4/28/10

Hey everyone!

SO another fast week has gone by and we have also started a new cycle here in the mission. The changes in the mission happened today and I am staying here with my comp and he is going to end his mission this change..... I am not sure why but ALL but one of my companions has been SO old in the mission. And to be honest I really don’t like being with a missionary as he ends his mission. But I know the Lord is the one controlling this work and that he has me here or a reason even if I don’t understand it or like it. I feel like that is one of the great learning lessons of the mission, obedience without understanding.

Recently we have had very few investigators and spend just about the whole day looking for the ones the lord has prepared. We have worked hard and have not had too much luck. But it has been a blessing because it has taught us to trust in the lord and allow Him to direct us to the people we need to find. To confide in Him and to realize that we can’t do this work alone, that we achieve so little alone. The sisters in out same ward had a baptism this weekend and I got to perform the baptism because she chose me. It was a nice experience and I love being at baptism services. Also an 8 year old in the ward was baptized and wanted me to do the baptism as well :) It was a privilege!

This week on Friday we have the zone leader conference which is going to be fun. It is my favorite part about being a zone leader... Plus we are going to learn about all the things Elder Johnson told President Flores to change in the mission. Plus I love seeing all the other missionaries because I have become good friends with so many of them.

Sorry to all the people I don’t manage to respond too.... I am not too great about responding to letters if you have not noticed already.... Sorry and thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson

4/21/10

hey everyone!

So this was one of the busiest weeks I have had in the mission! We had to travel a lot and the district had a lot of baptismal interviews I had to do so I had to travel all over Cuauhtémoc! The sad part was that we ended up with little time to work in the area and teach our investigators. The obvious highlight of the week was the conference we had on Friday with Elder Johnson, the area president.

We went to Chihuahua on Thursday night and then on Friday in the morning we had the conference and then after we all ate together and had an open question discussion with elder Johnson. He is a very powerful speaker and he taught us so much about missionary work. He talked a lot about the first 4 articles of faith and talked a lot about the 4th one. We talked about the most basic part of missionary work and he showed us how little we understand.... ha-ha. He talked a lot about D and C 29:7 and how we are here to look for and teach the people the lord has prepared. There is NO excuse to not baptize every week and to find the people that the lord has ready for us. We also talked a lot about how we can have the spirit with us and the cost of not living worthy of it. It was more of an open discussion and he was guiding it. He teaches so powerfully and with almost ALL questions. I also thought it was cool that he speaks English and his wife as well. he is from the state of Chihuahua and is from Casas grandes here in Chihuahua. His wife is from Idaho who he met when he studied at BYU in Utah. He speaks perfect English and Spanish without accents on either language! He has spoken both since birth. His wife also speaks Spanish, but she talks like us... ha-ha! I was great to listen to and get to learn so much from someone who understands so much of the gospel and the plan of salvation. I realized that pure knowledge of the gospel makes us humble. When we understand we are humble and patient.... which means I need to understand a LOT more of the gospel... I realized how much power there is in the simple act of reading the scriptures each day and how the Lord reveals to us the things we need to know when we need to know them, IF we do our part of look for them.

Daily gospel study has changed me so much and was a key factor in my change here in the mission, I HIGHLY recommend it if you are not currently doing it. :)

I was also really privileged to perform several baptismal interviews this week and I LOVE hearing the testimonies of those who are going to get baptized, they are so pure and so reliant on the lord. I learn SO much every time I get to do one.

But also when the spirit indicates that someone cannot pass and be baptized it is SUPER sad. A young man did not pass and after I felt like the whole world was against me. The spirit told me very strongly that it was the right choice, but his mom was so sad and she had invited so many people to the baptism.... it was sad and I felt really alone that night. But like always the lord is there to comfort us always! :)

I love the mission and all goes well here in the mission Mexico Chihuahua

Congratulations Chase and Hayden and I hope you have the best experience in the mission as I have! :)

Love,

Elder Andrew Davidson

Hey everyone!

So another fast week like always with lots of trials and things that help us grow as missionaries and as people.

