November 10th 2009

11/10/09

Hey everyone!

So this week there was transfer changes in the mission, I didn’t change areas but a lot of the missionaries in my district and zone did. A lot of cool Elders came into our district so I’m excited to see how things go. We have a lot going for us right now in Meoqui so I’m glad I did not change. We are headed to Chihuahua today so I will get to see the sheet that has all the changes on it :)

This week was a great one! Because of the activity we did at the cemetery last week we taught a TON of lessons this week... like 75 between the lessons with members and the less actives taught. One of my best weeks, we worked hard! :)

So we are going to baptize this week! :) We are going to baptize Jazmin, who is the fiend of a family of members, the Saenz family. The father of the family is not a member so it’s been good to work with them a lot and help him understand a little more. But Jazmin already has friends in the church and although her parents are not members they are going to come to church and to the baptism. Also the all of the Saenz family are going to be there so the dad will get to be there too. Richy, a member of the Saenz family is getting ready to go on a mission and he will baptize her. Also the members are really stepping up and are helping us out this time. There are 3 sisters bringing refreshments and others giving talks and people to lead music and all. The best baptisms are when we help to organize and assign bits to everyone, but when we don’t have to do much at the actual baptism. That way it’s more of a baptism for the ward and not for the missionaries. She is great and continues to progress and read the scriptures and pray! :) She will stay strong in the church.

So Sunday was great! I love watching Chewy bless the sacrament and Edwin pass it! :) Seeing them at church in white shirts and ties using their priesthood was wonderful. I feel like they are my sons. Their mom, Margarita is still less active.... but we have become GREAT friends with her and she is going to drop her job that makes her work on Sunday this week and says she is going to invite us over to eat a lot. I just want her to support her family. Oh and I found out that Margarita has cancer and has little time to live. Just a few years! Plus their dad just died last year from cancer! Edwin is only 12 years old! He will be 13 and without parents... that would be hard. But their sister lives in the States, in AZ. SO they might go live with her, which would be awesome because then they are closer to my home in Livermore. We will be lifelong friends and I will for sure be at their mission farewells and weddings and when they enter the temple! :) I literally love them like brothers!

So side note... people in Mexico eat cow utter.... yeah! People eat a lot of the parts of the cow I did not know about and I have tried it all. To be honest it usually tastes good. Like cow heart, tongue, and brain are not that bad to be honest. Just weird to know you are eating it. But I joke with the family I saw eating it the other day and they say they are going to get me some... ha-ha! I’m excited to try it! :)

So, one of our investigators, Natividad, told us the greatest story the other day. She does not know how to read or write as she has never gone to school. But it’s not all bad because she pays a lot of attention to her feelings and thoughts and has felt the spirit and has a strong testimony. We just have to go over to read to her and such. So she tells us the story of some JW (Jehovah Witnesses) that knocked on her door. The JW here like to knock on your door, ask you to take out your bible, and then teach you how bad and crappy your religion is and how right they are. So Nati defends herself and says “well I’m part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” while they are trying to tell her stuff. SO then they say that her church does not work and is wrong, Nati tells them that their church is wrong and that she KNOWS that the LDS church is true and to go away! I loved it! She is SO humble and does not know much but she has felt the spirit so strongly and when God tells us something we can NEVER deny it. She told us the whole story all excited and frustrated. It was a big deal for her. I’m happy for her. :) She has taught me about humility and reliance on the lord every time we visit her. The only down side is that she is not married and is old, like 60, and does not have any legal information to get married...

So I lost our cell phone... which sucks because it’s a big hassle to call people and its cost a lot when I have to call my leaders at night. So the guy who found my phone lives in Julimes which is like an hour away, but part of our area. He wants money for the phone and says we have to come out there to get it. I think we will go on Thursday so I’ll let you know how it goes...

Oh and the other day we ate sugar cane, Pure sugar cane! It’s a tradition here during Nov 1 and 2 for the Day of the Dead and they sell the cane whole and you have to peel it. You then chew the cane for a while and suck out all the juice and then spit out the rest. It’s REALLY sweet, obviously, but I don’t like the after taste or that I have to spit the shell part out after. It’s cheap though so that is cool. I made friends at the activity we did last week and they gave me some for free. I was too cheap to buy some!

Yesterday we had the greatest FHE ever! :) Every Monday we have FHE with the Salas family, I think I have mentioned it before. So yesterday was Sister Salas’s birthday and so we wanted to do something special for her. Especially since her son is sick, he has eye problems, and she had to use all the money they have to buy him medicine so she had nothing planned for her birthday. They are recent converts by the way. So we bought them a cake and the people at the Store gave us half off because we have made friends with all the workers and it only cost 50 pesos! :) So we first put the cake in their backyard and then knocked on the door and so they saw that we did not bring anything. SO then after when we were eating the refreshment we brought the cake it and she was so surprised and happy. Plus it is tradition here to have the person who is having their birthday to take a big bite out the cake before it is cut and for someone try to shove their face in the cake. I love the tradition and so we sung "las mañanitas" the happy b-day song and had she bite the cake and got her face shoved in and all. It was great and she was so happy. It made me happy for her so see her feel special on her birthday because her family didn’t do very much. It was fun.

So turns out Meoqui has a great night life! On Sunday we were passing by down town and there were lots of people and food and music and ALL! I have been here for 3 months and never knew! We even live close! We just have never passed by on Saturday or Sunday at night so we never knew. The cool part about the little town is that we have made friends with everyone and have people to talk to wherever we go. If not we just make more friends. :) It was cool and would be a great place to contact people!

Oh and Sunday the primary kids put on a primary program and it was GREAT! The even had little kids dressed in robes when they sung the prophet song and all! They did great and everyone loved it! The stake presidency was there again and they love us now! We had 51 people at church and most of them were less actives! We only had 4 investigators at church and a number of people said they would be there and weren’t, so that’s it not too great. We there were SO many less actives. We had to pull out extra chairs! :) I love Meoqui! We do worry a little because one of the less actives, who has been at church 3 weeks in a row now after not coming for over 8 years, told us that Meoqui is going to fall apart when we leave. We need to make sure get everyone real excited and get the local leaders to step up and keep it all going. Because she is right, we will leave some day and so we can’t personally do too much. We have to keep the responsibility of the members in the local leaders hands. So I’m glad to have another transfer here to work on it. It would be great to have 60-75 members attending church on Sunday :)

So the work is going great! I hope I was able to write something interesting this week and do a better job of writing to you all. I have come to know with a perfect surety that I am doing the work of the Lord. This is His church and I know that as we are obedient He will make up for the rest! I know it! I know that obedience is the key to life and everything we do depends on that obedience and confidence in the Lord. Our Heavenly Father loves us and always makes it possible to do whatever he needs of us. Meoqui has been tough, feeling so alone in the work sometimes with little member and companion help, but more than anything it has taught me to rely on the lord. He is there to talk to you. Ask and you WILL receive. :)

I Love you so much and thrive off of your support! Thank you!

Con mucho amor

Elder Andrew Davidson!