m way excited.
Oh and the mission president and his wife were randomly in our sacrament meeting so I was glad we had a lot of investigators with us! He gave us the thumbs up too! It’s cool to have him there because he is the authority over all of the state so all the leaders look up to him a lot and we are with him so it’s cool. We have 5 baptisms planned for this week so I’m way excited!
Oh and I have been praying a lot for more opportunities to serve people and do more service projects and this week we found a new investigators who needs a lot of help. She is 50 and lives alone and just broke her foot so we have been help her a lot and just being there for 45 minutes a day helps her to not feel so alone all the time. She smokes so we have been working with her a lot in that aspect and she has done very well with all her goals! She has a baptism date for 2 and half weeks from now.
Okay side note, so turns out we drink a lot of tap water.... I know there are going to be a lot of people mad at me for saying this but it’s true... We never drink tap water in our house because it’s bad for you. But people give us water all the time in their house and it’s almost always from the tap. Most times they get it from the tap and them put a drink flavor in it and the put it in the fridge so it’s does not taste so bad and is cool. But either way it’s from the tap and most people so that because not many people have money. So far I’m all healthy but it’s not like there is much I can do. Not ask for water? Then I would die because it’s so dang hot here. Reject the water like I’m too good for their water? Obviously no... I’m protected so I’m not too worried.... haha. We do what we can though.
Also there was a big search really close to our house the other day. They had helicopters and there were tons of people driving around in their police trucks and we were like wow.... The helicopter was cool because there were lots of people hanging out with their guns and it was circling around! We see lots of cool stuff in Juarez!
Speaking of Juarez, so when we teach people part of the lessons is talking about the 10 commandments. One of which is that we are not supposed to kill people... self explanatory no? So this week we taught the 10 commandments a lot, and 3 times we had to explain it and all the whys and such. One time we had to teach why it was so bad and they had all these situations for us to judge. Like, but if they did this.... We are we are like, NO! Don’t kill people please! Ha-ha. Only in Juarez Mexico! I love it!
Oh and another exciting event that happened this week was that I ate tacos made with "machito" Which is cow heart, brain, lungs, intestines, eyes, and stomach! Nada spec of regular meat! My convert made me eat it, and to be honest it did not taste that bad. I kind of liked it to be honest but I already thought I didn’t like it because of what it was. But I ate the whole taco and it wasn’t bad at all!
So all continues to go well and I am working hard and enjoying the mission! We continue to see success from our obedience and the mission has been amazing! I read a quote this week in PMG and I really liked it. It was in Spanish so I’m not sure of the exact words, but basically it says, If you want to be happy, forget yourself. Forget yourself and begin to serve others because in selfless service is where true happiness lies. If you are not happy, stop thinking about what YOU want or what YOU need or what YOU don’t have or are missing and just serve others. How true that is and I have been really trying to apply all of the gospel principles into my life this week. Because a lot us know all of the principles, but yet we still fail to apply it to our everyday lives. I have been really trying my best to do that to a greater extent and have been so much happier because of it. How great the gospel is and how great that we have such guidance in our lives. Apply the gospel, live the commandment's, and BE HAPPY! That’s the point of it all, be happy! I am so grateful that I can be here and get to share this happiness with the people of Mexico! It’s the greatest things I have ever had the privilege of doing in my life! I love the work and love and miss all of you! Thanks you for all your love and support!
Love,
Elder Andrew Davidson

Hey everyone!
So life continues to go well here for me. Since we have stepped up our obedience we have seen a lot of changes in our success here. There have been tons of less actives back at church and we have 4 baptism dates for this week end and 3 for the next week! Things are going really well here!
We have been teaching a mom and her two daughters for the past month and a half and they are getting baptized this weekend, so that is really exciting! She is very strong and is overcoming a lot and growing so much! I’m really proud of her. She has a rough past and is really learning to apply the gospel is her life and see the difference it makes.
Also we had an activity with the ward we put on this past weekend and it went really well! There were a lot of people there and we had like a ward social with sports and games, food, and a little devotional before the activity. It went great. So we are pretty much the people who lead a lot here so I have learned a lot about planning a putting on activities and it’s harder and more stressful than I had thought it was... ha-ha. But we have been working with a lot of less actives and it was good to get them all out to the social and see their progress. Also we got a lot of references too.
Life in Mexico is pretty exciting and new every day. Sometimes I’m hitch hiking a ride and just think to myself like wow... I’m in the back of a truck riding around with my comp speaking Spanish in JUAREZ Mexico.... ha-ha. It just hits me how crazy it is to be here. So we have changes this week and I don’t expect to move but I think my comp will so I will let you know how it goes. My address to write me here is in one of my first emails from here, like in March if anyone does not have it.
Sorry I don’t have more time to share a message with you all, but I just love you all!
Humility and patience are the key to everything is what I am learning and striving to develop. Two things I REALLY need to work on so I am putting my all and really trying to apply what I am learning everyday to help me be a better servant of the Lord.
I love you! Thanks for all f the love and support! I love hearing from you!
Love
Elder Andrew DavidsonAndrew's Address while in Juarez:
Juliana Orozco c/o Elder Andrew DavidsonP.O. BOX 971802El Paso, TX 79901