The best part of the week is that Diego got baptized on Saturday! It was one of the best baptismal services I have ever had and I was privileged to be able to baptism him :)

His family came and we are working on teaching them and getting them to come to church. He lives with his grandma and she had listened to the missionaries before so she is way ready and a funny lady. She is great and we hope to see her at church this Sunday, Oh and Diego fasted on Sunday!!!! How cool is that! And he did it without us telling him to. Oh AND he came to church in a white shirt and a tie I gave him! It is an unexplainable joy to see him there and with such a desire to learn. His is pumped about receiving the Aaronic priesthood this Sunday and to be able to baptism his family members in due time. I don’t expect much time to pass by before he receives the Melchizedek priesthood as well! He also told us he wants to go on a mission!!! I am super excited for him and he is the reason I am here, to help the ones I promised come unto Christ and see the blessings. He has changed so much and is so willing to change, that is why he is so powerful.

Veronica is also super powerful and is WAY active. She goes to the activities and all. Her husband, Even Apodaca who has had a number of baptismal dates is doing okay. With the example of Veronica I know he will get baptized soon. Right now he is scheduled to get baptized the 24th of April, but we will see how it turns out. Veronica should get a calling soon and continues to progress a lot.

Cuauhtémoc is great city and I loved being here. It is not super hot like in the other parts of the state right now the there are a lot of people here ready to get baptized. :) My comp and I get along great. We have our struggles and all, but we get along like brothers and are quick to become friends. I feel like we will be lifelong friends and I hope I get to stay with him for a while.

So today I got robbed for the first time in a while... never to great of experience.... ! We only lost the cell phone though.

So the WAY exciting part of the week is going to be Friday! Tomorrow we have a meeting with all of the district leaders in our zone to discuss how the change went and how we can improve. We have done well this change so the assistants are happy with us right now :) But on Friday Elder Johnson, the area authority of Mexico who is a member of the first quorum of the seventy is coming. He is going to have a meeting with just the zone leaders and the assistants to president!!! 18 people and a seventy! How cool! I am so excited and am trying to prepare myself spiritual for the experience! We have no idea what he is going to talk about but I will tell you all about it next Tuesday. We leave Thursday in the morning and have all day Friday with him! I feel so lucky and want to learn all I can from the day! :)

All goes well here with the district and the zone; I am enjoying the mission and am a very happy person! I love the gospel and seeing firsthand how much happiness it brings into the lives of others!

Thanks for all your love and support! I got to go because we have interviews with the mission president!

Love you all.

Elder Andrew Davidson

4/6/2010

4/6/10
Hey Everyone!

So like always another week gone by with looks of great experiences and opportunities to grow.

On Friday we had the baptism for Veronica Apodaca and it was excellent! It was her birthday and we made the baptism real special. I was able to baptize her and I will send pictures of it. She was super ready and happy to be there. She has such a strong testimony and is going to be such a strong member of the church. Her husband Evan was there and he was going to get baptized but last week he backed out when he got into a fight and was not too excited about it all anymore. But yesterday we had a POWERFUL lesson with him and we felt the spirit SO strong! He felt it too and wants to get baptized! :) It was such a spiritual experience and I love how powerful the truth is. We re-taught Lesson 1 with his wife testifying as a member and we testified a lot. I think he will be baptized the24^th of April but he is going to pray first.

Conference was great and as always there were a lot of uplifting messages! I had to watch the Sunday part in Spanish which I am not too big of a fan of. Maybe it’s because I’m used to it in English, but it was a lot different. I think that is why people here don’t care too much about or go to conference. But I felt the spirit and learned a ton in the end. I especially liked Elder Uchtdorf’s talk about patience and how impatience comes from selfishness and the idea that the world revolves around us. I am not too patient sometimes and this talked really helped me to change more :) I also came to conference with a lot of questions and EVERY single one them were answered! How cool is that! Oh and I forgot about Easter... no one does anything here for that so I didn’t even remember till Sunday morning when the other American elders told me about it... ha-ha. But it was a good day!

