Christmas!

Asado (barbecue) roasting on an open fire, Juan frost nipping at your nose and folks dressed up as gauchos (cowboys)... #Argentinenavidad

I can`t believe how fast this year has passed! This year of my life has been completely dedicated to missionary work. 

My Christmas in the mission was one of my favorites! We ate breakfast burritos in the capilla,(Church building)  then we did secret santa. I received a picture of Alina and us at her baptism and a bar of mantecoal (an Argentine chocolate bar) (be still my beating heart. I do love that stuff :)) 

Then we ate lunch and skyped with our families. We also watched Big Hero 6 and the Minions. 

I loved skyping with my family. It was good to see their happy faces and introduce them to my missionary friends :)

This week we also went caroling in the plaza. we stood on a cement thing in the middle of a busy intersection. People in the cross walk filmed us and all the cars had their windows rolled down as they passed. They especially loved it when we sang Jingle Bells in English. I love spreading Christmas spirit! #stillbelieveinSanta #Christisthegift #wearetonedeaf

As for the challenges of December: 

I finished the New Testament a few days before Christmas. From this experience I gained a greater testimony and appreciation for my Savior. He is the perfect example of selflessness and love. I put myself in the place of the disciples to learn how I can improve as a missionary. The disciples are bold and loving in their teaching. They testify of Christ in every moment and have complete trust in him. I encourage you all to finish the New Testament if you haven`t yet.

My sacrifice was fear. I often find my fear of failure getting in the way of my success. This month my comp and I set the goal to reach the standard of the mission. It seemed like a big goal and i had my doubts, but I threw them aside and dived head-first into the work. We saw so many miracles and my faith was strengthened. God is on our side and keeps his promises. In the end we were able to go over the standard. It reminds me of the miracle when Christ multiplies the bread and fish. If we give Him everything He will make it so much more. I love my Savior.

Challenge: Make new year resolutions, but get Heavenly Father involved. Pray for help to know which resolutions to set and pray for strength to keep them. We can do ANYTHING with the help of our God. He loves us and wants our success.

Love you all a ton,

Hermana Davis

The best week of my mission!

Hermana Cardenas, Hermana Davis 

and Alina on her baptism day!

Group picture on Alina's baptism day!

Group picture on Alina's baptism day 12. 19. 15

Alina on her baptism day 12. 19. 15

"Welcome to your baptism Alina!" 

I just finished the best week of my whole life!

I can´t say everything, (I have to have a few surprises for when I skype the fam :))

But, Here are some of the miracles:

1. I completed a year in the mission

2.  Claudio, the son of Violeta, acepted a fecha!!!!! He entered the room and Violeta said, "He´s the one you should be teaching." 

Claudio looked at us and said, "I´d listen to you guys. You just have to ask me."

So, we sat him down and talked about baptism. He said, "I know you guys are from God and I will follow whatever you tell me to do." Capo!!!

3. Do you remember the aunt of Rodrigo from Puerto Madryn? Well, she got baptized on Saturday. :)

4. Alina got baptized! She is my first baptism and it was an amazing experience. Her whole family ended up coming to support her. We had three people in the font. After the service we watched this awkward city choir performance in the capilla. They had this one really big guy who belted out "Río Gallegos!" every 30 seconds in the chorus. It was a musical work written to praise the city... #RíoGallegospride

#MarvinPayne #supercultured

Anyways, there are lots more miracles.

I hope you all enjoy the Christmas season. Remember to focus on the gift that your Father in Heaven gave you - his son.  

Challenge: Keep doing your sacrifice. My sacrifice is fear and I am having some really neat experiences and miracles :D

Love, 

Hermana Davis

Glacier "Perito Moreno and LOTS of pics!

Hermana Davis at the Glacier

District on their way to the glacier on P-day

District at the Glacier 

Hermana Cardenas and Hermana Davis at the Glacier

Map of where this glacier is in comparison
to her area of Rio Gallegos. 

"I love my mission!"

So, this week was chock-full of super adventures (but, what else is new?)

1. Zone conference - we drank animo (encouragement) soda and learned about how to be good missionaries. We also had a special Christmas program. 

Hermana Cardenas and Hermana Davis
at Zone Conference 

Zone conference dinner 

2. Ramona, one of the puppies that follows us, got hit by a car and broke her leg. Two strangers picked her up in their car and drove her off. We haven¨t seen her since. 

