Friday, September 25, 2009

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9/22/09
Hey everyone!
So time goes by SO dang fast! Weeks just fly by because we have so much work to do and we have become so concentrated in it!
This past week was not too exciting but I learned a ton! I had a lot of great learning experiences and it’s helped me to become a better missionary. :)
Life being super busy is normal for us and we still don’t have a bishop or really any leadership here so it’s been a little tough. We put on our ward activity this past Saturday and it went really well. We had a lot of people there and we had a lot of fun. I’m a MUCH better public speaker than I even thought I was a year ago. I actually have come to enjoy it :)
So we have been running every morning at 6:15 and it’s been great! I have lost a little weight already and I feel so much better during the day. We ride bikes all day so we get exercise, but the running in the mornings has made me feel a world better physically! :) I really hope to continue to run every day for the rest of my mission! I guess we will see how that goes... ha-ha but I’ll try,
So with the investigators: Chewy (Jesus) has progressed a lot and has quit smoking and drinking and we are working a lot with him. He is 22 so it’s been great teaching him, but he has crappy friends so it makes things harder. He is the brother of my convert‘s Edwin. It has been really good to teach him all the lessons because of the similarity of our ages. I have learned a lot of how to apply the gospel to my life when I get home. Edwin has also gotten really excited to see the changes in his brother and he is real inspired to be strong in the gospel. Also we met a way awesome family this week. They are really smart which makes teaching a WORLD easier and they know a lot about the bible, which also helps a lot. The smarter people are the better as long as they are not prideful... But it’s a family of 4 and they think missionaries are so cool and ask us a million questions every time we teach them! Just about the work we do and how the whole mission thing works. It really is crazy how efficient the church is and how organized everything is! We really have high hopes for them!
So I decided I really LOVE little Meoqui today! :) I love the small town feel and it’s so much easier to separate yourself from the world and just WORK! We were in Delcias today, the big town close by and I felt so awkward being in a big town... ha-ha! I guess it’s hard to explain, but I love my little town and the people here.
I love the work and that I get to be here! The gospel is true and I have never been surer of anything in my life! I KNOW it! :)
Con mucho amor!
Elder Andrew Davidson
9/8/09
Hey!
So today we have like no time at all because we are using the internet in the morning and this place is about to close for lunch time. Speaking of that, the WHOLE town here just shuts down completely between 1 and 3 for lunch time. Nothing is open and no one is on the roads, it’s crazy! Everyone just respects the hour of lunch time too much and everything closes down, cool huh?
So this week was not terribly exciting, we had zone conference this past Thursday so that was cool. Zone conference is when all the missionaries close to me all gather together with the mission president and 6 missionaries teach along with the president and we all become better missionaries. SO I had to teach and it went well. Not as good as I hoped it would and I felt bad immediately after, but I talked with the mission president after and he said it went real well and I should expect to do it again in the near future.... great!! I was not as nervous as I thought, but I needed to me more direct because I went a little over on time. But I was WAY nervous before conference though. Conference went really well as a whole and I really enjoyed it. Oh and Elder Juarez, my first comp was there and it was good to see him. He was all excited I was going to teach during zone conference too! The point is that I learned a ton and struggled enough to help me learn even more so I can continue to get better each time, you know?
Oh and I got a few letters too! Grandma Stevenson, Paula, Steve Swan(missionary in NY) and kali all wrote me so that was great to hear from all of them! Today I hope to get a few letters sent out as well.
Also our bishop is not longer here... our only help... so now we have to do and lead everything and have no bishop for the time being. It is a lot of work and we have so many people we are visiting right now, but its taught me a lot and we have to stay very focused to get everything we need to do done.
I love being here and love the work! Mexico is awesome! :)
Hope all is well and home and thank you for all of the love and support!
Love,
Elder Andrew Davidson
9/15/09

