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