11-04-09

Hey!

So this is going to be the lamest email I ever sent and I hope that none of my other emails are this lame... ha-ha! I have absolutely no time at all to write with all of the Chihuahua trips I have taken. I have lost a lot of my p-day time and so it’s been tough trying to do everything and still have time to go to internet cafe.

This was an exciting week to say the least! There were a lot of things that happened and I have so much to tell you all.

So the most exciting part was “Day of the Dead” and the activity we put on in the cemetery. Day of the Dead is the first and second of November, and it is like a mini fair at the cemetery. Everyone goes and cleans off the grave of the one who has passed away and then puts lots of nice flowers on the grave. But also everyone goes to sell food and stuff and the whole event turns into a fair. So the mission president had all of us go to the cemetery and put up a little table with lots of pictures of Christ and we brought all kinds of pamphlets. Then people came over and asked as loads of questions and we were able to contact like a billion people. It went great and we have enough work for the whole month now! It worked great because the people who have an interest in learning about Christ are the ones to come over and talk to us so we get the best of the people. Plus there were a lot of people there so we had plenty of people to talk to. The other missionaries, our leaders, were going to help us... but they bailed out to go work only in their town so we were alone, but I learned a ton because of it. I feel like I have become a much better people person and learned to really bring a lot of energy to the conversation. I have learned to present myself in a good way - if that makes sense. My comp is way nervous and timid so it was great to see him come out of his shell. I could tell he felt real awkward but he did great and we both stepped up and learned a lot. I felt so awkward for like 3 minutes and then I loved it and just went about talking to everyone. Even if we don’t teach anyone, we gave the church a little better image because a lot of people have crazy ideas about the church.

Halloween was sad... no decorations or trick or treaters or anything.... it’s not even a special day here. But we had a great lesson with Brenda and Chewy on Halloween night so it was much better than a normal night.

We also had interviews with President Flores this week. He came by and we met him at the church. It went well and I left real motivated. I have not really realized how much of a difference we have made here until he started asking questions and then seemed so surprised with our responses. Oh and in August our mission completed our goal of 200 baptisms in 1 month and that is the most baptisms this mission has EVER had in one month!! We got a cool shirt to remember the accomplishment (but we had to pay for... ha-ha). But it’s cool to be a part of, especially since I personally baptized 6 in the month of August :) Oh and I got a few great letters from home too, thanks grandma and Cheryl for the letter and I also got a few letters from so friends who are out on missions as well.

So this week we had to go and get permission from the local government here to be able to go to the cemetery to put up our table and we had a lot of fun doing it. We went about making friends with all of the government people and now we have all kinds of friends in the local government. They even gave us a huge map of Meoqui for FREE!! Cool huh! We did not have a map that even showed all the streets or anything and now we have a great big one with all the street names and all! Plus we even ended up teaching a group of the government people and then more and more people started coming by and then we taught the whole group of people. It also made me see the large economic gap in between the upper class and the lower class. There is such a difference between the two and I thought about it a lot. The largest part of the gap comes from the mentality of the lower class. Yeah there is the whole situation they are in, but the way they see things and the goals they set are what really define the difference. I try really hard to give the people hope and push themselves to leave the poverty behind and TRY to reach their maximum potential. They don’t set goals and without goals how do we even accomplish anything.... It was a weird thought process that is hard to explain.

So today I was in Chihuahua the whole morning for the whole tooth bit. We slept in the mission offices last night and it’s been great because I have made friends with all the office people in the mission home. I talked a lot with the assistants and I learned a whole lot. They taught me by their example and we discussed for a while about the mission and things to improve on and such. I liked talking to the leaders of the mission and trying to see what makes the leaders “leaders” and why others aren’t. The thing they ALL have in common though is their level of obedience. Obedience is the secret to life I have decided. It takes a lot of humility and patience, but it’s something to really work on.

So that is the week for the most part.... All goes well and I have been healthy and all. We have a LOT of work for this next week so we will see how it all goes. I love you all so much and thank you for all of the support!

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson