Monday November 25th 2013

Maray na aga sa indong gabos!

     It snowed in Eagar. I am now studying 20 percent Tagalog and 80 percent BICOL! What a great week?! How is everything back home? It is always better when there is snow. Well Elder Datu is now home! And Elder Colipapa is here as my new companion. I miss Elder Datu but Elder Colipapa is the MAN! He is from Cebu and I think he speaks better English than I do... not a joke. You'll meet him at Christmas. I have never taught with more power and authority than I have with him- he's an answer to prayers. I am exciting to see what we might be able to accomplish with the Lord's help. We are opening an area right now. We currently have 0 progressing investigators! How exciting is that? We are ready to go preach this Gospel though- to a people who have 2 members ONLY in their entire barangay! We are excited! We may stand on a corner or two and literally PREACH THE WORD! 

      Well this last week was crazy! Transfers are now over and my headache is going away haha. Elder Datu left on Monday and that meant I was the only one on Tuesday (I was temporary companions with the other office Elders) but we had tons of stuff to do and I had no companion haha. But we got all the transfers and all the transfer announcements made and everyone in their area and the new missionaries here and the trainers trained and we drove A TON as well. We've been busy. Now we are planning next transfer- here we go. We have another 10 areas opening again I think. Needless to say we are busy. So I have a goal- by Christmas I will bear my testimony to you guys on Skype in BICOL!!!!!! Remind me that I need to do that when we skype.

      What else happened? Sorry we have been so busy I can't even remember what happened this week.It feels like it was one day and a week went by! Also I have a REALLY bad headache right now and looking at a computer screen is not helping. Sorry if this maybe the shortest letter you get from me in my whole mission. 

     So I have been asked by the young women in the ward to share my testimony of Christ for the ward Christmas party. They told me I needed to send it to my angel mother, so that is what I will do now. I wish I could do it to you in Tagalog because that would just be RIGHT! But I do know that Christ lives. I know he loves us and watches over us. He never leaves us and when we feel we need him the most- I testify that he is there. He stands at the door and knocks- but we are the ones who must open the door and let him in. Everyday we have the choice to open that door or shut it, but no matter how many times we shut it I promise he won't leave. He loves us with a perfect love. Nephi in the Book of Mormon quotes Isaiah and says, "Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." I know that that is true. President Gordon B. Hinckley says that, "There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection."     In this Christmas season I testify that he was born, lived died and lived again. He is our mediator with the father and only through him can we return to our home above. I am a set apart representative of Jesus Christ. I know this church is his true church. I feel part of his love for this people as I teach them. I have felt his love and his forgiveness. I love him. It is amazing to be a missionary- it means so much to me to be a representative of Christ. He lives, he is the head of this church and I know that because he lived again so will we. I can't express exactly what I feel in my heart. Being away from home at Christmas is enjoyable because of him (see last years Christmas peom). I love you and I know he loves you andI invite each one of us to come unto Christ more fully in our lives. He waits with open arms. He does live, in the name of Jesus Christ our TAGAPAGLIGTAS amen. 

      Have a great week and be good. I love you a bushel. Your examples to me are inspiring. I pray for you everyday. I love all. Have a great week. Things are great here. Elder Colipapa is the man and Eric- I am learning a bit of Visayas too pero DILI KO! Love you all. Have a great Thanksgiving- we have more to be thankful for than you know! Try to remember those affected by the typhoon this thanksgiving. I think that is one thing God really dislikes- a unthankful heart.

Elder Davis

Good bye Elder Datu - doubt they will meet again in this life.

New companion and brother - Elder Colipapa!

Out with the old, in with the new but some things never change! RATS:)

Monday 18th November.... Business as usual in the Naga Philippines Mission.

