Thanks to Him...

Hermana Davis in Rio Gallegos

Hermana Davis by lake In Rio Gallegos

Hermana Davis and Hermana Sureda
 in Rio Gallegos

Hermana Davis and Hermana Sureda
in Rio Gallegos

Disco in Rio Gallegos

Rocco - the Guardian Angel dog

Sunset in Rio Gallegos

Buen día,
This week we had interviews with President. I am always surprised by just how well he knows his missionaries. 

This week we saw lots of miracles.

Marta: she was sitting outside her house, so we contacted her. She invited us into her house and we began to talk about her family. We showed her the pamphlet of the plan of salvation. On the first page there is a picture of a happy family. Marta saw that picture and said, "that is how a family should be." I was able to testify to her that even though my family isn´t perfect, we are happy.

Alina: she is 19 years old and is wheel-chair bound. She has other disabilities as well. We invited her to baptism a few weeks ago, but we changed her fecha this week because she needs to come to church two more times. Her mom has also started to take interest in the lessons, but is hardly ever home. Alina also has a little brother named Maxi who listens to loud spanish rap whenever we want to end with a prayer. We always invite him to pray with us and he always says no. But as soon as we start to pray he turns off the music and runs over to kneel by the side of Alina´s wheel-chair.

Deolinda: She is the recent convert of Hna Ming and Hna Sureda. She has 4 children and 3 of them live with her. One of her daughters has down syndrome :) Deolinda hasn´t been coming to church. We passed by Saturday morning to drop cane (bajar la caña) on her (with love). She began crying and said, "No matter if I have to quit my job, I will come to church on Sunday." Although Deolinda has problems with keeping commitments, she can see the change that the gospel brings in her life. We have seen the Lord keep his promises to Deolinda as she sacrifices to keep the commandments.

Noche de futbol: Every Friday we play soccer in the capilla. This friday we had a bunch of investigators come! Also, the son of our evangelica land lady came with his friends. #Miracles #Iplaylikemesi #GoBoca

Gracias a Él: We did a really cool activity as a zone. We wrote "Gracias a Él..." (Thanks to Him...) on a few posterboards and we went around contacting the people. We walked through a giant plaza and had a whole group of shifty looking teenagers write why they are grateful for Jesus Christ. We also found a man who said, "I´m not really interested, but I do have some questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith." I whipped the restoration pamphlet out of my backpack and we began to explain prophets and the Book of Mormon. Gracias a Él... yo puedo vivir con mis seres queridos para siempre y puedo ser limpia de todos mis pecados. (Thanks to Him I can live with my loved ones forever and I can be clean of all my sins)

A little about Río Gallegos: It is flat with a little lake in the middle. There are a lot of Chileans because we are so close to Punta Arena, Chile. There is lots and lots and lots of wind and even more dogs! The sunsets are breathtaking and it doesn't get dark until almost 10pm.  

Challenge: Don´t make excuses. Excuses stop our growth and confine us to our comfort zone. Step outside of the limits that you have set on your potential. You are a child of God and with his help you can overcome everything.

Lots and lots of Love,
Hermana Davis

De Diez in Rio Gallegos!

Aubrey in Rio Gallegos

Dear Friends and Family:

Bueno, this week was de 10!   Here´s why:

• Pday we played a game called bigger or better. We had to trade a contacting card for something bigger or better. My team won! Want know why? Because we ended up with a freaking puppy!!! We couldn't find a home for it, so it slept in our pension. By slept, I mean it didn't sleep at all. It just stayed awake all night whining and going to the bathroom on the floor. We prayed so hard to find an owner and our prayers were answered. The next morning we were walking to district meeting with the puppy in our arms. A man said, "Wow, that´s a cute dog." We replied, "Yep. Do you want it?" He said yes, so we handed him the puppy and ran around the corner before he could change his mind. 

• We also ate at Subway. 
• This week Hna Sureda and I pounded out 100 contacts :) To make it more fun we decided to use keywords. For example, Hna Sureda had to use the word, "repollo (cabbage)" in her contact. It makes contacting a lot more interesting.
• Also, speaking of contacts, we found a lot of people this week who said, "The elders used to pass by, but one day they stopped coming." We have a lot of future investigators to visit this week :)
• Also, this week I completed 10 months in the mission. We are in double digit territory folks! I can´t believe just how fast the time is flying by. 
• Cool fact: My comp´s dad and my dad served in the same mission at the same time. Wow! Aguante Viña del Mar, Chile!

This week was also mother´s day in Argentina. So, Happy Mothers day! <3

Challenge: Love your children. Treat them with respect and patience. It makes me sick to see how the majority of children are treated down here. Remember that we can´t enter into the kingdom of God unless we are humble like children. Bueno, I´m done ranting.

Love you all so so much!

Hermana "the dog magnet" Davis

Bonus fact: Río Gallegos is the 2nd city in the world with the most wind. I testify that this is true. :D

Attachments area

Preview attachment Aubrey in Rio Gallegos 10.19.15.jpg

Aubrey in Ri Gallegos 10.19.15.jpg

"It's a win, win situation"

Dinner at Rodriguez home in Puerto Madryn

Saying good -bye to her zone in Puerto Madryn

Hermana Sureda (Chilean comp) and Hermana Davis
eating spicy noodles

Dear Friends and Family:

This week was crazy awesome! This is the least sleep and the most fun I've had in my whole mission. Here's what went down:

- transfers = 20 hours on a collectivo. (bus)  My new area is Rio Gallegos.

- Gisela is a Menos activa with a 2 year old daughter named Luciana. We ate lunch with them. They are super awesome (like all of the people here.)

- We have this one giant dog named Roco who follows us around all day. He protects us from the shifty men and we protect him from the other dogs by throwing rocks at them.  It's a win, win sitauation!

- Alina is a 19 year old girl who has serious health problems. She is in a wheel chair and has a fecha (baptismal date set) for Halloween. I´ll keep you updated.

- My comp is a boss, just saying.

- Conversos recientes!!! (recent converts) Salomé and Rebecca. Rebecca has down syndrome and is my best friend.

- One night we bought spicy chicken cup noodles. I just about died!  Now I´m such a wimp when it comes to spicy things. Give me my olive oil and lemon juice and I´m good to go :D

- There are so many Chilenos down here! While introducing myself in church I said, "Soy de Chile po." (Because all the Chileans say "po.")  The congregation stared at me really hard trying to figure out if the pasty white redhead on the stand could really be from Chile. Then I smiled and said, "No, soy de Utah." They all laughed. Now I am known as the Chilena. :D

Challenge: Review conference talks! 

Mucho Amor!

Hermana Davis

I'm headed down south!

Transfer news: I am going to Rio Gallegos in the Southern tip of Argentina. I will be Senior comp to Hna.Sureda from Chile.

Mom note:  Aubrey was told her new area isn't beautiful but the members are amazing.  So....I did some reasearch:    "Hardly a tourist destination, this coal shipping, oil-refining and wool-raising hub is a busy port with a few merits for travelers. Since the reign of the Kirchners, the capital city of their home province has been spruced up and spit polished. Outside of town, visitors can find some of the continent’s best fly-fishing, traditional estancias (ranches) and amazingly low tides (retreating 14m). Traveler services are good here but most zip through en route to El Calafate, Puerto Natales or Ushuaia.

Gallegos’ economy revolves around nearby oilfields, with coal deposits shipped to ocean-going vessels at Punta Loyola. Home to a large military base, the city played an active role during the Falklands War."   

Here's a link to the map if you want to see where she is: 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rio+Gallegos,+Santa+Cruz+Province,+Argentina/@-51.469468,-68.1971112,1007540m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0xbdb6f952b21c66e5:0xab7c41f247647102!6m1!1e1

This week has been crazy! As every missionary knows, week 6 is the week of sickness, stress, and miracles. I have experienced all three of those :)

Miracle #1: We cleaned this old man's house for a service project. It was so dirty and cockroaches were running everywhere. It took 16 missionaries 6 hours of hard labor to clean the place up. After the service project I felt disgusting and I had a strong craving for sprite (which is weird because I hardly ever drink soda in my house.) Hna Burt and I were walking down the street and we saw our beloved panaderia that also sells sprite. For some reason (the spirit), we passed by without entering. I tried to convince myself that it was late (it was 9:15 and we had to be back by 9:30) and that I wasn't really craving a sprite. However, when we passed this little meat shop kiosco we entered without really thinking. I grabbed a sprite and went to the caja to pay. After I paid, the lady behind me grabbed my arm and said, "Wait, I want to talk to you." Turns out that she is a menos activa that we had been searching for. She had moved to some apartment buildings by the beach in our area. We set up an appointment and she took us home in her car so we made it before curfew.

God knows that if he wants something done he can always count on my cravings to lead me to his lost sheep. :)

Miracle #2: We were contacting Barrio Roca apartments one morning. A grumpy lady came down stairs on her way out of the building and said, "Don't knock upstairs, we are all catholic. Oh, and shut the door on your way out."  My stubborn streak kicked in and I said to Hna Burt, "Hey, let's go knock upstairs." So we did. We found her 20-something year old son, Sebastian, who is not a catholic. We invited him to piano classes that night. Guess what? He actually came!!! He asked questions about Joseph Smith and the picture of Jesus giving the priesthood to his apostles. Que capo!

Miracle #3: Two words - General Conference. Hna Burt and I chilled in the gringo room with the Elders and watched it in English. We also ate our weight in gomitas (cookies).  I LOVED the talk by Elder Uchtdorf. 

Bueno, I have to go to the terminal. I'll leave here at 1pm and arrive in my area tomorrow at 7am. Chau!!!

Love,

Hermana Davis