12/6/2010

12/6/10

Hey everyone!

So we went really far just to try and use good computers this week and it didn't really work out and once again it is really hard to type fast because the keys do not work very well.... sorry!

But we had another good week. It was not as good as last week to be honest because last week was just amazingly awesome. But Felix, the 24 year old guy, and the other lady we met last week Lidia Quintana seem to be doing really well. We had another family, the Garcia Robles family that we were going to baptize this week but in the end they have not read or prayed much and so obviously they still doubt a little bit. They still come to church each week, but they will be baptized the next week hopefully. Also Hector, the old guy that is like 55, will get baptized the next week and not this week so that is a little sad because he is a cool guy. But at the same time they are not going to get baptized for me and it’s better that they do it right.

Lidia is 30 and has no kids; I think I told you last week. But she has a friend who has taught her a lot and by the time we got there she was way ready to embrace the gospel. She went to church yesterday and has progressed SO much. She has changed so much in such a short period of time it is kind of crazy. She even came with us yesterday to the Christmas devotional and was able to see the prophet speak for the first time and she really liked it. She was trying to get me to sing in English and all.... ha-ha! She is a lot of fun and will be a great convert and has SO much potential in the church. I feel like I will be going to her temple sealing in the future. The sad part is that she kind of figured out yesterday that I go home soon.... she got real sad and started asking me questions about it and all, but I didn't really tell her much. I don’t want her to know that I leave next week yet. It is just better this way. Oh and I had not really told anyone in the ward when I go home and yesterday the bishop told people and it was kind of funny.... Everyone was so surprised and all happy for me. They are all happy and excited about the two baptisms we have this week too. I really have come to love the ward the members, it will be sad to leave.

We had a super power lesson with Felix this week and he is just pumped for his baptism. He understands really well and we taught him some cool stuff from 2 Nephi 31 that he really liked. He got a new iPod and put the scriptures on it along with all of the hymns... It was funny because he was so excited to show me it. I feel like he will reach amazing heights in the church. He is going to be an amazing leader. I am sure everyone says that about their converts, but he really is amazing!

I have felt really good this past week and I have been working hard. I have also seen a lot of progress on my comps side and he has improved so much. I am really happy for him and he says he finally feels like a real missionary so that is good. On Thursday when we planned for the week I was a little sad because we planned for my last 10 days here. It made me want to cry.... But I know I am working hard and that the Lord needs the very best of me this week.

The only down side is that we have a lot of mission conferences this week. I think they will be good and all, but I really just want to work in the field this week. That is what I really like doing. I LOVE teaching and sharing the gospel. It is the best part about all of this. I have learned to just testify of what I know to be true and invite them to know it too through the Book of Mormon and prayer.

In the mission I have come to learn of and LIVE a kind of happiness that I didn't even know existed. It has been the best decision of my life and I would not trade it for anything. I know the gospel is real. It is sad to realize that next week I come home. I am excited to see everyone, but I am also sad to leave the mission. It will be bitter-sweet.

Thank you for all of your love and support. Thanks for your prayers! I have felt them SO much during these past two years and it has made all the difference.

Love you!

Elder Andrew Davidson

11/29/2010

Hey everyone!

So I am pretty sure that this past week was one my best weeks in ALL of my mission!!! The Lord has really blessed us and I know that He really has helped us so much this past week!

I don't have much time this week to write, but the Garcia Robles family from last week continues to progress and they are going to get baptized December 11th along with Felix and a new girl named Lidia Quintana.

She is 30 year old divorced lady with no kids who we met on Saturday. She is amazing and has progressed so fast! She had friend who is a member and through her she started to become familiar with the church. She is already stopping smoking and drinking coffee and has already accepted the invitation to be baptised! I feel like she will progress a lot this week and I will write you more about her the next week.

We have also started teaching SO many new families this week that were finding on our own and they are doing well. Also the ward is so excited that there have been so many investigators at church and that man of them are complete families. We have lots of appointments to work with them this week!

My companion and I am doing well and he has improved so much! He has been lot more willing to learn and teaches a lot more!

I am doing great and I love you all so much!

Thanks for all the love and support!

Elder Andrew Davidson

11/22/2010

11/22/10

Hey everyone!

This week went really well! I am thrilled with how things have been going and I have felt really good here in the mission. Things have still been tough helping out my companion to get excited to be here on the mission but he has improved a lot and has allowed me to try and put into play everything I have learned on the mission. It has been good for the both of us and I have come to love him a lot and it has allowed me to serve him and try to help him to the best of my ability.

On Friday we had a zone conference and it went really well! We talked a lot about gratitude and the talk that the prophet gave us this last general conference. It was a great talk and a much needed one as well. It has changed my perspective a lot in these past few days and I have really tried to put it into play and be more grateful. The best part of it was learning to always look at what we have and not what we don't have. As people we always seem to look at what we don't have in life. What we are missing. Or what someone else has that we don't. Or what talents others have and we don't. There are endless examples, but it is something that really applies to the mission and the area we are in and the companions we have. We need to just learn to be grateful for what we have and thank the Lord for that and not just ask a million times for the things we don't have. That is how are prayers always seems to be.... a whole lot of asking and very little gratitude. The Lord knows what we need in the end, we need to thank Him more for all He HAS given us, and the blessings will come.