Natalie's baptism

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Natalie's baptism

Maray na aga sa indong gabos! (Bicol)

        How is everyone? I am doing great. We had a great and busy week. A lot is happening right now in the mission. We are right smack dab in the middle of transfers and we are BUSY! But you wouldn't believe who came to church yesterday... ready? I hope you are because I am about to tell ya... THE WHOLE SAN CARLOS FAMILY! This is the family that we have been working with for the past few months. Tatay is BACK and he was the one who hadn't been to church in 10 years. Nanay actually went to church yesterday- the first time in AT LEAST 10 years and all, save one, of their kids were there. Their kids always come. But it was a happy day to see that family all be at church! The kids have been waiting a long time to come to church with their parents. Now you REALLY won't guess who I also saw at church. I walked into sacrament hall and I see something I haven't seen for a very long time- white people. There was a couple from Delta Utah (they sorta know the Blads) who was there visiting his old mission. He served in the Philippines in the 70s and is just now coming back to visit with his wife. Back then they spoke English and I am pretty sure there were only two missions in all of the Philippines! He was in the Manilla Mission serving down here close to Naga City. Anyway it was fun to chat with them. They are from a small little town supported by a power plant- sound familiar? It makes me want to come back and visit my mission before I die. I heard him talking to one of the people he baptized after church and he was saying how happy he was not only to see that she was still in the church but also to see her family in the church- her kids serving missions and too see what happened because of ONE kid serving ONE mission. Anyways church is great! I hope stake conference went well.

          So do you remembering me telling you about the perfect example of member-missionary work? The family that referred us to their niece and then in the first lesson they were the ones that pretty much taught? Anyway this past week she was baptized! It was a great baptism and it was Elder Datu's last one. He will cease to be my companion in about 4 hours... Elder Datu is my Filipino brother. I will miss him. We've been together for seven and a half months- that is a long time. People have children in that amount of time on occasion. Anyway his replacement will be here tomorrow. I am excited but I will miss Elder Datu. Seven and a half months worth of journal has something to do with what Elder Datu and I did on that given day. Anyway that was his last baptism and Natalie is so happy now. It came as no surprise to us that she was baptized. PLEASE give referrals to the missionaries! After her baptism she just kept saying, "I am a new Natalie. I have changed." What she has really done in repented. What a great thing. Maybe when I am an old man and come back to my mission I will see her with her family and with sons who have served missions and all of that. You never know.

        Well, we are stinking busy. The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles and miles to go before I sleep and miles and miles to go before I sleep. This week will be full of training trainers and driving people to areas and DON'T forget we are going to find those who are looking for the truth and we will teach them God's plan for them. That is more exciting than anything in the whole world! I hope all is well. I thank you for your prayers for me and for those affected by the bagyo they need your prayers. I love you all a bushel. I am excited to Skype with you in a months. Be good.

Elder Davis 

Monday November 11th 2013..... alive, well and dry! Much worry for no reason!

Howdy Everybody,

     First of all. I am alive and well! Second of all I am going to refer to the storm you all are worrying about as a"bagyo." Because that is what they call it here and I'm not sure what the exact right name for it is in English. But this Bagyo was HUGE! Now, before you get too worried it was not huge in the Naga Mission. We are very safe. We got rain and a bit of heavy winds but we had very little damage at all! 

     Anyway this week was HECTIC! Monday we had our preparation day and then after work that night we got a call from President saying we needed to go to the mission home, 99%  of the time that is not a good thing. The other 1% means there is dessert. Anyway there was no dessert, we had a problem and we needed to go to Goa that night. So President asked if we would go with him, and by go with him he meant DRIVE HIM haha. He doesn't like driving when it is night and we had a lot to do. Anyway we fixed everything up there and got back into town just a bit after midnight. It was fun though, we just talked about BYU and sports and spiritual things all the way home. But don't worry about the "problem" no one was being disobedient. Anyway that was Monday and Tuesday morning we had MLC. Wednesday we had trainer and new missionary workshops in Naga, and Thursday we had Trainer and New Missionary Workshop in Pamplona. After that workshop we drove to Daet... trying to get everyone to their apartment before the storm, which we did. Then we stayed the night in Daet on Thursday. 