3. A miracle: We put a fecha (baptismal date) with Juan, the boyfriend of Violeta. I can not express to you how excited I am for this couple. Juan is very humble, doesn't know how to read very well, but is ready to make changes in his life. Violeta´s kids and grand kids arrived from Cordoba on Saturday, so now there are 11 of them living in the house. We are going to baptize them all!!!!! (except those who are under the age of 8.)

4.  Divisiones with Hna Lock. She is a beast-boss. We laughed and stayed up almost all night talking about the mission and life. She is so chill and has a great way of looking at life. It was an energizing day :) Plus, we almost killed the rat that has been living behind our stove. We were doing dancing exercises in the morning and it ran across the room and hid in my hat that was on the floor. We almost killed it with a broom. When I say "we" I really meant that I filmed and Hna Lock was holding the broom. I´ll show you the video in a few months.

5. All of our 4 fechas (people committed to baptism) came to church! We visited Juan Silva in the morning without telling him beforehand because we couldn't find him earlier this week. He opened the door and said, "hola!"

We replied, "Hola Juan, let´s go to church!" Turns out that he is the uncle of a member of our ward. What a surprise! 

6. We went to the glacier. Definitely put this one on your bucket list! It is stunning and so tranquilo (peaceful)  I met people from Brazil, Holland, Germany, and Colorado. So worth the long 5 hour drive each way.

7. We have something very special planned for this week. Pray for a giant Christmas miracle! We could use all of the help we can get :)

Panorama of Rio Gallegos

Hermana Davis and empanadas

I love you all a ton!

Hermana Davis

Family, 

I can´t write a ton because I´m pressed for time...BUT I just want to let you know that I am very happy and I am working super duper hard. My comp and I are doing great.  She is such a capa (awesome) and I love seeing her progress. We have fun together and she has had a lot of great experiences in just her first transfer.,

Ugg. Dopey (one of the dogs that follows her)  is sitting under me right now and he smells putrid...pero, bueno. Así son las cosas acá (well, great, this is how things are here!)

Hermana Davis the CIA agent :)

Fun fact about Rìo Gallegos: You know those holes in the ozone layer that everyone talks about? I am actually living in one. Yes, they exist. Don`t worry, I put on sunscreen every morning. The people think it`s funny when I burn because they are used to people getting darker when they burn, but I just turn red and get more freckles.

You may not believe it, but I think I`m also becoming a social butterfly. That`s what happens when you spend all day talking to strangers :)

Anyways, it`s been an eventful week. This morning I decorated our pension so it looks like an Argentine winter wonderland. We are going to make snowflakes tonight after planning.

This week my compa put her first fecha (baptismal date) with Juan Silva, a Chilean grandpa. We taught him the restoration and the plan of salvation. His wife died 5 years ago, but she had a book of Mormon and was reading it. I felt that she is helping Juan find the gospel so that he can accept it in this life and do her temple work. It was a really neat experience.

Adelina is an antigua (old investigator) that doesn`t believe in God. We passed by last week and she said that she had been praying. This week was passed by and testified of the atonement. I was testifying from my heart just wishing that she could feel the love of God. I thought about how how much God loves us and I began to cry. It was a powerful lesson and a moment that I will never forget. I have such a testimony of the atonement. God loves us and we are NEVER alone.

Violeta is a boss. I just can`t believe how fast she is progressing! She came to a ward asado that we had. Instead of sticking by the missionaries she ran off and made her own friends. Then I introduced her to an hermana that likes doing family history. It was instant friendship :) At the end of the activity she was exchanging phone numbers with the sisters from the ward. I feel so lucky to be part of her conversion process to the church. Sometimes I look at her and see her in white clothes on temple grounds. Then I imagine seeing her again in the life after this one. It`s a joy that can`t be described with words. She also comes to church by herself and has more than 4 asistencias! (church attendance) She also stayed for Relief Society yesterday for the first time and then stayed even longer to watch a baptism service that took place after the church meetings. She has a different light in her eyes and I can see the change that is taking place in her heart. The gospel makes people happy. It`s a happiness that comes from the inside and shines outward.