I tried to use apply this in the past weekend and I feel like we really saw results. We have a new family we are teaching and they all came to church. The ward did a great job befriending them and all. Plus our other good investigator Hector Uribe came and is all excited for his baptism this week! :) He loved church and all the members and he is just so happy to become a member of the church. Plus Felix came for the first time in a white shirt and all! :) I was thrilled and he also has a baptismal date! He is going to be baptized the 11th of December! 2 days before I have to leave! And now worries he is NOT getting baptised for me or because I am leaving. He went to visit his family last weekend and had made the decision to get baptized a couple of days ago now that his family is starting to support him more. But because his family won’t be able to be here the 5th of December he has to do it the 11th. I am really happy to be honest. We also has the principles of the gospel class about the gathering of the house of Israel and he really understood it and got really excited to be able to help his family accept the truth as well. The ward mission leader was out of town and I had to teach the principles of the gospel class, and it went a lot better than I had expected and there were like 15 people there and they all seemed to like it. :)

Oh and we also have found a good number of new families to teach. We found this one couple, Jesus and Marina that are recently married and SUPER receptive. They accepted our message perfectly and are way excited to learn more. There were the one that asked us when we can come back! ha-ha! It was funny. We also found a few other new families as well, but we need to teach them a little more still to see if they are really going to keep their commitments or not. We have been good about looking for a lot of new people to teach and letting go of the families that really are not that interested. One of the families is super rich and have a huge house and all and are so happy to have American friends.... It is kind of funny. They are really receptive as well so we will see if they keep progressing this week. Also yesterday afternoon we had the big stake activity we have been planning for a while. I actually am the one who planned it and organized it.... but now that I am not the Zone Leader, I did not have to speak or be in charge of it yesterday and just sang in the Choir we had. I was pretty happy about it. I got to plan it and all, but I didn't have to stress about it much :) It turned out well and a few recent convert gave their testimonies and we sang a number of songs and it went great. There was a good number of people there and a strong spirit more than anything. I really have come to like our stake president and his wife, President and Sister Gabaldon. Sister Gabaldon led our choir for the activity and I worked with the stake president to plan it all. They are a nice family and I feel like I will keep in touch with them even after the mission.

Well, all goes well here in Chihuahua and it has not gotten too cold yet so that is great. I continue to work as hard as I can and I promise I really am giving the best I have. I was a little sad the other morning because I felt like I had not achieved all that I had hoped to in the mission and I was sad my time is running out, but then the spirit made me KNOW that I had worked hard that I have changed more that I understand right now. That I have struggled at times but that is has helped me to grown and repent and prepare myself for all I will come to face in life. It was a nice feeling and I am determined to not let the Lord down during these 3 weeks that I have left. I know that He is counting on me.

Thank you for all of you love and support! It really means more than you know!

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson

11/15/2010

11/15/10

Hey everyone!

So this went really well and I have felt a lot more pressure to work hard and accomplish a lot in a little bit of time. My companion is doing well and is learning a lot. It is funny because it reminds me of being new and all the many things that we learn in the mission. The coolest part of this week is that we sang in a missionary choir at the stake conference. yeah.... I was in a choir..... haha Its a little funny to me because I have never really liked singing too much. We also have a big stake activity planned for this week end and we are going to sing again there as well so that should be pretty exciting. I have come to like music a lot more than I did before and I have come
to realize that it is a lot harder than I thought it was to be hoenst. haha But I have it as one of my goals now, I want to learn how to at least know how to sing and read a bit of music even if my vioce is not too great, and I want to learn how to play a little bit more of the piano. I know it would be hard, but its now a goal of mine... haha

The other good part about conference is that we had a number of investigators there and we have found a LOT of new people to teach this week and really have a lot to do each day and we have like half the week full of appointments already! :) Today I got to teach in my district about helping our investigators get to church and so that was fun. I have not taught like a normal member of the district in a long time and I really enjoyed it. I love having a normal district again; it is a lot of fun to be honest.

So we have been contacting a lot of people and we have these new investigators that are SUPER rich.... They are So cool and are excited to have American friends.... It is kind of funny to me. They are really receptive and we have only taught them once and they
invited us over to dinner and the guy is going to fix our heater in our house and pay for it to be done because they live really close to us. This week we are going to invite them to be baptized when we see them on Wednesday. :) Something that I have learned in the mission that I am applying right now is the power of testifying about the things we teach. We basically just testify to people and the spirit does all the work. When they are the Lord’s prepared future members of the church, they are able to feel that spirit and recognize us as servants of the Lord and accept our message. That is all we basically do in all of our contacts and lessons. It works out well because even though my comp cannot talk yet he is able to participate a lot. It is something I wish I knew in the beginning of my mission. To not try convincing everyone we teach and not to worry if they don’t accept the gospel and to just keep looking for new people to teach. I don’t know how many we will be able to baptize in the month I have left, but I am going to leave the area full of a lot of future members so that is good. I have just come to love teaching in general. It is something I did not like too much before, but now I love teaching people.

Well all goes well here and I am loving the mission and Mexico. I love the people here and love the work!

Thanks for all of your love and support!

11/8/2010

11/8/10

Hey everyone!

So this past week has been a bit eventful to say the least.... But at the same time it is crazy how fast time goes by.