Diego Qintana who is 18 years old is going to get baptized this Saturday! :) He has stopped smoking a pack a day of cigarettes, drinking, and drinking coffee daily! He has gone so far and will not let anything keep him from getting baptized. I LOVE teaching people my age because we become such good friends and we understand each other so much more. He lives with his grandma who is not all too concerned about him because his step mom does not want anything to do with him and kicked him out of the house, and his mom abandoned him. Yeah, you can see how much this baptism means to me. He has never felt so much love in his life and loves the gospel. He has truly felt its healing power in his life and I feel privilege to be able to help. Also in his prayers he thanks good for helping him find his friends! I KNOW he was a friend I promised to share the gospel with in the pre-existence and that I am here for that reason! HoH How great and wonderful is the plan of God! Saturday will be a very special day :)

My comp and I get along great most of the time. He is super direct and is a lot different than me, but we get along great. We are like brothers and have a lot of confidence in each other. :)

I love being here in the mission and have never been happier in my life! I love the Lord and thank him daily for the opportunity I have to be a part of this great work.

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

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson

3/30/2010

3/30/10

Hey Everyone!

So I do not have much time today so it will be a quick note... sorry.

This week went by fast but we have a number of investigators progressing so that is great. Veronica Apodaca will get baptized on Friday and she chose that day because it is her birthday! She is way excited and we hope to shortly afterwards baptize her husband and mother in law :) She has gone to church like 6 times and has felt the spirit so strongly. Also an 18 year old named Diego Qintana will get baptized this next Saturday :) He is way excited and all of the youth helped him to feel at home on Sunday during services.

We also helped the sisters with their baptism this past Friday and the water for the baptismal font was not working and we had to fill it up with buckets of water... ha-ha! It was interesting and funny, but in the end it turned out great.

I loved a saying in the Liahona from March about how it’s not as important what we have done in our lives as who we have become. It was not talking about the mission but I thought it had a good application to being a missionary as well.

All goes well and my comp and I are working great together. It is funny because he is so small, but always wants to pick on me. Its funny and we get along great! :)

Love the mission and continue to try and do my best!

Love you all,

Elder Andrew Davidson

3/23/2010

3/23/10

Hey everyone!

So another SUPER fast week and a lot of new things happened as well!

On Tuesday in the afternoon my companion elder Fojas got here. He is from Pueble Mexico and has 21 months in the mission. He is a world different than many of my other companions but I am excited for all of the new things we are going to do with the zone. He is not focused on going home at all and doesn’t mention it to the members so it helps a lot so people are not always bugging him about it. He has taught me a ton already and I feel like I am learning so much. I now have 10 missionaries in my district! It’s SO great and I’m excited because big districts are always fun. The missionaries are way excited right now and I really hope we can accomplish a lot this cycle. :) Oh and it’s funny because my comp is super rich.... ha-ha!

The sad part about changes is that we lose a lot of the time we need to work in our own area. I know the lord blesses us for it but it’s sad to not be able to visit our investigators too much. On Monday I was with 2 other missionaries because their companions had left, Tuesday I had to help with all the missionaries coming and going in the zone, on Wednesday we did have a bit of time during the day, but Thursday not as much, Friday we had the zone leader council in Chihuahua, Saturday we had to go to Guerrero to do 5 baptismal interviews, on Sunday we have a meeting with all the district leaders in the zone and yesterday we had the zone conference where president Flores comes and it’s a all day conference. I had to give a talk on Sunday, teach in the meeting with the district leaders and then teach yesterday as well! It was great because it helped me to stretch a lot and really allow the lord to take control of it all. I know by myself I could not have accomplished it all or have done a good job. But the lord is always there as we rely on him and he allows us to succeed. ;)

The zone leader council meeting is always super powerful and it’s a whole day of doctrine and talking about how we can better the mission. AND Elder Johnson, the area president is coming on April 23 and 24 AND he wants to have a conference with just the zone leaders!!! I am so excited and its going to be so powerful. Oh and I was thrilled to see my good buddy elder Killpack at the zone leader conference. He is now a zone leader in Chihuahua and so it was a lot of fun to be there together. :)

Our investigators Veronica and Even are struggling a bit right now. Even went drinking again and then got in a fight... and got beat up super bad.... It was sad but I feel like the lord was trying to help them be humbled.... After the incident, we had a great lesson and they realized how much they really need the lord and even more during their trials.