Alina`s baptism is still schedule for the 19th. She came to church this last Sunday and also stayed for the baptism. There are some kinks that we need to iron out before her baptism. Please keep her in your prayers.

We had a ward asado (barbeque) out in the campo (wilderness/ camp ground) We played a game of soccer on a giant dusty field. Violeta was the goalie. It was like the moment in the Secret life of Walter Mitty when they played the soccer game in the mountains. Yeah, except there wasn`t any mountains. It hit me once again that I am in Argentina, my home away from home :) I love this place.

We had a Christmas inspired zone meeting. This is my favorite zone I`ve had in my mission. It`s a different spirit - we are all working so hard to be better and to find the people that are prepared here in Rìo Gallegos.

Now for the crazier parts of the week:

We were knocking doors and we found some crazy old investigators. The drunk uncle would only talk to Hna Cardenas and was trying to tell her to be careful because I was from the CIA. (Shhh...no one is supposed to know.) It was a weird lesson and the spirit was not there. I felt that we needed to leave, so I said, "Is it alright if we end with a prayer?" Then I explained how we pray. I asked if it would be alright if I offered the prayer. The Dad said, "No, I`ll say it." The only thing he prayed for was for the food on the table. There was no food on the table, only cigarettes. #pleaseblessthecigarettes #noreturnappointment

We have a rat in our pension. Don`t worry folks, this morning I set a trap and sprinkled venom pellets. We will kill this thing.

We now have 4 dogs that follow us everywhere we go. It is preparing me to have a big family. People ask us, "Are they all yours?"  #thanksforthecontactsRocco

(Rocco is the Guardian angel dog)

I have seen lots of miracles and I may even have a baptism or two in the next few months. Jesus taught the most at the end of his life and I feel the same way about the end of my mission. I don`t want to burn out or get super tired in the last six months. I don`t want to start walking when the finish line is in sight. I`m ready to sprint. It`s a good feeling and I`m really enjoying the work.

Bueno, remember that you are supposed to sacrifice one thing this month. I am sacrificing fear. I want to be a Bold missionary like Ammon and Amulek.

Love you all!

Hermana Davis

Double rainbow and a dozen facturas

So, let me explain the title of this email. It was a really rainy day and no one let us in their houses. I was trying to stay positive. We sang in the rain and threw rocks into puddles. Later, a vibrant double rainbow appeared. We took a break from contacting and bought a dozen facturas. Then we sat on a park bench and ate them while watching the rainbow. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the beautiful world we have. 

This week we saw miracles (what else is new?) I´m beginning to realize that even the hardest of days are filled with tender mercies. Heavenly Father loves us so much!

Violeta: She is such a beast! Her partner told her that he has seen her change ever since she began to talk to the Mormons. Score! Also, she receives answers to her prayers in her dreams. It´s an amazing gift and she has experienced many miracles. 

One day she was super super angry and flustered. She stepped outside of her house to cool off. A random man came up to her and said, "Would you like this purse? I´ll give it to you for free." Violeta LOVES purses! She was so shocked. She realized that it was a sign from God saying, "I haven´t left you alone. Just hold on and stay strong. Better things are coming."  

I know that God knows us personally. He takes care of his children, even when we are angry or we feel undeserving of his love.

Also, Violeta is sharing the gospel with basically every person that she knows. Yesterday we gave a Book of Mormon to her daughter-in-law. She seemed really interested, so we´ll see where that goes.

Reubin: We were contacting and we saw two men get out of a car holding beers. Usually I do not contact the men holding beers in their hand, but this was a prompted exception. I introduced myself and said, "We talk about Jesus." 

Turns out that one of the men, Reubin, had received the missionaries before. One day the missionaries wanted to take him to the capilla to get him baptized. Reubin got mad because he is catholic and felt pressured. I explained that we don´t obligate people to change. Our message centers on Jesus Christ and God´s love for his children. Then Reubin softened up and said, "The people that preach the word of God follow me everywhere. Even when I was in the hospital." 

I told him that it was a sign. Then I gave him a Book of Mormon. He was super happy and said, "Hey, pass by my house and we can chat with my family. Maybe the next time I won´t have a beer in my hand."

Contacting is the BEST!

Alina: She went to the capilla and now has 3 asistencias!!! She is just missing a few of the commandment lessons. Pray for her that she can get baptized on her fecha, Dec 19th! She is so prepared.

