Week 3

HELLO!!!! 

Haha mom I laughed when you said "good for you" when you found out I ate chicken! I still can't eat it if it is just plain chicken though. I have to have it in something like enchiladas. OH MY GOSH we had hamburgers and fries for lunch one day this week. I about died because it was so good! I didn't realize how much I missed hamburgers and fries. Stupid In N Out got me addicted! Well for me it was technically a bun, a little bit of thousand island, some tomatoes, and lettuce, but it was so good. And I cut back on nutella! I can only eat it for one meal now hahah. But the food is honestly really good! It´s going to not be as nice when I have to make my own food in Pittsburgh. 

Man you guys don´t ask me very many questions in your emails so it´s hard to think of what to say! Funny story: (well it was really funny when it happened but you guys might think it´s embarrassing.) So at dinner, I was saying that I wanted to drink like 10 of these water bottle things a day, and one of the elders in my district was trying to teach me how to chug the water bottle. He can do it like so fast for a HUGE bottle. Anyways, he was explaining that you have to like open up your throat so it just goes down rather than actually swallowing. So I take the water bottle, put it up to my mouth, did it for about 3 seconds, and then all the sudden I realized that it was really disgusting, and just spit out all the water! But the bottle was still right up next to my mouth, so the water went ALL OVER MY FACE and also all over the table and also on my companion´s arm a little bit (good thing she loves me). HAHAHA it was so funny! My face was literally dripping in water! So I decided not to try it again. The things we do for fun here... HA also another girl in my district tried doing it the day after me, and did the same thing I did so it was hilarious.

Oh so do you want to hear how I was pretty much humbled/condemned by an apostle? So my companion and I had to teach on P-day last week, and we had to end P-day like 45 minutes early because we had to finish preparing. And so then our teacher tells us our schedule for next week, and somehow we are teaching on P-day again! I was like no way!!! It is supposed to switch every week! And I was trying to tell him why it didn´t make sense that we taught on P-day again (you know how stubborn I am and how I always have to make sure people know why stuff doesn´t make sense). So I was telling him why it made no sense and everything, but I was like well I´ll just teach, but I know that we´ll be teaching on P-day probably every other week here because that´s the only way it makes sense with the schedule. So my district is making fun of me that I cared so much. And then last night, Elder Oaks spoke at a devotional in Provo, and it was broadcast to us, and he said in the devotional something about not wanting to work because it´s P-day. My whole district including me just start laughing, and I was totally humbled hahaha. I guess it´s still the Lord´s day, so I just need to teach on it. But it was pretty funny.

Also we sing every hymn here in spanish, and so when we are watching a devotional on the video, we normally get out our spanish hymnbooks and sing in spanish even when the words on the screen are in english. So the opening song was called to serve, and most of the auditorium starts singing it in English, and the Mission President gets up and puts his hands in the air like ¨what are you doing?¨ and says "spanish!" It was really funny ha.

I have to tell you about THE MOST AWESOME DEVOTIONAL EVER that we watched by Elder Holland on Sunday. Well first I´ll talk about the Elder Oaks one. It was really good, and he talked about making the Book of Mormon your best friend, which I thought was really cool. And his wife told us to remember that we are never alone, and that was a really good reminder. And of course the humbling P-day thing. But his talk was really good and he talked about making sure we lose ourselves in the work. 

Okay now on to Elder Holland. Literally I have never watched something so amazing in my whole life. I wish you guys could find it and watch it! So he started out by saying the exact same thing that Elder Scott said in the first devotional we watched: that every good thing that has happened to him came because of his choice to serve a mission. I thought that was just so cool to hear two apostles say that! And then also, he said that his mission meant more to him than anybody else´s mission meant to them. And he told us that every single one of us need to be able to say that after our mission. So that has been going through my head so much this week: Nobody else´s mission meant more to them than mine did to me. And I want to be able to say that so bad when I get home! It is just such a cool thing to remember for my whole mission. Literally so many different things he said I think I will remember for the rest of my life. He talked about how this new age of missionary work with Preach My Gospel and not having memorized lessons is because before they were missing a really important part by jumping straight to the investigators. He said that now the focus is first on converting the missionary, and then the missionary needs to figure out how to convert investigators. It tied in so well with what Elder Bednar said last week about being converted and that if you are converted, you will never fall away. He talked about how we can never say we are completely converted, and it is a life long journey. And then he said that we have to be the best missionaries the world has ever seen and that we are God´s answer for the world and the hope of Israel. It was so cool. The Spírit was so strong. And then at the end, he just hit it home perfectly. I can´t even tell you how many times I have thought about how he ended his talk. He told us a story of Jesus asking Peter if he loved him, and if he loved him then he needed to go feed His sheep. So he asked us in the Jeffery Holland yellingish way: Do you love Christ? Do you love him more than anything? (He asked us like 5 or 6 times). And then he said if you love him, then go feed His sheep, and do it forever! He said there is no turning back. We will never go back to who we used to be. Our mission has started a life long change. He said that we are in this for life, and that if we go back to who we used to be we will break his heart, and we will break God´s heart. I have just thought about that so many times. Do I love Christ more than anything? Is he more important to me than anything else in the world? If yes, than I need to go feed His sheep, and I need to do it forever. It was just the coolest thing ever. I realized that the mission is life long. It´s not 18 months, and my life will never be the same after this, and if it is, then I´m doing something wrong.

Gosh, sorry I know that was long but it was seriously the most amazing thing ever. It was just the best reminder that this is a life long journey. Sharing the gospel doesn´t end after my mission. And also, we were reading in Alma 36 and after alma was converted, he says that he labored without ceasing to bring souls to Christ, and seriously, it fit in with Elder Holland´s talk so well. Once he was converted, he labored without ceasing and that´s exactly  what we have to do. Also we read a scripture in Helama 15:7. It talked about having a change of heart, and I just thought about how much I have changed since I have come out here. I don´t even think you guys would recognize me anymore. My whole outlook has changed. I realize what is important. I want to keep the commandments. All I want to do is tell people about the joy they can have if they read the Book of Mormon and follow it. Gosh seriously I love the Book of Mormon so much. It is like the best book I have ever read. And I started reading it in spanish, and it´s helped my spanish so much. It seriously is just so amazing. This gospel is amazing. The Book of Mormon is incredible. 

Oh one more funny thing. So I had to give a talk this week in church, but I was supposed to say the closing prayer! The zone leader asked who wanted to do it like a few days before, and I said I would. So I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting like oh I´m safe, I´m giving the closing prayer. I won´t have to give my talk. And then he calls my name and I was like WHAT! So i go up there and give my talk in Spanish, and then at the end, he realizes I was supposed to say the closing prayer when he is going to announce it, and kind of has an oh shoot look on his face. And he says: well Hermana Davis, since you already gave a talk, we won´t have you say the closing prayer too. So he had his wife say it. But I was just like he had no idea I was supposed to pray! But hopefully I won´t have to talk again!

Okay love you guys! Ask me more questions maybe. And maybe reply to some of my stories to say if you thought they were funny! Haha just kidding, I apparently can think of plenty of things to say without the questions. I guess I just want you guys to feel like you are here with me :) LOVE YOU MISS YOU HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Cheer on the 49ers for me on Thanksgiving! Tomorrow, weird! OH I ALMOST FORGOT. We got to decorate a Christmas tree for our service project yesterday! It was awesome! They even played some Christmas hymns in the background! I´ll send you a picture of the tree and the wreath we decorated! And i´m also sending a picture of my massive pile of books. it´s crazy! okay hasta luego!

Hermana Davis