Tuesday, February 9, 2010

2/2/10

Hey everyone!

So this week was great and as usual I learned a TON to say the least.

I LOVE teaching. I love teaching the gospel to everyone and anyone, I love teaching the missionaries and I love how much I learn when I get to teach. This week I realized how much I have come to love sharing the gospel. In the beginning it was hard because of the whole Spanish thing and so I was always nervous and always thought I did not do to great of job. But now my testimony has grown so much and I have learned to put my heart into teaching and now I love it. I love helping people see the light and the truth. I love seeing the way their face and posture change as they hear the message of the restored gospel and FEEL that it is true. It such a great experience each time and it’s helped me to be a much more confident teacher.
This week we had divisions twice, once an elder from Chihuahua came here and then the other time I went to a little town in the mountains called Madera. It’s like 4 hours away in the bus. Since our zone includes the entire Sierra so we have to travel a bit more. It reminds me of the little mountain towns that you see as you drive up to the ski resort… It had snowed a lot the day before, but when I got there on Friday a Little bit of sun was out so it was not too cold at all. It was great to be able to talk to and teach someone different the whole day and share the things that have helped me so very much with them. Plus I learn a ton from them so it’s a win-win situation. There is always something to learn from others as long as you stay humble so I really enjoy the divisions. I do not like to be away from my area to be honest, I put my heart into how I teach so it’s sad to not be able to keep visiting my investigators and help them progress. Plus I also really like the people we teach so I’m disappointed when I don’t get to see them for a little while. This week I had divisions with Elder Boone and Elder Baldwin, two Americans. They are both younger in the mission than me and are going to be great missionaries some day so I’m glad I was able to help. Plus it makes me realize everything I do and it has helped me a lot to step up and be a leader. But at the same time a leader is not the "best" by any means. If I am going to be a leader in the mission it means I need to learn to forget about myself and serve others and have a selfless attitude and give everything to our missionaries. The best leaders are those who serve with humility and love NO matter who it is or how the situation is. I am trying to do all I can to really learn and APPLY the principle, but obviously I have a long way to go still :) But I’m growing and improving a lot so that is what counts.

So I have had a number or cool experiences this week and I want to share a couple with you. The first one is about an investigator I contacted like a week ago. We were walking in the streets one day 2 weeks ago and were headed to an appt and I saw a guy standing outside of his house just doing nothing and I felt the need to contact him. Sadly, I didn’t do it. We were in a hurry and we had passed him quickly. Two days later we walked past the same house on the corner and I saw him outside doing nothing again. Once again I felt the need to contact him and that he was waiting for us. So I tell my comp and we walk over and start talking to him. His name is Ramon Moreno and just got back from Juarez. He has had a lot of struggles recently and was WAY receptive to all we taught him. He has now come to church and loved it and has shared the gospel with all his family members who live in the same house, which is a couple of cousins and an uncle. AND he has a baptism date for next week and is way determined to be baptized. He has FELT for himself the truthfulness of our message and has no doubts. He has received an answer to his prayers and has felt the spirit countless times with us. He wants to do everything to get to the celestial kingdom! :) He is going to have surgery next week so we are hoping all goes well but he is awesome. This has helped me to realize that the lord really is preparing people for us to teach and will ALWAYS guide us to them. He will tell us and all we have to do is listen. But you don’t have to be a missionary to do it. You ALL can share something with someone and the spirit will tell you who the Lord has prepared for the gospel, all you have to do is LISTEN. This is something we forget to do so very often. It was a great experience for me and it has helped me to be more humble and listen to the spirits voice.