Adelina: She is an old investigator that loves the church and has all of the lessons, but stopped believing in God after the death of her husband. We were prompted to pass by yesterday. Turns out that she was in her house. It´s been almost 2 months since I´ve last seen her. One day she felt really sad and she remembered that the missionaries talked to her about prayer. She began praying and now she can sleep at night. This started about 2 months ago. I asked her, "Do you believe you can see your husband again?"

She replied, "I want to believe, but I just don´t know."

Then we testified hard core about the atonement and life after death. The seed of faith is planted and is beginning to take root in her heart #alma32. The only downside is that she heads off to Puerto Madryn for a few weeks on the 26th of December. Then she is going to Chile for a month or so. Pucha! 

But, the moral of the story is: Never never ever give up on someone. Ever. There is ALWAYS hope.

Challenge time: Write your testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it away before Christmas. There is no better gift than the book that contains the fullness of the gospel and is a manifestation of God´s love for his children. JUST DO IT #Nike #everymemberamissionary

I love you all to the moon and back (and a little more)

Hermana Davis

P.S. Roco says hola

P.P.S. Dopey says hola too

P.P.P.S. I have too many dogs in my life... (Dopey, Roco, Pipo, those two puppies that were outside the pension this morning...)

Training and another fire!

Hermana Cardenas (newbie) and Hermana Davis
getting helados  in Comodoro Rivadavia before
heading to  their area in Rio Gallegos

"Trainers"

This week was insane!!!

1. I was hanging out with Hna Sureda in the capilla in centro on p-day. We headed back to the pension to get her suitcases and go to the terminal. While we were walking back we passed a two story cement house. Smoke and flames were coming out from under the front door. We turned around and saw a lady with 2 babies and a little girl standing at the top of a staircase. Smoke was coming out of both the upstairs and the downstairs. The lady couldn´t carry all of the children down the stairs. We ran up and took the children from her. We took them out into the street and evacuated everyone else from the house behind the one that was on fire. I held the crying little girl close to me and covered her with a blanket to keep her from going into shock. The lady turned out to be the nanny of the children. She said, "I left the stroller inside!" 

Hna Sureda ran back up the stairs and into the burning house. Minutes later she emerged holding a stroller above her head. We put the baby in the stroller and watched as the firemen extinguished the fire. Then we slipped through the gathering crowd and walking silently back to the pension. It was an experience unlike any other and I´m glad that we could be a small part of the miracle. On the other hand, I am so sick of burning buildings. The challenge this week is to buy a smoke detector and review your emergency plan.

2. My new compa is Hna Cardenas from Oklahoma. She is 5ft (I´m almost 5´10) and is spunky. She has a dry sense of humor (we are the same person) and a good attitude. We´ve been busting out the work and seeing lots of miracles. Our first day we had 5 lessons and 2 new investigators. It´s been really amazing to see our little area progress.

3. Violeta!!!! Can I just tell you how much I love her! The only thing she needs to do to get baptized is get divorce and then married to the guy she´s living with. We've been looking at options and I´ll let you know how it goes. She came to church this last Sunday and LOVED the class about family history. She nudged my arm and said, "Pull out your agenda. We need to make an appointment to do family history in the church." Sometimes I think about her getting baptized and then doing the work for all of her family. It brings tears to my eyes :)

4. Alina came to church! Transportation was a bit tricky because she´s in a wheelchair, but it all worked out. We also taught her older brother the restoration. That was a cool experience. He works in the terminal so he always sees the missionaries coming and going. Hopefully one day he´ll get baptized and be one of those missionaries :)

5. The son of Deolinda, a recent convert, said that he wants to start taking the lessons. We set an appointment for this week. Pray for us that he is actually there and that his heart is open. It would be such a miracle.

6. We ate lunch with the familia Vergara. They have a son who has autism. When we were seated at the table he got up and put on his missionary tag that he got from primary. Then he came and gave me a big hug. I am grateful for special angels like him.

7. Aldana: She´s 17 years old, loves to do Arabic dancing, and has a pet duck. We are trying to teach her family, but they are never home. We ended up chatting with Aldana and taught lesson 1 and 2. She understood everything and is going to pray to see if the church really has the authority to baptize. She has a lot of faith and was already baptized in a christian church. The only thing that was missing was the authority. Pray for her too! She is so awesome and prepared.