      So Friday we got the orders that we were on Lock-down and were not to leave our apartments. So ALL OF FRIDAY we stayed in Daet in the Zone Leaders apartment. That was a long day... I read so much haha. But the storm wasn't bad at all. Just strong winds and rain but I've seen worse. On Saturday morning we went to Pambuhan- one of the farthest areas in the mission because we hadn't heard if they we okay, they don't have great cell phone service there. Anyway we went there and they were fine. The only thing I saw was a few banana trees get knocked over but banana trees aren't strong at all, they are soft. Anyway everyone here in the NAGA MISSION is safe and sound. There wasn't even any real floods. The Bagyo missed us. 

      Saturday I found out I got bed bugs... yeah. I don't know how many times I was told, "not to let the bed bugs bite." But bite they did. I got it from the Daet Zone Leaders apartment, the mattress I slept on was old, gross, and about 2 inches thick- oh and it has bed bugs. Anyway now I can officially say I have been bed bugged! Saturday we searched for apartments all over Daet zone and got home late that night. Needless to say- we were busy this week. 

       To make it sound worse though, we did loose power and water in the Daet Zone Leaders Apartment. But truly we were safe as safe can be... other than the unseen enemy- the bed bugs. Today we are in Daet again- they won the "Zone Activity" and so we are here- still looking for apartments. I wish you guys could see how pretty it is here. The drive to Daet is beautiful and the beach is beautiful too. The road up here could be on like car commercials for how many turns are on it. There are a few that are like 360 degrees. 

        So now lets talk about bagyos- or typhoons or hurricanes or tropical storm or whatever the correct term is. Bagyos happen all the time in the Philippines. In almost every home I go into they tell he about how it has been flooded 6 to 8 feet in their home. I know MANY people who have lost their homes in bagyos. It is part of life here. I have a companion that about two months ago his grandmothers house got washed away by a bagyo- it happens all the time. This past bagyo, they call it Yolanda here, was big apparently. You guys probably know more about it that we do, we can't watch TV or listen to the radio. Anyway the Tacloban Mission really got hit hard with this one. From what we have heard there are still 80 missionaries in Tacloban that are unaccounted for due to the lack of communication and transportation. I pray everyone is safe. I don't know why God designed The Philippines to be prone to bagyos but that is how it is. As odd as it sounds I see God's love in it. Things get destroyed in Bagyos, but God also made coconuts that grow so that when there are disasters and water is bad you can drink coconut juice that is a miracle as far as health goes and as far as hydration goes.  I admire this maybe more than anything about Filipinos, they are happy no matter what! A bagyo might take their home, but they are ready to build again, and they'll do it with a smile. 

         I don't know how to tell you how I feel about the area that just got hit badly with this Bagyo. If it had been here I don't know what I would have done. I love these people. I love them, I love teaching them, I love who they are. Even though I have never been to Tacloban I love the Filipinos there. I pray for them now. We will be having a fast for them on Tuesday as a mission. I hope and pray they are okay. I have learned volumes in my mission, much more than a language or two, but of all the things I have learned I have learned that we are in a great need to be thankful. Oh I hope we are thankful. I truly can't think of a person on this entire world, not kings, presidents, apostles or anyone who needs to be more thankful for a loving Father in Heaven than I do. And for our savior Jesus Christ. It amazes me how merciful they are too us. And our sufferings are no sign or their lack of love, in fact it might as well be an expression of their love for us. No one suffered more than Christ but I do believe God loved Him. 

        One of the best scriptures we share to people here is found in Helaman 5:12:"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the^arock  of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation ; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm  shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." In Tagalog it reads "BAGYO" rather than "storm." I don't know how many Family Home Evenings I have given using this scripture. We get rocks from very small to very big- too VERY BIG. And we ask the members of the family to try to blow the rocks off the table. Of course they can when they are small but they can't when they are large. Then we talk about the foundation we need to build on, that foundation being Christ. If you like that FHE idea it comes from my mother- that was just one of the many lessons I learned in Family Home Evening as just a small boy that I have used on my mission. 

        I don't know how terrible of a situation some of these people are in that were affected by this storm but I do know that the church is true and that we are built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. That now matter what "Bagyo" comes into our lives, be they real bagyos or just trials, we CANNOT fall if we are built on Christ. Even death is not a fall, but a rising. I thank God for His merciful plan for all of us and the love he shows us everyday. WE ARE SO SHORT ON TIME. I wish I could write more. I have a lot I could say. I wish I had more pictures as well but pictures weren't on the top of the list this week. I love you all so much, a bushel worth in fact. 