So since President Ángulo became the mission president in July, he has talked a lot about how he likes to have missionaries who serve a long time as zone leaders or assistants to end as senior companions. He always tells us the story about when he was a missionary and had served as a long time as a leader he ended the mission as a senior companion and had the best experience of his mission. He felt this was when he learned the most in his mission and how he was able to apply all he had learned and finish strong. Since I have been a zone leader since the start of the year, I knew that when the time came I was going to end the mission as a senior companion. So about a month ago he told me that I was going to be a senior companion and all but that I needed to train my last companion Elder Lopez to be a good zone leader first because in the mission there are not too many leaders. I told him okay and that I was glad to do it and now the time has come that I am senior companion! :) I am stoked and really excited! He told me that I was going to train a new missionary and I am with a new AMERICAN! Crazy huh? It is my first American companion in the mission and I am excited to help him learn a lot. He was in Utah as a missionary waiting for his visa for 2 months and has 2 months here in Mexico so he is not all that new, but he has struggled a lot in the mission and still has to learn a lot of Spanish so I am helping him out with that. His name is Elder Johansen and is from Idaho. He is cool and we get along. He is a bit timid and quiet and not too sure here in the mission, which is about the opposite of me so I am glad to be able to help him. But to be honest I am the most excited about being about to focus ALL my time and attention on my own area and baptizing and really applying all I have learned in the mission to what I am doing. The only sad part is that I really I have reached the last stage of my mission which is a hard realization. But I know I will be able to achieve success these last 5 weeks and I feel such a strong desire to give me ALL. And not waste a second here. I feel like it is all or nothing and if I have had a good and successful mission it is time to show it NOW and do everything the Lord expects from me.

I have seen a lot of missionaries end the mission and I feel like I have seen what helps and what doesn't. So I am ready to work my heart out and give it my all. I know this opportunity will never come again and I am glad that President Ángulo has seen me as a good missionary and has allowed me to have this opportunity here in my area.

President Ángulo has also taught us a lot about repentance and has really helped me to better understand the true process of repentance and the happiness that comes by living and feeling the atonement of Jesus Christ. It was something that has changed my life and I feel like I have the opportunity to apply ALL I have learn. I am going to teach my comp Spanish and all the things that have helped me to have success here in the mission.

I know the Savior lives and I know the atonement is real. These last few weeks I have felt this more than any other time in the mission and in the end I have come to realize that my best convert is myself. I have changed a lot in the mission and I owe a lot of that to all the great leaders I have had and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Thanks for all your love and support!

Oh and thank you gma Davidson for the letters! I got both of the last two you have sent.

Oh and side note, the El Paso address is now closed again.... ha-ha. I imagine no one will be sending anything to me anymore, but just in case don't send it to El Paso, you have to send it right to Mexico

Love you all!

Elder Andrew Davidson

11/1/2010

11/1/10

Hey everyone!

This week was a good and short week to say the least! Every 3 months we have been having these trainings were the whole mission comes here to Chihuahua for 4 days and everyday all day we are in these trainings and we learn a lot of the new ways we are to teach the gospel. They are amazing because we were isolated from the things that normally distract us during the week and it makes us really focus in on the mission and gospel. Plus we had TONS of great spiritual experiences this week with the conferences and all and on top of that I got to see all of my buddies in the mission! All of the zone leaders, district leaders, and missionaries that are trainers got to come and so we were like 60 missionaries :) I have had a lot of really special experiences associated with music and singing hymns. I have come too really like them and singing..... I still horrible at singing and all, but now the difference is that I like it and would love to learn how to sing at least okay and to play a little bit of piano. Maybe it will be hard to do and all, but it would be cool!

Oh and also we had a meeting with all of the district leaders and zone leaders in one of the afternoons of these conferences and at the end of all the conference we had a meeting with only the zone leaders. During the meeting with all of the zone leaders and district leaders of the whole mission we talked a lot about doing baptismal interviews with President Angulo and the assistants and then they wanted an example.... The assistant that was there was one of my district leaders before and is named Elder Cook, and I taught him how to interview a while ago when I was a zone leader with him and I knew he was going to call on me to give the example..... sure enough that is how it was and I interviewed my buddy Elder Cook in front of everyone. I was a little nervous but in the end it went well so that was good. It was also weird to see all the missionaries that I saw arrive in the mission are now leaders and trainers! They have all spent a lot of time in the mission and speak Spanish well! It was a lot of fun to see everyone and talk with them again.

The conference went amazingly well and the mission president was very happy and so after our zone leader meeting on the last day of the conference, the mission president took all of us to a Steak Buffet here in Chihuahua! It was cool and it was the best food I have ate in the whole mission! Ha-ha! There was a lot of American Food and so we all ate a ton. I have come to love the missionaries I am serving with and so it was a lot of fun to go out to eat. :)

The area and zone are going well and we are excited to see all we can achieve in November.... I can’t believe its November already! Time flies! But I am very happy here and working hard! I saw so many missionaries waste the last part of their missions and so I promised myself that I would NEVER do the same and I am doing all I can to stay focused and LIVE every second I am here in the mission! It is a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

Oh and this week a dog attacked me and I had to defend myself and it was exciting.... ha-ha! It was the first time it had happen the my mission and so it was fun.... A lot of dogs bark and all, but this one tried several times to bit me and such so it was different....