I can not express how much I love my mission. There are moments where I feel like we are surrounded by angels protecting us and giving us comfort. Sometimes the members are the angels. Sometimes it is a tender mercy from God that reminds us of his infinite love. 

Living the gospel is not always easy, but the promises and blessings are worth any trials or challenges that we might go through. The church is true. God lives and He is our father. 

I love you all,

Hermana Davis 

Adventure is out there (And lots of pictures!)

"This little girl needs lots of hugs...so I give them to her"

Hermana Davis and Hermana Sureda
at lunch with District in Rio Gallegos

And she found a puppy!

Fiona and Hermana Davis

Hermana Davis and Hermana Sureda...chocolate mustache fun!

Las Hermanas in Rio Gallegos

Happy Hermanas in Rio Gallegos!

Fire in Rio Gallegos

"Marshall" the pet duck

Ever Faithful Roco - the Guardian Angel dog!

"Hiding from the gnats" 

Zone in Rio Gallegos

It's that time of year when the world falls in love, every song you hear seems to say, " Merry transfer time!" (I´m so ready for Christmas jaja)

Bueno, here´s the scoop. My compa is going to Puerto Madryn. She´ll be in centro in my old zone. Bautismos y ballenas!!! Woot woot!

Ok, as for me...I´m going to be a trainer. I´m super excited (and overwhelmed)! I go to Comodoro Tuesday night to pick up my newbie on Wednesday.



Bueno, here´s what we did this week:

1. I was in the anonima (grocery store) with my long black skirt. Two little gypsy came up to me and began to speak in their weird gypsy language. I said in Spanish, "Sorry, I only speak english." 

They smiled and replied in Spanish, "oh, we thought you were a gypsy."

#thingsthatonlyhappeninArgentina

2. Our investigators bought a baby duck. Yep, a baby duck. His name is Marshall. Marshall and I were great friends until he went to the bathroom on my gypsy skirt. But then I forgave him because he fell asleep on my feet.

3. Violeta. Man she is on fire! She prays and reads a chapter of the Book of Mormon every day. She has also filled out her family tree and read the proclamation to the world. She is also sharing the gospel with her kids who live in Cordoba. She found a scripture case for her bible, Book of Mormon, and the pamphlets. Also, she said the prayer in our lesson and thanked God for the true church. I almost cried.

4. Maria Yañez. She is a Chilean grandma and a new investigator. She invited us over and showed us videos of her cruise to Brasil and her granddaughter´s quinciñera. Then she pulled out her camera and began to film us. It was uber awkward... 

5. Carla and family.   Carla is 11 years old and wants to get baptized. The problem is that her family thinks that she is to young to make a decision. We were testifying hard core about eternal families and God´s plan. I began to share my testimony. I said, "I love my family very much. I left them so that I can help other families be together forever. I know that what we share is true..."

Then Carla pointed out the window behind us and said, "Look, fire!"

We all turned around and saw a ginormous black cloud of smoke billowing out of the building across the street. We ran out of the house and into the street to see what had happened. (along with the rest of Río Gallegos.) The police said that an old abandoned bus had caught fire. It made me think of the hymn, "The spirit of God like a fire is burning."

Luckily the fire was put out and no one was hurt.

6. District conference: 2 miracles happened: 

          1. Violeta came to the conference. She had been looking for a job and we promised her that if she prayed for help that she would find one. Turns out that the hermano sitting behind her needed someone to clean his house. They began to talk and now Violeta has a job. Blessings come when we go to church!!!!

          2. President Rogers used his priesthood keys to bless our little disctrict from the pulpit. He blessed us that our prayers would be answered and that the church would grow here in Río Gallegos. The spirit was so strong.

7. I complete 11 months in the mission tomorrow. Where does the time go?!?

That´s about it for this week.

Challenge: Write down all of the miracles you see this week. Our lives are so much better when we look for and see the hand of God in our lives. 

I love you all so much and pray for you multiple times every day.

Con amor,

Hermana Davis

Service project, golden investigator and pure joy!

Aubrey and H. Sureda after service project

Hermana Gomez, Hermana Davis and Hermana Sureda

This week was amazing! We saw so many miracles and had so much fun!