HEY!
So another week down and I have 8 and 1/2 months in the mission! CRAZY how fast time flies! I just had my birthday! Well I guess today feel like my birthday because I got an amazing package from home and from Paul and letters from grandma, a convert, and another missionary here in Chihuahua! SO that made my day! :) Thank you so much! I already wrote my family emails, but thank you so much Paul! I loved the letter and the tie and especially the PMG. Danielle has a note I sent to you from her. :) Also thanks grandma and grandpa! I love hearing from you! :)
So this week was not too exciting and a little tough to be honest but it has taught me SO SO very much. It’s really allowed me to become a better missionary and focus on what’s really important as a missionary and what I need to do to help the people feel the power of the message we are sharing! It’s helped me to reflect a lot on why I’m here and what I need to be doing here. Meoqui is definitely one of the harder areas in the mission with the members and all and without a bishop, but it has allowed me to stretch and grow in ways I could not have imagined before.
Anyway, so the English class went well and a lot of new people are coming. Plus it teaches me a LOT of patience. Lot of repeating things and talking real slow. I have decided I would like to work at the MTC when I get back so its taught me a lot about teaching a language and how best to do it. It’s fun though and I get a kick out of the fact that I teach a English class. :) Also on sat we had our monthly cooking class and it went real well. Well for the most part. So I had to teach this week and I taught how to make caramel popcorn. Everyone LOVED the caramel popcorn and how easy and cheap it was and thought I was so cool for knowing how. The women here just assume all guys can’t cook at all, well because it’s true here, and were all so amazed with a guy teaching how to cook something. I had fun doing it. I was meaning to take a video of it but I forgot to...sorry. It was also cool because I had to learn a whole other vocabulary to teach how to cook it and all and I expanded my vocab a lot in the process. I also think in Spanish now.... like 100%.... weird.... sometimes I remember I speak Spanish and think it’s funny. You know?
So yeah we had those activities this week and we are planning a family home evening as a ward for this sat and we have assigned all the members a little part and have flyers and all so I feel like it’s going to work out really well. Everyone is really excited about and we hope to get a lot of people out to church in the process. Oh and we spoke again on Sunday. I guess it’s not news anymore. But we had 30 min to fill and my comp used 9.... so I talked for like 20. It went by real fast and I didn’t even I filled the time till after. I have grateful for the opportunity to plan and direct so many activities and give so many talks because I am really becoming a lot better at it and learn a TON in the process. I especially learn a lot about people and working with groups of people and learning to be a better leader and keep their attention. You know? I have never been a big fan of group projects so it’s taught me a lot about working with people to accomplish a goal. I’m grateful to say the least. Hard, very very hard at times and a lot to do and figure out, but rewarding at the same time. :) That’s pretty much the story of the mission.
Oh and I completed my second full journal the other week! I’m on my third and write a page everyday still :)
So the work has been a little slow and hard. A lot of people just live together and decide they are together and never get married, and we can’t baptize people who are not married so we have to work a lot with people to get married. It is weird to give council and all seeing how I’m not married yet.... ha-ha. There have just been a lot of hard situations out investigators are facing, like family deaths and illegally entering the US with their family and then get exported living away from them and all. And it’s hard because we want to solve their problems and help them, but we have to remember we are to teach them to confide in the gospel and use it to solve all of their problems and get through all of the trails. You know? We do what we can. But it’s taught me a lot about family and marriage life and what does and doesn’t work in marriage and what it takes to have a successful one.
The work goes on and I love the people and Meoqui, even if it is a little bit hard at times. I grateful to be here and know there is NO where else in the world I rather be than here. The gospel is TRUE! ;)
Love,
Elder Andrew Davidson