Thank you so much Larissa for the package and all the food! I shared with everyone and my comp, but it was great! Especially the Costco trail mix! :)

The mission goes on and like all change I have learned a ton. I really get along with my comp and he is much more direct and he has taught me so much. I really hope to be able to focus a lot on humility and allow the lord to work through me. I love you all so much and thank you again for all for your support and love!

Love

3/18/2010

3/18/10

Hey everyone!

So this week went by super fast and brought a lot of changes. My comp went home on Sunday and it was sad to say goodbye, but it’s nice to be done with the whole him leaving thing. It’s not a super great experience to be with a comp as he is going home to be honest. I have been with a number of missionaries over the past 2 days and it has been great to learn from them all. It has also been a great growing experience to be able to work with all the district leaders and run the changes in the zone. It has taught me a lot and I like it when I feel like I have to step up to the plate. It helps me to grow a lot. I am going to receive me new companion today and his name is elder Rojas. He has 2 cycles left and then he goes home too. I have heard good things about him so I’m excited for all I am going to learn and all of the new challenges that I will face in the mission.

Ricardo Gonzalez did not get baptized this past week because he has to wait for an interview with the mission president. When there are heavier sins it requires a longer repentance process. But he continues to be way excited and willing so I’m glad I am going to be here to help him get through it all.

Also there is a family in our ward from Venezuela! They are SO cool and I love talking to people from different cultures and parts of the world. It made me want to travel a lot of central and South America when I get back. I love hearing about other parts of the world and how things are there and all. They also taught us a lot of new words they use there when we ate at their house.

This week I studied the Christ like attribute of charity and it has helped me a lot. I realize it needs to be the motivating reason for all I do and will allow me to be the missionary the lord needs me to be. It will help me help the people progress and also to help the missionaries. My mission has come to mean so very much to mean and I want other missionaries to be able to have the same joy as well. Like I told you it makes me sad when I see missionaries not taking advantage of their missions. Not to judge them or make them feel bad or anything like that, just because I have come to love it so much and it brings me so much happiness that I want them to have the same life changing experience as well. You know?

All goes well here and it continues to be the greatest learning and growing experience!

Thank you so much grandma Davidson for the letter and also Kendra too! Thanks for all of the pictures :) Thanks Larissa for the letter as well. Your support means a lot, thank you!

Love,

Elder Andrew Davidson

3/2/2010

3/2/10

Hey everyone!

So another week gone by faster than ever before! This week was a better week for the most part, with the exception of Sunday.

My comp and I continue to get along better and we are working together great. I feel like I was also able to learn a lot about teaching efficiently this week which I hope will have a good affect of the rest of my mission. This week we also worked a lot more with the members and we were able to accomplish a lot with them. The lessons are always a lot more powerful when they are there and are able to help apply it more.

So this week was a trail with the investigators.... The week went EXCELLENT and we helped so many people progress and all and we had 10 people with baptism dates and all. We visited them all of Saturday in the night and they are were way excited and ready to learn, then on Sunday almost NO ONE comes..... it was devastating and its one of those times when you have to rethink things. When I teach and all we become a part of the investigators lives and we come to have a strong friendship, so when they don’t come to church it’s real sad. We even had rides for all of them and all. But trials help us to grow and to be better missionaries. Turns out they all had a bunch of little excuses... ha-ha! Like sick kids or last second work problems.... so we have high hopes for next week and everyone continues to progress.

Right now the Apodaca family is doing great and them only thing they struggled with was the book of Mormon, but they read the Book of Mormon on Sunday night and changed their opinions to say the least :) They are SUPER smart and have studied the bible a lot so they understand a lot of our message. It a big family, so we hope to start with the mom and the daughter and then continue to be able to baptize the other members of the family.

We also had our interviews with President Flores this week and it was WAY different than before. . I love learning from him and he always gets us way pumped up.

The mission goes great and I am well and happy!

Thank you all for all of your love and support!

Love elder Andrew Davidson

3/9/10

Hey everyone!

SO there is a lot to tell all of you, but I have very little time so I won’t be able to tell much about the week. My comp is going home this Monday so I had to get a lot of photos and such off his USB card before he left so I lost a lot of the time I had to write.... sorry!

