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