Oh and Halloween came and went here.... we didn't do much and neither do the people here. The teenage kids have a party and all, but they don’t do too much. Plus the government banned trick or treating because they say that it is not a Mexican tradition and don't want the people to forget about their Mexican heritage. It’s dangerous here in the end so I feel like it is a good thing that they did it.

I love you all so much and thanks for all of the love and support!

Elder Andrew Davidson

10/26/2010

10/26/10

Hey everyone!

SO this week has been a much better one and today has been a better day.Last week was a bit tough to be honest. We have had a lot more success finding new people to teach and we have met a lot of people that tell us they want to know why there are so many Churches and confusion in the world about religion or we meet people that want to know what happens after this life and where we go. Cool huh! We always tell them that we have exactly what they need and have answers to their questions :)

We have a lot of new investigators now, but none of them have progressed too much yet to mention them too specifically. A couple of them have come to church, but this week we will see if they keep progressing towards baptism or not.

Things have gone okay with my companion. He is a little bit difficult, but I feel like I am able to use all I have learned in the mission about how to get along well and work together and so things go okay. It is because he gets frustrated that he doesn't know the area or the members and he "turns off" and does not want to do anything.... But we get along well and the power of heart felt service is amazing and he seems to be doing okay. I feel like he will be my comp for the rest of the mission so I really got to work to make everything go well. In the end we both need to be more humble like Elder Utchdorf said and be willing to learn lots of new things. It is going well so far and I will update you later on how things are going.

This week we have another 4 day conference and so I will be there tomorrow til Friday and I know I am going to learn a LOT and I am excited to learn about new ways to help the zone. We have tried to really talk to all of the missionaries in the zone and get to know them and be their friends so they have the confidence to talk to us when they need help. It has gone well and the zone is doing great. The cool part about the conference is that I am going to be able to see all of my buddies in the mission and be with them for a few days or so :)

Life goes well and I keep working hard! It is tough to think about the mission ending and so I just tell everyone I still have 6 months more and don’t think about it.... IT makes it all so much easier. But at the same time it has helped me to really give my all and apply EVERYTHING I feel like I have learned in the mission every day we have here. I love the mission and I thank you for all of your love and support!

Elder Andrew Davidson

10/18/2010

10/18/10

Hey!

So today has been a tough day and things don’t seem to get any easier as the days goes on and I don’t have anymore time to use the computer to be honest....

This week was very eventful and now I am with Elder Lopez here in Revolution. He has like a year and half in the mission and is a good missionary. He is a good guy and we have been together a lot and so we get along well. Plus I have almost always been his leader, he was made a district leader when I was zone leader and has moved with me ever since and now he is my comp... The cool part is that we are zone leaders together and we get to travel to all the districts and we are not in charge of a district, so we can focus a lot more on the zone and helping everything go well.

Oh and Elder Johnson, the general authority came this week and taught us a lot of thing that are really going to help them mission grow a lot! I am sorry I don’t have much time to write you about it, but it was very special.

Oh and we had a ward activity that did not go as planned... but in the end it was very spiritual, which is what counts, and the members seemed to like it. Right now we are struggling a bit, but trials allow us to grow and to apply ourselves and learn to rely on the Lord. I am having great experiences that I know will help me all my life.

Today we had a meeting with all the zone together and the mission president came to talk to us and we talked about what we can do to apply what Elder Johnson taught us during the conference.

Well all goes well, sorry for the short email, know I love you and that I love the missionary work!

Elder Andrew Davidson

10/11/2010

10/11/10

Hey family and friends!
So this week has gone by fast and I cant believe that I have already been with my new companion Elder Soliz for 3 weeks. Things continue to improve and Elder Soliz and I have progressed a lot together. The mission has been very difficult for him sense he has had his mom do everything for him his whole life and now is on his own. But its fun to teach him and we get along really well so he is always willing to listen. But at the same time it reminded of all the times my mom tried to teach me how to clean well and to iron my shirts and such and to cook and stay organized and all the little things that have helped me out a lot. (ha-ha)
The sad part is.... that I will no longer be with him anymore.... he does not know that yet, but last week during the zone leader conference the mission president told me that he is now going to put all of the senior and junior zone leaders together and so now I will no longer be with him.... unless they make me not a zone leader and I stayed training him, which would be cool by the way. But in the end I am here to serve the Lord, HOW and WHERE he needs me to. I feel like they are going to give me the change for the zone tonight. I will let you know next week how it goes.

Felix our investigator keeps progressing a lot and although him family was really hard on him he still is reading the BoM and has a strong testimony. I know he will get baptized soon, but at this point he just has to decide to do it. We taught him about the priesthood and he is SUPER smart and so he understood it all very well and is excited to receive it when he is baptized.
This week on Thursday Elder Johnson, the general Authority of the area is going to come and we have a conference with him on Thursday morning. We have a meeting with him in the morning for all of the leaders, and then after with all of the zones from Chihuahua. Then at 4:30 he is going to go work with a few missionaries in their areas, I am praying that he remembers me form before and decides to come with us, and then after there is a special meeting for all of the ward mission leaders and investigators. I am really excited and plan to learn a whole lot! :)
All goes well here and I am LOVING every second of the mission life! I love serving and have never been so happy in my life. Thank you all of for all of your love and support!

Love Elder Andrew Davidson

10/3/2010

10/3/10

HEY everyone!