1. We were in a trio with Hna Gomez for a day. :)  (see above pic)

2. Violeta: She is our golden investigator. Last week I wrote about how we found her. This week we talked about the restoration. She had filled out the questions at the back of the pamphlets (nobody does that.) She left two questions blank. Then she told us, "I didn´t fill out these questions because I didn´t have a Book of Mormon. Could you give me one of those?" (I just about cried.)

Then we invited her to church and she said, "Si, I´ll go." 

When we asked if she wanted us to walk to church with her she said no. We thought that she wasn´t really serious about going. 

Guess what?  Sunday morning she called us and said, "Ok chicas, I´m lost. I´m in street ____. Where´s the capilla?"  We grabbed a member to drive us to the street and bring Violeta to church. In Gospel Principles we talked about eternal marriage. Turns out that it´s one of the only things that would impede Violeta from getting baptized - she´s not married. Afterwards she said, "I know you guys are women, but would you mind teaching my partner and my son?" 

We explained that we can teach them all together. It was basically the best day ever. 

3. Embarrassing moment of the week: I spilled a mug of warm milk on my lap in the house of our branch president. #lactoseintolerant #soggyskirt

Luckily they are super chill and we all laughed it off. They did, however, take photos and upload them to facebook. #Imfamous 

4. On Friday we did a service project where we scraped paint off the walls of a school. Halfway through we had a paint dust war. I LOVE service projects :D  (see above pic)

5. The mom of a recent convert was baptized on Saturday. Now the dad is the only non-member in the family. I love baptisms services because the spirit is always so strong.

Challenge: Do service this week. It makes you feel better and helps the people around you.

This is a little blurb from a note to her dad that I had to share:   It´s one thing to here the mission stories, and it´s another thing to live them yourself. You can´t explain the love you feel for the people, or the strength you receive when you feel like you can´t give more, or the assurance that despite your weaknesses God is pleased with your work. It´s the best thing I´ve done and will ever do. 

We are so happy Aubrey is on a mission.  Thank you for your love and support of her and our family!  We LOVE YOU!

Happy Halloween and WIND

Aubrey and her Halloween bucket

"My costume which lasted 5 minutes
 because I couldn't see" 

"The power couple!"
 Aubrey and Hermana Sureda from Chile

The dog pack in Rio Gallegos

Typical street in Rio Gallegos

The Hermanas in Rio Gallegos

"My Pinterest desk..."
 AKA - all the inspirational handouts mom sends 

This week can be described in one word: WIND. So much wind. As we were being pelted with mini pebbles and dirt I though in the scripture Helaman 5:12. That´s basically the theme of my mission. Satan throws his strongest storms in our path. What do we do? We build our foundations on Christ.

As missionaries, we put on leggings, safety-pin our skirts, gel our hair, and wear thick scarfs to protect us from the wind. We prepare ourselves before going out into the wind of Gallegos. We must prepare ourselves spiritually as well. We can not chose whether to be outside in the wind or not. What we can choose is how well we are protected from the wind. It´s like life. We can´t choose whether or not to have temptations and trials. They come regardless. We can choose how strong our testimony is. We build the walls of our testimony by the small things we do each day to strengthen our faith in Christ.

This week we...
1. Put a fecha with Violeta. We were on divisiones with Hna Rodriguez from Mexico. All of our morning plans fell, so I said, "Let´s knock that door."  We did and Violeta answered. She said, "Pasen chicas." (Those are my two favorite words in Spanish.) She said that the only thing she wants is happiness for her children. We said, "Would you be willing to make some changes in your life to have everlasting happiness for you and your family?"  She said, "Si."  Then we invited her to baptism, promising her that this gospel will bring her the joy she is searching for. I live for lessons like that one. The spirit was so strong!

2. Our district leaders had 2 baptisms this week. Hna Sureda made cakes for the baptism services. We also sang a musical number. 

3. We did a Tsunami in San Benito (the middle of nowhere.) I found a horse :D I´m still trying to convince president Rogers that we need some horse-powered transportation to help our proselyting efforts. Either that, or we could capture the stray dogs in the street and start a dog-sled team...I´ll let you know how that one goes.

Challenge: Read the scriptures every day this week. Don´t miss a single day! For those who are reading the New testament with me, you should be in Acts or further. We can do it! 

Love you all!
Hermana Davis