So the other thing I want to share is about Marisela de Cisneros. We contacted her husband the other day at his work and he was receptive. So this past Wednesday we taught their family, his name is Walter. He is 25 and he has a 24 year old wife, Marisela, and 2 little kids. One that is 4 years old and the other is like 2 years old. When we got to the house Walter welcomed us in and we started talking. His wife was on the other side of the room and tried to look occupied so we wouldn’t talk to her. When we saw her the day before with her husband, she went into the other room as we talked to her husband. SO I invited her to come talk and she gives us a look like, don’t talk to me. I act like I don’t understand and urge her to come over. She says she is shy and not interested much. We talk a little to gain confidence and a friendship with them and then start teaching. So at first she doesn’t listen too well but as we continue to teach she feels the spirit and starts to change. By the time we start talking about the first vision she is WAY focused on all we say and even turns to quiet her kids and says "hey, shhh - I can’t hear!" Then I shared the first vision and we felt the spirit so so strong and they both were just starring at us. A lot of people have never felt the spirit so strongly before and so it’s something new to them and they are a bit confused and KNOW there is something different about us. We taught the remainder of the lesson and they committed to come to church and pray to know if it is true. They also said that if they got an answer from God they would follow it and be baptized. THEN at the end we invite Walter to pray because he was so much more open during it all and he is like.... uhhh... and is nervous, then Marisela says she will do it and said a GREAT prayer! The one who wanted nothing to do with us in the beginning was excited to pray for the first time in her life! Then after as we are walking out she walks us to the door with her husband and asks us again when church is on Sunday and where! Cool huh! I love the power the truth brings! She FELT the spirit and the truthfulness of our message and wanted to be in our presence. It has almost nothing to do with who we are as missionaries, but the message we share is what is so powerful. It was so great to see such a big change is someone because they FELT the truth. It’s something really new to a lot of people and a lot of them do not understand it all, but everyone can FEEL it. No matter who you are, how old you are, or how smart you are. They all can feel when something penetrates their heart and illuminates their soul with a love that was not felt before. How cool is it to be a missionary!!!!! :) I love it. I recommend sharing the gospel no matter who you are, I promise it has the potential to bring you more joy than any other thing in the world!

Something that has helped me so much to change and to really love the gospel has been the DAILY study time we have. When I began to take it seriously and really study diligently, my whole mentality about the mission began to change. This has been a process since I have had like 4 months in the mission. But I feel like it is why I have come to be so happy and so willing to share the gospel. I love the spiritual experience I have each morning and it’s what allows us to really teach by the spirit. I don’t think anything can change someone faster than DAILY gospel study. I feel like DAILY study is what has turned my life around and the way I see things. As imperfect as I am, it gives me the strength to be stronger and have the ability to accomplish all I set my mind to. I have come to love it! I love studying and an hour and a half each morning seems like so little and flies by. Although it may seem hard or even impossible at first, over time if you TRY it will become possible. And what is possible over time then becomes a habit and something normal to do. One of the apostles said something like that in this past general conference :)

So we also have been teaching a less active family. Both the husband and wife are members and were baptized as kids but have never came to the church much at all, and have been inactive 17 years. They are both around 30 years old and have 2 kids, a 8 year old and a 3 year old. I love their family and they have been to church twice since we started teaching them 2 weeks ago and are progressing a lot. The 8 year old will get baptized this next week and they are going to get sealed in the temple some day. I KNOW it! :) They are the perfect little Mormon family and will be another strong family in the church here - so I’m excited. They both are way ready and we are helping them with all the changes that are required to live the gospel. We are going to have a family night this Wednesday :)

Oh and yesterday some missionaries went home and one of them was Elder Rodriguez. He was currently the assistant to themission president, but we have been good friends for the past 7 months. He is the one who helped me so much in Juarez to be a better missionary because he was the first leader I knew in the mission who practiced what we said. He was obedient and he was the one who helped me to have the strong desire to be obedient and to see the power in obedience with exactness. So we have had a number of opportunities to work together since and he helped me to prepare to be a zone leader. So on Monday morning at like 9:30am when we thought he had left for home already he called us and gave my comp and I some great advice. He talked to my comp Elder Montero for a little bit and then to me. He gave me a lot of great advice and told me to stay humble and obedient and to give ALL I can to the other missionaries even if I get left with nothing. He is a great missionary and will be missed in the mission. I feel like the lord gave me so many chances to work and learn from him for a reason. If I had to choose one missionary to pick as the missionary who has had the strongest influence on me it would be him. So it was great to hear from him again after we thought he had left. :)

The work goes well in Cuauhtémoc and yesterday we started a new cycle. We have not had changes yet, but my comp might change so I have to know how to do everything already. This is good because it will help me to realize all I have learned and to put it into play.

I love you all so much and thank you for all the love and support. It really does make a big difference! I love the work and the gospel!

Love,

Elder Andrew Davidson

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