So another fast week has gone by and I feel like time continues to speed up with each weeks that goes by. This week like all of you already know we had general conference. In the stake center where we had conference they always put a room in English for the American missionaries and a few others who speak English as well. I had to listen to parts of conference in Spanish during a couple of times during my mission and to be honest it is not the same by any means. I guess it is because I have come to know the prophets by their voices and its weird when it is in the voice of someone else.

Felix our great investigator had a tough week. He went to Camargo, where his family lives to tell them about the baptism and they attacked him more than he ever expected. His mom and sisters cried and were all upset as if he had committed some kind of deadly sin and his dad told him to wait like 6 months to be able to do it. They also took him to a catholic church and had him talk with a priest and all.... Yeah, he had a rough time. But he has a strong testimony and stayed strong to what GOD has revealed to him and says he wants to be baptized in the true church, but needs to wait for his family to cool down a bit. He is 24 all lives alone and all, but he loves and respects his family and all so it is tough. But the whole situation is tough because the point of the church is to bring family together and not pull them apart. The down side is that his family remains in ignorance because they do not want to listen to him and what he says about the church. We have a lesson with him right now so we will see how things are going. I know his family will open their heart soon and listen to Felix and be able to support him.

All goes well with my comp from BOLIVIA! He tells me all about it all the time and I really want to go to South America some day. I also want to study outside the US for a semester or so after I get back. Who knows yet, but I have a lot a new plans and ideas now that I have learned a lot more about the world outside of the US. I feel like BYU has a number of international programs so I will try and be apart of that for a year or two after I get back. What do you think? :)

Today we had another zone leader conference and it went well and the zone goes well. The mission was a bit down during the month of September but we are going well so far in October.

The ward is doing well as well and we have really gained the confidence of the bishop and he seems to be really happy with us right now. I love this ward already and I really look forward to staying here for a couple of changes.

I love you all so very much and thanks for all the love and support

Elder Andrew Davidson

9/27/2010

9/27/10

Hey everyone!

So ALL goes well here and I am doing well and very happy to be honest. I think I have never been so happy in my life and have never felt so good here in the mission. I have come to really love the mission life and I will be very sad when it is over. But in this area things are going so well and we had a baptism this past week. Adilene was baptised and it was a bit tough because her family was not too happy and did not support her too much, but she was very strong and has a strong testimony. Her husband seems to be coming around and I know he will get baptised soon. :)

Felix Flores, the investigator I told you about last week is still doing great!! He is now reading in the middle of second Nephi and is so smart and comments all the time about stuff he has learned and understands everything so well. He even comes with us to teach another investigator who is a friend of his girlfriend. He is going to visit his family who lives like 2 hours away to tell them about his decision to get baptised and it is the only big trial he has right now. He can't get baptised this week because of conference, but he will get baptised the 9th of October. I am pumped and he is going to be one of my best converts in the mission!! He is going to be a future leader of the church some day :) Plus it is a lot of fun to be with him and the family of his girlfriend. They are all students and it reminds me a lot of school and I feel like we have a lot in common. AND we always have really good and powerful lessons because Jared, the ex missionary is powerful as well and so when his girlfriend, Lizzy participates as well it makes for powerful lessons with Felix. I feel like I will be Friends with them for a long time, well most of my life.

All goes well with my new Bolivian companion. He continues to learn and we get along well. He also teaches me a lot about his country and we have become good friends. He is also a good teacher and so our teaching has gone really well. Life is great and there is a LOT to do.

We are also finally gaining the confidence of the members here and especially of the Bishop. the ward has a bad story with a lot of missionaries in their ward and so they are slow to trust the missionaries. But they have seen that we are different and we have started to work with them a lot so they can have spiritual experiences with us as well. The bishop is thrilled and I really like him.

We spoke in church on Sunday and it went really well as well, I think it is one of the things that helped us to gain so much of the confidence of the members. I talked a lot about 1 Nephi 8 and missionary work and the spirit was strong there.

We are planning a ward activity to do with the members for the 8th of October and we have planned a stake activity for the 17th of October. I will let you know how they go :)

I Love you all and thank you so much for all of your support and love

Elder Andrew Davidson

9/20/2010

Hey everyone!

I got a kid in the mission!!! How cool huh? and the BEST part is.... that my comp is from Bolivia!!! ha-ha! I am stoked and very happy. He is such a funny guy and I Love that we are both foreigners here in Mexico and we get along great. He served in Boliviafor a month or so because his Visa did not come through so he is not completely new to the mission stuff, but Mexico is a lot different for him. It is fun because he makes me remember a lot of the things I thought and said when I got to the mission. He is from the city La Paz and has been a member all his life and is cool. I wanted to send a picture, but I forgot my camera sorry.

On Wednesday night they called me to tell me that I was going to get a new comp and I was really sad to be honest because in my three weeks with Elder Avendaño I came to really love him like a brother. But after a day or so with my son in the mission I felt great and I understand a lot of the things that Lord wants me to learn in the mission right now. I was worried I was not going to have a kid in the mission so that is exciting for me. Plus I don't feel to old in the mission and it keeps me working super hard so its all good.

The area is also starting to improve so that also makes life a lot better. When I got here there was nothing at all! Serious they did not even have one investigator for more than a month. This week a number of our investigators didn't show much, but 5 of them came to church.