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

9/1/09

Hey everyone!
Thank you for all of the birthday emails, they made my day! Yes today is my birthday and I’m glad I can email everyone on my actual birthday, makes it a little more special. To be honest I was dreading my birthday a little and thought it was just going to be a sad day and be no different than the rest. So I was trying hard not to expect much seeing how I don’t know many people yet or know them very well yet, but surprisingly it has been a great day! I washed a lot of my clothes last night so I don’t have to wash so much today, oh and we wash our clothes by hand. Like with soapy water and a scrub board. The old fashioned way ;) We also shower by filling a bucket with cold water and dump in on ourselves in the shower... :) I love life here though. I actually really like washing clothes by hand, it MUCH more effective and CHEAPER :) It just takes a LOT more time, is the only real down side.
Any ways so in the morning my mission president and his wife call me and wish me happy birthday and they were driving to a zone conference of another zone and all the missionaries in the car sang me happy birthday and also sang the Mexico birthday song too! :) PLUS the coolest part was that my best friend here in the mission, Elder Killpack, who I have not heard from or seen in 2 months now, was in the car too going to his zone conference and I got to talk to him for a few minutes! :) It made my morning! Plus there are 180 missionaries in the mission and he called me personally to tell me happy birthday! cool huh?
Then we went to district meeting and it is my birthday and it’s the birthday of one of the sisters in our district, so after the meeting we had cake and it was fun. They made us take the biggest bite out of the cake that me could and then shoved our faces in it! I have pictures and a video of it all. I am going to try and send a picture of it home. So also someone in the sister’s ward made a piƱata! The best part was that it was Michael Jackson with the silver glove and ALL! I laughed so hard! I’ll send a picture home of that too! :) We then played a little basketball and it was a lot of fun, we have 8 people in our district by the way. Then my comp and I came back to little Meoqui and cooked hamburgers and drank IBC root beer! It doesn’t exist here in Mexico but someone brought it back from the states and sells it in their little shop. Today has been a good day, especially since I did not expect much. I’m glad it’s a p-day though, so it was at least a little different, you know?
So this week as a whole has been pretty good. We still have loads of work to do and have been diligent, but of course we can step it up. Oh and we spoke in church on Sunday again. We speak twice a month here so that is good. I have really come to enjoy speaking to be honest. I always learn a lot and I love being able to share a message with everyone. Plus I’m not really nervous anymore before or during. It’s becoming a more normal thing. And of course I learn lots of Spanish in the midst of it all too :) Oh I spoke about family prayer this week and how amazing it is!
So sorry, but I’m not going to tell the Paula story today... it’s been a little bumpy this past week and so I’m going to wait till it has a good ending to tell it. Sorry!
Oh and when we were teaching two of our investigators at the entrance to Meoqui. It’s a road that comes in and everyone sells things on the side of the road. And so we are teaching two of them and there is an ex-bishop of a ward over in Delicaias that works there too. So his daughter and the ex-bishop, stops by and she has a non member friend and we contact her and what not, and then it turns out the daughter lives in CA and is visiting and went home yesterday. So she asked me if I have any letters I want to give her to send and she can send them from the states, which is WAY faster and for my home telephone number and she is going to call you mom and ask if you want to send anything to me and that you can send it to her and she will bring it to me in October when she is coming to visit again. You can send something to her if you would like to, she seems reliable. But just expect a call from someone who does not speak too much English - ha-ha :) So I was able to send a letter off to home and to Larissa through her and I feel like they should get there real quick, but who knows. It was great luck and she is a very nice lady! She drove all the way from Delicas to Meoqui to get the letters from me to send! :)
So we have had a few more meetings with the bishop to be discuss working together and really helping the ward grow and such and then at the end of our 2 hour meeting, he tells us that next week he is leaving to Monterrey!.... so we think the old bishop is going to be bishop again because there is no one else, but who knows, I guess we are going to have to wait and see this week. But we have organized the priesthood quorums and got quorum leaders called and all and have a list of all the calling holes we need to fill. So we will go little by little reactivating people and baptizing people to fill the holes and get the ward going real strong.
Oh so I also am officially an English teacher... ha-ha! I teach English classes every week and we made flyers and all and have them posted all over town. We only have like 14 people in the class but a lot of people are interested and it gets people out to the church and allows them to get to know the members and such. It’s been really successful so far and since I just learned Spanish I just use all the games and activities we did, but in English. It’s a lot of fun and the kids call me professor which is funny to me :) We have started a weekly English class, mutual activity, and a monthly ward family home evening and cooking class! It’s been fun to be honest! I love working with the ward to such a great extent, it’s been really rewarding to say the least. :)
My companion and I have been getting along really well! We work together really well and have been really unified in teaching! It’s just great to have a companion who wants to be obedient as well. The last two were so difficult so it’s nice to have a good chill companion!
So Edwin Huerta was baptized this week. Aida and Javier Hinjos didn’t because Javier had to leave for work this past weekend and so we are going to have their baptisms this coming week so we are stoked for that!
We also have been working a lot with Edwin’s mom who WAS a less active and we have really become friends with her. We are even starting to put goals for her to enter the temple and get sealed to her husband, who died a year ago, and to her 3 kids. Well only 2 are members but we are working with her other 22 year old son to get baptized right now. She is a lot of fun and WAY happy and I love feeling like such a part of the family. We are actually going to their house at like 7 to have an appt with her son and she said she was going to make something for my birthday! :) She was the only one to offer something, but I’m excited!
WOW! So my zone leader just called me and I have to teach in zone conference this Thursday! Only 6 people teach and they are the zone leader, the 3 district leaders, the assistant to the president, and ME.... cool huh? It’s the conference with the mission president and his wife and the assistants and ALL. I’m really excited and nervous! I know I will learn a lot from the experience so I’m excited! I’ll be sure to tell you how it goes.... :)
So that is about all of this week! All goes well and I LOVE being here and love the work! Oh and thank you Danielle for the package! I love it! I have not gotten anything else from others yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know when I do! :)
Love you so much, the gospel is true and if we LIVE it, it will change our life!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Andrew Davidson