       Be good. Stay anchored to the Gospel. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. Thank you for your prayers. We are safe as safe can be here in Naga. Pray for those who were actually affected by the storm. I think this storm, no matter how big it was, was TERRIFIED of coming to the Naga Mission because of my mother'r prayers. No storm is stronger than that! 

Have a great week.

Elder Davis

      

No time for pictures this week although MOM likes this one!

November 4th 2013 and NEW MISSIONARY FROM SHOW LOW AZ TO ARRIVE SOON!

nakuha mo na ba Nay?  (whatever that means)

Howdy! We had a great week. That being said, it is weeks like these that make me REALLY miss be out in the field. We were busy this week, but didn't get to teach much. I love teaching, driving isn't all that fulfilling, teaching people this Gospel is very fulfilling. So it was a great and busy week, but we didn't get to teach a lot. Anyway I am doing great and happy. How are all of you people? So on Tuesday we were on exchanges in Tigaon in Goa Zone and while we were out working I got what Race's mission calls, "The Swift and Mighties." My stomach hurt really bad, but luckily enough we have a van and Elder Dumaicos and I drove home real quick. I made it to the apartment but my stomach was really sick. After about 30 minutes of wondering to what extent I would be using the bathroom I decided we could still work. So we went out and finished work and then we had our little "evaluation" with the Zone Leaders at seven. After the evaluation was over, at about eight we were ready to go home, it's about an hour and a half drive back to Naga. Anyway I was NOT feeling well and so I had Elder Datu give me a blessing- the first one of my whole mission. That's well over a year! Anyway we made it home- I only had to stop once or twice because I thought I was going to throw up. Once we got home I sent straight to bed. That night was one of the worst nights of my life- I don't know how many times I woke up that night throwing up and having some "Swift and Mighties." But luckily it was a quick recovery. Wednesday night I felt good enough to work. Anyway thanks for your guys prayers for me. I feel very blessed to have not been sick very much at all so far in my mission. I had a small fever with it too. Anyways it went about as fast as it came. Also President and Sister Reeder went to the Mission President's Seminar in Manila this past week. I don't enjoy dropping off the mission president at the airport and him saying, "Call me if there is an emergency Elder Davis." But I do enjoy picking them up at the air port and saying, "We didn't have any major emergencies haha." Anyway they said they had a good time and they brought back a food I have not had in a very long time: Krispy Kreme Donuts! That was delicious! So in two weeks we get a new load of missionaries, and Elder Datu goes home! Guess who is coming to the Naga mission on that day? Sister Janae Coons. Now are you saying, "I don't her?" Well I don't know her either. BUT she is from SHOW LOW ARIZONA! Went to Blue Ridge High to be exact, I think. Anyway she is from SHERWOOD Drive in Pinetop! I told president we need to find her a great area and a great trainer haha. So Mom I imagine you are going to be the angel mother you are and see if you know any of her family. If you do get a hold of them tell them she is serving in the Best Mission in all the Land! We love how many missionaries we are getting- the only problem is we have no place to put them haha. We are opening so many new areas and finding so many new apartments that it is not even funny! I don't know how they get it ready in 6 weeks. This week we are super packed! Tomorrow we have Missionary Leadership Council, Wednesday we have Trainer and New Missionary Work Shop, and same thing on Thursday, Friday we will have exchanges in DAET, with a Zone Training, and so much more. Sorry the email is short. We are pretty busy right now. I hope everyone is great back home. I love you all so much! I am thankful for your prayers. Sorry this is short and sorry there is only one picture. I should have taken a picture while I was sick. Oh and Happy Halloween! Halloween here is crazy- EVERYONE goes to the cemetery and does something there. A lot of them just go there a drink. Anyway I hope you had a great Halloween and that Thanksgiving will be awesome and Christmas will be better. Did I mention that the cemeteries here are ABOVE GROUND? Anyway I love you all and sorry this is so short. We're busy. Elder Davis