Adilene is going to be baptised this week on Friday and is progressing a lot. But our coolest investigator is names Felix. He is studying his masters degree here and his girlfriend is a member. I am not sure how much I told all of you about him last week so sorry if I am repeating myself.... His girlfriend, Lizzly, live with her brother who just got back from the mission and her younger sister as well. It reminds me a lot of BYU and college because they are a group of teenagers living together. They are great and I love teaching Felix because he is So smart. He is already ending the first book of Nephi and LOVES it. This week was his second week at church and he has started to progress a lot. The ward also had an activity this week on Sunday night where they gave tours of the church and each organization explained what they teach to the family. He loved it and loves the church and his testimony is growing a ton. I feel like by the next time I write you all, he will have a baptismal date :) I am exited because he has so much potential in the church and feel be a future leader! :)

Also another friend of the family of teenagers started to learn about the church and we had a great lesson with her and ALL the members participated and the spirit was so strong there! She also came to church and she is a lawyer and just graduated from school, she is 24. Oh and Lizzle is 25, her brother who just got back from the mission, Jared, is 22 and their little sister, Jazmin, is 18. It is a fun group and they are from Casas Grandes, The Mormon colonies, so they are really strong members, speak perfect English, and help us out a lot! The drive us to where we need to go and always make us brownies and cookies and such. Felix is the coolest out of all of them and I know he will be a lifelong friend!

As you can tell life goes well. I love the mission and LOVE what I am doing. I Love the Lord and that is what motivates me each day to get up and work strong. The mission is the best experience I have ever had and it has FOREVER changed my life. I have had too many spiritual experiences to ever be the same person again.

Thank you for all your love and support and I will keep you all posted on how things go and all we accomplish this week!

Love you!

Elder Andrew Davidson

9/14/2010

Hey family and friends!

Well life continues to go well here in Chihuahua with my companion Elder Avendaño. We get along very very well and so it makes everything so much more easy. He is relatively new in the mission and so I have been trying to teach him all of the good things I have learned in the mission. He is very willing to learn all he can and is a great missionary. It is funny because he thinks I am the best missionary in the world and is always really grateful. But, the truth is that he teaches me SO SO very much. He is a great example of some humble and diligent and a hard worker. He is also very patient at times as I am sure he needs it to be my companion...! I was meaning to send a picture this week, but once again we forgot... sorry. I will send one next week.

The area is okay, there are a lot of new homes, the little same cement houses the government builds, and so there always seems to be young new families to teach. ´We have a few people ready to be baptized in the next two weeks so we are excited to see how that goes. The ward is very excited about missionary work right now and I seem to get along with them very well. We are trying to gain their confidence because the ward has a not so good reputation on missionaries here to be honest. President Flores used to put all of the problematic missionaries here to try and keep an eye on them so a lot of the ward members did not have too much confidence in us at first, but now that we have been working hard and getting to know them things are changing. We also asked of a sacrament meeting to speak in and not this Sunday but the next we are going to speak and we also have October 1st set aside for an activity we are going to do with the ward. I also really seem to get along well with the bishop, which is the key to success! We have been gaining his confidence and he has gotten excited about all that we are going to be able to accomplish.

I never tell anyone how much time I have in the mission or when I come home because all they do is mention it all the time... After being with 5 of my companions as they ended the mission, I have learned that it is best to tell them that I have a little over a year in the mission...! That way they know we are ready to go all out. :)

The Zone is doing well and we have a number of baptisms for the next coming weeks as a zone so we will see how it goes for this month. I really like the district leaders that we have in the zone so that makes things a lot easier. Oh and this past week we had divisions with the district leader Elder Weiss, he has like 13 months in the mission and so I went to train him how to be a district leader and such. It went well and his area I where the big university is in Chihuahua and it was cool to see it. Plus I have always taught mainly young adults in the mission so it was cool to teach them again because a lot of their investigators are young adult guys.

We also had a meeting with the stake president this week and it went really well. He is named President Gabaldon and is really willing to work with us and plan activities and such. We planned an activity for October that we had in mind and he is willing to give us the support of the stake. We are going to have a Sunday night devotional and invite the mission president to speak along with the stake president and we are going to sing as a choir, well all of the missionaries in the zone. It should be really good and I will write you more about it as well learn more plans and start to practice for the devotional.

Oh and on Sunday a group of young adults came to church and one of the girls brought her boyfriend who is not a member. He 24 and studying a master’s degree, so that is cool and he are excited to learn more and really like the classes at church. The family that brought him is a family of 3 kids who are studying here but they are from Casas Grandes, the Mormon colonies, so they are speaking perfect English! Ha-ha! One of the brothers just got back from the mission in may and he lives with his two sisters here while he is studying. Í am excited because like I said I like teaching young adult guys, between the age of 19 and 26. I am not sure why, but I seem to get along with them best and the gospel changes the whole future of their lives at that age.

All goes well and I love the mission and have never been so dedicated. I am giving my all and thanks for all of the love and support!

Love,

Elder Andrew Davidson

9/6/2010

Hey everyone!

So there are SO many things to tell all of you, but like always there is little time.... but here it goes

On Tuesday I changed areas..... I am now in the city of Chihuahua! I realize now how much I missed the city to be honest now that I am here again! I am here in an area called Revolution in the Technology Stake, that is the name... ha-ha! It doesn’t sound so weird in Spanish....!

