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