8/24/09

Wow! So a lot has happened this past week!
So first off on Wednesday I received my new comp, his name is Elder Agustin and he is from Puebla Mexico. He has been on the mission for 5 months and was in my district in Juarez for the whole time so we already knew each other and we have always got along. I am also officially the senior companion with 7 and a half months in the mission but we still work 100% together it just that someone always has to be senior and the other is junior companion. I have always liked him and he is obedient and diligent, so that is GREAT. We get along well and I’m just way excited to have a companion who is not way dead in the mission and wants to work hard too! We are DEFINITELY going to make a big difference here in Meoqui! I’m way excited! Oh and he likes to play basketball, so we go to the church in the mornings and play so that is nice (we live 2 blocks from the church, or less).
So we have had a LOT of success this past week! It’s been amazing! First off we have the Hinojos family. They are a family of 7 and we baptized the two kids over the age of 8 this past Saturday, and we are going to baptize the mom and dad this coming Saturday. The dad, Javier, had to give up alcohol and really make a few big changes so we are pumped to help him out, and have really seen the difference and happiness in his life as he has embraced the gospel! They are EXTREMELY poor but it’s always a ton of fun to be over at their house because they have 3 little kids, 3 years old, 4, and 7 and they are hilarious! They find big bugs and play with them and it’s just a lot of fun to play with them. They don’t have any money to buy church clothes so I really want to buy them some. I don’t have any money right now, but I’m hoping someone sends me a little money for my birthday next week and I will use it to get them like a white shirt and tie. There are flea markets here so it should be real cheap, but I figure its a little way I can help them out. They also taught me a lot about pooling together as a family to make things work and about how really working together can make a difference. They are awesome!
So then there is Edwin! He is 12 and his mom is a less active, but she says she will be at church next week and her older sons are also members so we have been working with them a lot to help them get back into the church and be HAPPY! Edwin is EXTREMELY intelligent and his dad died a year ago, so we have taught him a lot about the plan of salvation. He gets baptized this week as well.
Then we have Paula and Aolani, they have a WAY cool story that is a little longer. They are going to get baptized next week so I will tell their story next Tuesday, or the one after their baptism. Sorry!
Oh and when they whole mission had changes this past Wednesday I got letters from mom, Mara, the Elms, Elder Lindsay, Larissa, and well a convert from Juarez too. I changed areas during special changes so the rest of the mission changed a lot this time around. I LOVED the letters and I am going to respond to all of them! Mara I am not sure where to send your letters and I’m pretty sure you have not gotten my last letter.
Oh and Danielle I got your package already! THANKS! I am not going to open it yet because I want something from my birthday. So yeah I will be 20 by next Tuesday! crazy! I’m excited, but to be honest not really.... I’m pretty sure it won’t be too exciting, but I’m not here to celebrate birthdays, I have people to serve!
It’s also been way cool being senior companion as I get to make the decisions. I like it... ha-ha! But really it’s not that much fun, but it has helped me to grow a lot and to be diligent all the time and never let up.
So yeah, it’s been a great week and I love being a part of these people lives, they are so amazing! I really love the people here! It will be hard to go back to the states ones day... Through serving people I have really come to love them so much and care about them. I love being on the mission and all the opportunities I have to learn and grow everyday because of it! There is nothing I rather be doing than serving the Lord right now!
The gospel is true, learn it, LIVE it and apply it. It WILL change your life; there is no doubt about it.
I love you all so very much!
Elder Andrew Davidson
P.S. This is my last email as a teenager..... HA-HA

8/17/09

8/17/09
Hey everyone, so another week in Meoqui! And my birthday is in 2 weeks from today! Wow time has flown by! Crazy to think I will be twenty! I feel like it won’t be a great birthday because I have only been here for two weeks and I am going to get a new comp tomorrow... but I’m not here to celebrate birthdays so I don’t expect too much.
So my companion went home on Sunday night with all of the others, and yeah it was a little distracting for a little bit because it made me think about what things will be like when I go home. But I have been with Elder Woodward an elder from my generation since then so we have just been working here while we wait for changes to come around. We will all get our new companions tomorrow so that is exciting. Also on Saturday I had a really good interview with the mission president and he was real direct with me and thanked me for pushing Elder Regnier and Elder Mar (my last two companions) so much. He helped me out a lot and it got me real excited to lead here in Meoqui, and try to really make the difference here.
Things have been changing around a lot with all the changes and people going home so I have been able to talk to the leaders quite a bit and it has really been a big help and I have learned so much! I’m pretty sure it would have taken me like 5 years to learn what I have learned in the past 7 months here. It’s been a real up and down experience but it amazing to me how much I get to learn each day and how blessed I am that I get to be here and work with the amazing people of Mexico.
I have already met a ton of amazing people here in Meoqui and I should be better about telling you about the people we are teaching... sorry. I don’t have too much time but we are preparing a family of 4 to be baptized this next Friday. There are many more stories but I’ll be better next week about telling you about them!
Life is great and the gospel is true! Live it and be happy!
Love,
Elder Andrew Davidson