My companions name is Elder Avendaño, he is so cool! I Love him already! He is so excited to be with me as he had a really bad last comp. He only has 6 months in the mission and so he is really excited to learn and work hard! He has taught me so much and is a great worker! He calls me his "dad" He tells me in English that "you are my dad" We have worked very hard together have had so many great spiritual experiences together. It feels cool to be with a comp that is really glad to be with me and he makes me want to be so much better and try so much harder here in the mission. It makes me want to be everything he thinks I am. :) We are going to make a great team and he is going to be an amazing elder here in the mission! To say it all in few words, we help each other to maintain the constant companion of the Holy Ghost, which is the source of ALL good and happiness in the mission life! :)

The ward is bigger and MUCH more active. I am a very active missionary and so the members all seem to be real happy to have me here, plus the zone leader of Chihuahua has never been in this ward before either so the house is not so great. Well it s a nice house and all but we don’t have plates of cups or bowls or pillows..... ha-ha! In the zone leader’s houses there always seems to be more stuff because that is where a lot of missionaries seem to end their mission.

t was sad to leave Cuauhtémoc and my ex comp, but I know the Lord has great things in store for me here and I have a lot to learn. I also love how close everything is together here in the zone, since I am in the city I can do more stuff together and I can meet more with all of the missionaries in the zone. Today actually we had the district meeting together with the whole zone and we are going to do the same the first p-day of every month. It went well and it allowed me to gain the confidence of all of the missionaries together so we can work together better.

I am sad to leave my old zone because things were going so well there. I had my good buddies as district leaders and so it was So easy to work together. I was in the Chuviscar Zone before and in the Zone leader conference we had in Thursday this past week President told us we got 2nd place in the whole mission :) The East Zone in Juarez beat us, but I had the Sierras where it is a lot harder to baptize and so we were happy with what we achieved. But I feel like there is a TON of potential in the zone I left this month! So I feel good leaving the area and knowing I was able to help do my part. :) It was also a lot of fun to see all of the new zone leaders in the mission and they are all good Friends! Cool no? I knew a lot of them from the old zone and they have all progressed so much and the mission is in great hands. Oh and my buddy Elder Killpack also changed areas to here in Chihuahua but now he is a zone leader :) 4 new zone leaders left the zone with me so that is also good news and good to hear. They are all excellent missionaries and going to achieve a lot in the mission :)

We have had a lot of spiritual experiences this past week and I feel like this is the time in which I need to apply ALL I have learned and we hope to have a lot of success here in the zone. Today I had to tell you all about the new changes and such but in the following weeks I will tell you about all of the great spiritual experiences we have each day! We already have new people to baptize and I will try to send pix in the upcoming weeks. Oh and we have a meeting with the stake president this week and so we hope to plan a great activity as a stake with the mission president and all and we are also going to plan a big Christmas activity as well with all the stakes of chihuahua and invite a general authority and all :) I will let you know as it all unfolds!

I love you all so much and can’t wait to hear from you all!

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson

8/30/10

Hey everyone!

So another fast week has gone by! We had a very successful week and I feel like we were able to put into play everything we have learned from the mission president has taught us.

Oh so last week I got a letter from my convert from Juarez, Priscilla, and she is doing SO well and is a counselor in the relief society in her ward! She helps the missionaries out a TON and feeds them and goes to all of the baptisms! Cool huh! She also talked about entering the temple and said she is going to tell me when she is going through the temple so that I can go with her!

So my best convert from Cuauhtémoc left to go to Torreon again… sad! But her husband finally opened up his heart and is accepting the gospel and accepted the invitation to be baptized. It will be cool to hear from them after the mission!

This week we had stake conference and it went well here. The mission president came and he is super powerful when he talks so that was nice to see the members a bit more excited

My companion and I are getting along great and he is growing a lot. He is newer in the mission and I love have a newer companion and teaching him everything helps me to remember all I have learned and to put it into play.

We are going to have changes tonight and the mission president told me that I am going to change so I will tell you next Monday where I am at. I am sad to leave Cuauhtémoc as I have come to love the people and the members. Plus we have so many cool investigators right now!

Oh and the El Paso address is open again! You can send me stuff through El Paso. The address is this one:

Elder Andrew Davidson

2220 BASSETT AVE

PMB 106

EL PASO, TEXAS 79901-2020

So you can send me stuff there until the end of my mission in case you want to send letters or packages. Oh and I turn 21 on Wed, the first of September!

Love you all and thanks for the love and support!

Elder Andrew Davidson

8/23/10

Hey!

WOW! So much has happened since the last time that I was able to write you all! Last week we did not have too much time to write.... well actually we did not get to write because the mission president had a 4 day all mission conference! Cool huh!? All of the Zone leaders and the district leaders and the trainers from the whole mission were invited along with the entire sister missionaries! There we about 50 missionaries there all in all. We all went to Chihuahua and stayed in the mission offices with all the missionaries. We left Sunday night to go there and we didn’t come home until Friday morning! On Sunday night it was SO cool to see all the missionaries! I got to see so many friends and companions! It was so great to catch up with everyone! Plus Priscilla, my convert from Juarez, wrote me along with a few others. Then over the next 4 days, the mission president trained us about the new stuff we need to teach and how to teach. Well it was not too new to be honest; it was the same stuff, just more focused in. We had 4 days of conferences from 8am to 6pm everyday! I learned SO much and they were some of the 4 most spiritual days I have had here in the mission to be honest. There is SO SO SO much to tell and so little time to write.... sorry! But I will tell you all about it later, sorry!