So we baptized Cristian Cobos this past Saturday and it went super well. He is the son of a less active family we have helped to become active in the church. They are WAY excited and I hope to be at their sealing in the temple soon :) He was confirmed on Sunday and it was excited to see them so happy and together at church. We are trying to get the brother of the husband, Ramiro, to come to church but he plays in a band and so can’t come much. We hope to teach them a lot more this week and we will see how it goes.

So we have been teaching Ricardo Gonzales for about a month now and he is going to get baptized this Saturday! :) He is 28 years old and Nora, a member, brought him to church one Sunday. He is way excited to change his life and has stopped smoking, drinking, and drinking coffee :) He has become a good friend and I'm way excited for his baptism for this Saturday!

My comp is leaving soon and it kind of sucks to be honest. I prefer to not be with missionaries as they end the mission, but I know there is much to learn from it all and it will help me to be a much better missionary in the long run. He leaves on Sunday and we don't have changes in the mission till like Wednesday... so we will see how it goes. I am going to go with some of the missionaries from my district for the days and be alone as a zone leader so it will be a long 2-3 days. Double work! But I’m excited and know I will learn a lot in the process.

The mission goes well and I have learned so much from my current companion Elder Montero. We are a lot alike and so we clash sometimes, but that just means I need to be more humble!

I received a letter today from Cheryl and Grandma Stevenson so that was nice to read and it’s always good to hear about how Tyler is doing in Texas! :)

I love you all so much and thank you for all the support even if I seem to be terrible at writing back or thank you cards... please forgive me!

Love

Elder Andrew Davidson

2/23/2010

2/23/10
Hey everyone!
So sorry lasts weeks email was so short, I have more time today so I hope to write a better email.
This week went by so so fast and like normal I had a lot of good learning experiences. So most of the week I had been praying to know how to help my companion finish the mission strong, seeing how he will be done in 3 weeks. We are great friends so be honest and get along great almost all of the time. But I want to do so much more for the zone and if I start to do more he gets offended and mad and then it’s SO hard to work with him.
It’s been good at the same time because it’s taught me to be more submissive and patient and humble, which is always good to learn more about and those who know me when I was a teenager are probably thinking I am getting up comeuppance (ha-ha). We had divisions with the assistants and I had a great experience. Normally the senior assistant goes to the area of the senior zone leader, but the senior assistant came with me to my area and so I was way excited. He told me he knows I am going to be here so a lot longer and wanted to teach me a number of things. To be honest it was an answer to my prayers and I am going to really help my comp to finish out the mission strong. I know the things I am learning now will have endless application to my life afterward and will help me to have success in life.
So this week we had divisions 3 times and I almost didn’t get to work in my area for the whole week. On Wednesday I went to the other side of Cuauhtémoc, on Fri. I went to Matachi and Temosachi and on Saturday we had a baptism to be at and a ward activity we planned. Then on Monday I had to be here working with the assistant to the president the whole day. I worked with elder Martinez and he is an excellent leader and missionary. I look up to him a lot and his friendship means a lot to me. I feel so small sometimes in realizing how much I have to learn, but little by little I will become better and not so weak at times.
So a number of people came to church on Sunday with us and it was a great. We were going to gives talks, because we always do the 3rd Sunday of the month, but a member of the stake presidency was there and so he took up out time. I have learned to work a lot more with the members which is the secret to success in the mission field. Many of the members don’t participate in missionary work by themselves so we teach them a lot and try to work with the members each day of the week so the investigators have friends and feel better about coming to church.
So remember Ramon? The guy we found in the street? So turns out he had several federal felonies in the states a few months ago and can’t be baptized... but we have helped him to turn his life around and we have helped a lot of his family members as well. His cousin Veronica and her husband came to church and they have baptism dates for the 6th of March. :)
Sorry to not say much about our investigators.... I was not here much this week and traveled a lot. To be honest I’m not a big fan of it and like just being in my area, but I get to learn a lot and so I love it. Plus I love being able to help the newer missionaries on a one to one level and really teach them the best that I know.
The mission is the hardest yet most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life! I will never forget this time here and I have nightmares about going home some day.... ha-ha!
Oh thanks mom for the great package! :) Everyone loved the chocolates!
Love,
Elder Andrew Davidson

2/16/2010

2/16/10

Hey everyone!

So sorry to write a short email, I do not have much time this week because we had to make new email accounts. The church now has a contract with Gmail for the missionaries and I now have a new email address. My mom will attach it at the end of this email because I do not have the email address right now, but I will send it in a minute or two.

So this week went well for the most part. There were a good number of trials, but that just means more opportunities to learn and grow. We had zone conference with everyone this past Wednesday and it went great. For the first time I was able to teach okay and not get too nervous. We learned a lot and President Flores always teaches and inspires the missionaries to be better.

This week I was sick for a little while and then my comp was sick, but we are both okay now and working hard.

The mission is going great and I would not trade these experiences for the world even though it can get tough at times.

Thanks Livermore 4th ward YW for the package, it was a lot of fun to open and look for all of the scriptures! Thanks Elms family for the package and I need to write everyone! Ha-ha! Thanks Grandma Davidson and Larissa for the letters!

Love you all,

Elder Andrew Davidson

2/9/2010

2/9/09

Hey everyone!

So I don’t think I have as many cool stories but the week went really well. I had a number of good growing experiences and although it was a tough week, I learned a lot so it´s always worth it.

We had changes in the zone on Wednesday night. One of the sisters in my district changed and there were a number of others. A good number of our district leaders had changes and a lot of them became zone leaders. :) My companion is going to stay here and end his mission here is Cuauhtémoc with me. It’s a good thing because we have a lot more to learn together and this week has been our best week together so far.

On Friday we had the Zone Leader conference with all of the zone leaders and the mission president. I felt much better being there this time around and I was not too nervous. But 30 minutes before it started the assistants gave us a piece of paper with a topic for preach my gospel on it and we had 30 minutes to plan out how to teach it to everyone. We did a fairly good job and it worked out well. I have learned how to teach much better in front of groups of people so that has been a great quality to learn. It was a great conference and I learned a lot! It was a lot of fun actually and I get along well with a lot of the other elders.

The sad part is that most of the American missionaries here never stay in leadership too long because they have a relaxed view of the mission and break rules until the mission president takes them out of leadership. They come to Mexico without taking it all seriously and do stupid stuff, to say the least… it’s really sad to me and I am determined to help it not happen at least so much. I get to have divisions with a lot of the elders in my zone and so I always try to help them take the mission much more seriously. Out of 14 zone leaders (7 zones) only 2 others are Americans…. And they BOTH leave at the end of this cycle. I guess we will see how it goes, it’s not that I want there to be more American leaders, it just bugs me that they all do such dumb things in the mission. You know?

Anyways, the conference was great and then on this past Monday we had our district leader conference. It went SUPER well and it has been a great learning experience to be in leadership and to learn so much. It has also been a GREAT reminder that I am NOTHING without God’s help. The mission president talked about this a lot at conference as well as the importance of prayer, allowing God to lead us. He told us that is why we are called to leadership, so we can learn to be humble and learn to not trust in our own strength, but in the divine power of the Lord. It’s a great thing to learn and one we all seem to struggle at. I’m excited I have 11 months left in the mission so I can learn to APPLY the principle so much more.

Tomorrow we have Zone conference, which is the normal conference we always have every cycle with the mission president. When all the district leaders teach something and the mission president goes over some of the current mission stuff. It is with the whole zone and so there will be 30 missionaries there. I’m excited as zone conferences are always a very uplifting experience.

So Ramon Moreno continues to progress and will be baptized on Saturday!  I am way excited and he really loves the church. The cool part is that all his family members, his aunts and uncles and cousins are all way excited for him and we have started to teach them as well.

We have also met a few other families that we are teaching as well. I just love teaching the gospel and it makes me so happy!

Last night I met a super young newlywed couple and they seem very interested. My comp and I have gotten much better at teaching together and it’s made a big difference. My comp and I had a good talk this past Wednesday to work out a few problems we were having. We were both a bit frustrated and things have been different ever since. It’s taught me the value and need for humility and selflessness. Two things I will always need to work on better.

Life goes on and the mission is great. Anyone who is thinking about serving mission, DO IT. I promise it will be a decision you NEVER regret and the best 2 years of your life. I am sure of it! 

I love the gospel and know it’s true!

Thank you all for all of the love and support you give!

Elder Andrew Davidson