These last 3 days here have been great and I am loving life! That seems to be the story of the mission, ups and downs...The zone is going great and we are ending August really well, and I really like ALL of my 4 district leaders! I am such great friends with all of them and it makes working together SO dang easy. We have a lot of work here in Cuauhtémoc and we have had great spiritual experiences to be honest!

We met a guy named Lehi the other day! Ha-ha! We showed him where his name comes from and he is ways excited to read the Book of Mormon :)

I have never felt so much spiritual power in my life and I am excited to keep on learning and growing!

Thanks for all the love and support and sorry that I can’t write more!

Love you

Elder Andrew Davidson

8/9/2010

Hey family and friends!

So this week was another good week here in Cuauhtémoc and everything seems to be going well. I wrote a lot to the family and so I don't have all too much time to write this email since this week is the big week of the wedding and all! :)

We now teach the Doctrine of Christ in the first lesson from 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 11. So we share part of one of these chapters with the investigators and we follow the spirit and teach them based on their needs. There is now no order like lesson 1, 2 , or 3 and we teach them depending on what they need to be able to progress. We now focus teaching about baptism and preparing to be baptised! It has been cool to put this into play this week and see all the success we have had! :) I have never had so many spiritual lessons in the mission and it helps us to be so much more aware of the spirit as we teach. Plus it helps us to know who are the people we need to be teaching because if they do not want to get baptised and follow Christ we don't teach them.... they reject us quickly ha-ha!. It helps us find the people that are ready to be taught :)

Kevin and Paula are investigators of ours who are progressing a lot right now! I contacted Kevin on a splits like 3 weeks ago and we finally have been able to make good appointments to teach him this past week. They came to church this week and they loved it,. They have a lot of family problems and so they LOVE how the church focuses on families. They have to get married before they can get baptised so it wont be a super fast the baptism, but they are ready! :)

Brenda was baptised on Saturday and confirmed yesterday and I was able to perform the baptism. She did not want to go under the water and so I took three tries to finally get here under the water....I had to almost push her under as we got close to the water! (ha-ha)

All goes well here and the learning is always great. I have been praying and fasting a lot for humility and patience this past week and for the opportunity to recognize moments to learn these attributes and so sure enough the Lord has given me a TON in the past few days... guess it is my fault for asking.... !

The other cool part is that I have received a lot of spiritual confirmations about Danielle getting married. I know it is going to be an amazing experience and I am proud and excited! The spirit has comforted me a lot and to be honest I don't feel sad or left out at all. In the end this is how the Lord wants things to be. I hope you all get to go to the wedding and enjoy it! I am VERY PROUD of my sister! :)

Oh and just to remind you to NOT send packages to El Paso anymore. My birthday is coming up and in case people were going to send stuff make sure to send it directly to Mexico and make sure it is a safe source. Oh and if you want ideas of what to send I would like nice Sunday ties. :) I have a ties to use each day, but on Sunday and for conferences I have nicer ties I use only on those days. Thanks! :)

Love you all so much and I hope all goes well this week!

Love, Elder Andrew Davidson

8/3/10

Hey everyone!

So this week was a much better week to be honest! Everything is going well and right now I am super excited because we had an amazing zone leader conference yesterday in Chihuahua with the mission president and all.

So my comp elder Gallegos and I have gotten along really well to be honest. We have come to become much better friends than I could have imagined right now. I always try to be really good friends with my companion because if not life is not to fun at all. I thought it was going to be harder with elder Gallegos but things seem to be going well. :)

So there is a TON of work to do right now in the area, but there is also a ton of baptismal interviews so we had to travel a lot this past week. Every district leader in the zone baptized and so I had to leave like 3 of the 7 days of the week. Plus when I have to do baptismal interviews they are like 2 hours or more away..... But the Lord blesses us when we cannot be in the area. The zone is going really well right now and we are on track to break the month record here :) We are one of the top baptizing zones right now as well which is cool because the 4 Juarez zones or Chihuahua are ALWAYS in the top 5. :)

Like I mentioned we had a great conference yesterday about the new way we are going to teach here in the mission. The first presidency has changed the lesson order and the normal order is now going to be different. Pte Angulo is SUPER excited and WAY prepared and the whole mission is super pumped right now! The mission Mexico Chihuahua is going to change SO much is the next 3 years and I am sure it is going to be the highest baptizing mission in Mexico :) The mission president knows what he wants to achieve and how to achieve it and is ready to do all he needs to. Plus his goals are not numbers but success. To be honest I am sad that I am no longer going to be here for much time and it is going to be so cool to be here in like months and have the 2 years to be with the new mission president! Plus it seems like Elder Scott is going to come in a year or so AND the area president Elder Johnson comes by a lot because he is from here! Cool huh?! I wish I still had another 2 years left!

This Thursday we have our zone conference and I am excited to share all we learned with the zone and to learn how to become better teachers. The new way to teach focuses a lot on the spirit and our ability to receive revelation for each and every one of the people we teach. I am excited and I will tell you how it goes this week.

Oh and just a reminder that my pday is now going to be on Monday from now on. So don't forget to write me by Monday morning!

Thanks again for your love and support and I hope to hear from you soon!

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson