January 27th, 2014

Kumusta po Kamo?

         I can't even describe how much I love my mission. I just got done writing some thank you letters to some people and while I was writing them all I could think about was how much I love my mission. Sometimes I don't know what to write about in these letters, but I hope you all know that I love my mission and that I am making the absolute most of it. There is nothing like being a missionary. It is the best! 

          This past week we had two Zone Conferences and they were great. Elder and Sister Jackson came down from Manilla to join us. They are from Filmore Utah and are great friends with the Blads so I shocked them when I said, you're from Kanash aren't ya? Haha anyway Doctor Jackson is hilarious and we had two really good Zone Conferences. With those two Zone Conferences and a set of exchanges with the Pamplona Zone leaders AND even more stuff (stories to swap with Race stuff) it has been a busy week. Anyway atop of all that we had two really bad news. First, The Campbells are beloved supply couples are going home due to some serious family problems. We are so sad to see them go and even worse is the fact that we have no one to replace them. We are in desperate need of Couple Missionaries here. If you know of anyone who wants to serve we can get them assigned in Naga. I am not kidding. And second, a great Elder of ours, Elder Watson from Utah has to go home for some medical reasons. He has an honorable medical release. When I found out that he had to go home it about made my throw up. He is a great young Elder with tons of potential and loves missionary work. He won't be able to be reassigned back into Naga. That poor kid. I am so thankful for my health. That is such a blessing. I don't think I could do what he is doing. It would break my heart to leave early. Anyways bad news, but please anyone that wants to come serve a couple mission- please come and serve! 

         Did you know that two of the most amazing missionaries in the whole world serve in the Naga Mission. Well that is just a fact. MythBusters tested it and it was confirmed, they are two of the most amazing missionaries ever. One is a sister from Australia and the other is an elder from New Zealand. Both of them have pretty similar stories that I ill share with you. This is one good thing about being in the office, you get to know everyone. Anyway both of these missionaries are converts of less than 3 years and both of them when they were baptized were kicked out of their house by their family. One of them told me that their family told them that they were no longer Christian because they were baptized into the "Mormon" church, or if we call it by its real name, The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints. Anyway they were kicked out and not supported by their family. Both of them have such a simple but powerful testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were introduced to the Gospel by friends and then were taught by the missionaries. They read the Book of Mormon and they prayed with faith and not surprisingly they were answered that it was true. That answer from God came so powerfully that even though their families disowned them they couldn't deny it. The Elder's family is actually warming up a little bit, just for your information. They said that they would have the missionaries over for dinner. I would love to be that missionary teaching his family ANYWAY, they are awesome. They serve so faithfully and so powerfully. The Sister's father is in a coma and they just sacrifice so much just to serve. They paid for their own missions and they are just inspiring to me. I was able to go on exchanges with this elder this past week and it was awesome. Anyway, the best missionaries in the whole world, other than me, serve in the Naga Mission. If you don't believe me just ask anyone that has ever served here haha. Sorry kuya, Guatemala can be pangalawa! 

           Now, I dropped my cell phone in a hole... a very small, very precarious hole. A hole that, even if one was trying to drop a phone in, would still struggle. It was at night, in the drainage off the main street of Naga and I had to literally lay down/push-up style position in the gutter to surrender my whole arm into this hole of blackness, moistness, ratness and ihiness I am just sure of it. It was not a great experience. It didn't help it that the other missionaries were just laughing and taking pictures haha. What makes it worse is I was just trying to help someone and my phone dropped into that pit of despair. Anyway I got it, hand got a little wet with something, and the Sister Missionaries refuse to shake my hand but anyway it made for a good journal entry haha. KAWAWA! 

               Well, time is about up. Before I go I would just like to be a bit preachy, sorry I am a missionary, it is what I do. But I would like to testify of obedience and how important that is in our lives. Obeying rules, or commandments, does not restrain us in any way. It is what sets us free. President Packard says, "We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see." Obedience is always a good idea. It is protective and blessing giving. God does nothing but it be for the benefit of the the world. He gives no commandment but it be for the benefit of man as well. Anyway, President Reeder just always says, be better today than you were yesterday and better tomorrow than you were today. Love you all. Thank you for your prayers and love. I wish I could tell you more things that happened this week. We met some awesome people and taught some great lessons and life is good. I love my mission!

Elder Davis

Nice looking group!

New church in Pasacoa!

Where's my phone?

It's down there somewhere!

Rat hole? Sewer hole? Snake hole?

January 20, 2014

Kumusta Kayong Lahat?

       This has been a great past week. We had three Zone Conferences in our three farthest zones: Iriga, Goa and Daet! It was great. We gave a workshop on how to ask inspired questions and it was fun. I hope we were effective. In what we do we don't get a ton of time teaching investigators so I hope when we teach other missionaries we teach them well so that they can teach investigators better. Anyway it was good. This next week we have two more- Oh and Doctor Jackson and Sister Jackson will be coming down from Manilla too. Doctor Jackson is an old friend of Uncle Paul Blad so that should be fun to meet him. He is hilarious in texts, I am excited to meet him in person. He will join us in our zone conferences. Anyway, I only have 3 weeks before I get transferred to my new and safe to say LAST AREA! I gave you a clue at Skype where I thought I was going... well not to shock you (though I was shocked) that's not where I am going anymore. Sorry Mom, I know you were excited. Anyway I am excited for the vision President has for the area I will be assigned to. It is going to be a great way to FINISH my mission.

       Well our golden investigator family have gone to Manilla for the next two weeks! BUMMER! They are looking for work and then they will come back with the plan for what they will do the rest of their lives. They made SURE to pack their Book of Mormons and to keep praying. We and They about cried when they were leaving! They gave me a cool hat, LBC! haha They knew I liked it. Anyway they are gone now and it is a bummer. I pray I will be able to see and teach them again before I am transferred. They are so great!

        So the past 10 days it gets as "cold" as "cold" gets in Bicol haha. And to tell you the truth... I have actually shivered TWICE! I haven't shivered in 2 years hahaha! It is like 70 degrees outside and I shivered haha... everyone here thought their feet were going to fall off they were so cold hahaha. The stores started selling jackets haha, I haven't ever seen that haha. Anyway I have never enjoyed the weather more haha hindi na ako pinapawisan!

        Also shout out to all those who love PASACAO! That is for all of you who don't know where or what that is. They have a new Branch President, Elder Vogelsberga and I love this family. They were a bit Less Active when we where there and we taught them about every week. But now Brother Relos is the new branch president. The good thing about that is that their former branch president, love him to death, wasn't from Pasacao. So it is good that they have a Branch President in Pasacao mismo! And for those of you who don't care about Pasacao, shame on you.

     Anyway one of the spiritual highlights this week was in Daet. We had just finished the Daet Zone Conference and President had to give a Baptismal Interview in a place called Pambuhan. It is very very far away! It is in the middle of nowhere but the church is very strong there. It got started as a group in 2001 with 6 members! Just one family basically and since them they have over 80 with GREAT attendance and with tons of missionaries. It is a great little place right on the ocean.The road to it is a lot like the road to Grandpa's house, just muddy muddy. Anyway the pictures I sent are from there. I've been there before but this time I really go to chat with the members there and get to know them. I met the Pioneers of Pambuhan. They are so proud of their little church in their little town. They are so established in the Gospel. Those little kids you see in the pictures with me can say every single 13 Articles of Faith IN ENGLISH! Without missing a word and not one of them is over 9 years old! TAKE THAT PRIMARY LEADERS EVERYWHERE haha! I took a video of it and will show you when I get home. Sister Reeder about started crying when we heard them recite it... I did cry haha just kidding.I hope you like them doing the "Elder Davis Power Fist" as well. I love that picture. You should hear those little kids sing, "I am a child of God." Mom you would never be able to stop crying. They know that they are little children of God, and that He love them. And He does! I love that doctrine, we are children of God!

      Also side note... when I was in my first area in Naga we had like 72 missionaries in just the Naga Boundaries (not including Legaspi) and now we are close to hitting 230. I have been an assistant in almost all of the time of that growth haha. It has been crazy!  How awesome is that? Can you say, "Hastening the Work?"

     One more thing you might find interesting. Well I hope you find it interesting because I can't think of anything else to share with you haha. Everyday, and I mean everyday, I write "Earn It" on the top of my day in my daily planner. You can check all of them when I get home if you want to. When I left I asked Grandpa what his advise for me was and the last thing he told me before saying, "Give em hell" which I correctly interpreted to meaning heaven, was, "Chantzy, everyday, EARN IT!" So everyday I have tried to "Earn It!" That means a whole lot to me. It means I am obedient, it means I am diligent, it means that I not only pray for help but that after I get off my knees I get on my feet and get to work. The thought OFTEN crosses my mind in the course of a day, "What would Grandpa Sherwood expect me to do in a situation like this?" Most of the time the answer comes, "serve." Anyway I could talk for an hour about my Grandpa's "Earn It!' and my Mom's "ERED" (every rule every day). But I will leave that for another day. BASTA I love my mission so so much! I told Sister Reeder this past week I don't know they are going to force me onto the plane.

        Last night I was at my favorite members house ever! They fed us Sunday Dinner and we taught our Recent Convert there and afterward we talked about how I get transferred soon. First of all, when I go into their house I say, in English, "Mom, Dad, I'm home!" haha And they truly do feel like family. But no one replaces you Mom and Dad of course. Anyway they asked me if I would ever be able to come back and visit them and I just said, "I hope and pray I can." They joked and said, "Write on the wall that you will come visit and then sign under it." Haha they are funny. I hope that in my life I will be able to come back to Naga though. I have been in this area for 9 months! It is like I live here hahaha.

        Anyway I love you all. Stay strong in the faith. I am doing great. Thank you for your prayers. I pray for you many times a day. Tell the Sherwood cousins that I love them and miss them and are praying for them. It is a sad thing about Cambo! There are prayers from The Philippines for them. So much has happened since I have left, it is crazy! Love you all a bushel!
Elder Davis
       

Monday 13th January 2014

Kumusta!

         I had a dream last night that there were 3 old Filipina Nanays talking trash about me on an airplane and I could here them. (The dream was in Tagalog) and I just sat there and listened for a while and then interrupted them with some Tagalog haha it was classic. Dreaming in Tagalog is the best. 

         If I can only tell you what has happened at what I have done this week. I have been from coast to coast of this mission this week. We have been so so so busy. We sat down for Sacrament yesterday in our ward and I was looking at my planner and noticed that we had taught 1 lesson that whole week up to that point... so yeah we've been busy. It is hard to feel successful when you have taught one lesson and it is Sunday haha. But we taught 3 that night and that made me feel better. Anyway, these are stories I will share once I get home. I hope everyone is going well at home. 

         Well, now having said all the stuff that happened this week that I can't tell you about let me tell you about the best part of my week. Unsurprisingly it came in that 1 lesson we were able to teach before Sunday. We had just got home from a far zone and due... things, we didn't have lunch that day and when we got home we had the choice of dinner or going to teach this lesson- I am so glad we chose the latter. We went to their home and taught them the long awaited lesson about BAPTISM! We had left them to read 2nd Nephi 31 and to pray about it for this lesson. It was one of, if not the most, spiritual lessons I have ever participated in in my entire life. 

         We had great, fun, appropriate conversation before the lesson and it felt like being with family. After we chatted for a bit, we prayed, and everything in the room changed. It was an environment of learning and of the spirit. We read with them from the Book of Mormon and taught them about Baptism. What is the correct form of baptism? Why is it important? What is being born of the water AND of the spirit? How did the Apostles baptize by water and the spirit in the times of the New Testament? Who has authority from God to baptize and how did they get that authority? How old should we be when we are baptized? And more... It was an amazing lesson. 

         I asked them how they have felt as they have read in the Book of Mormon, specifically in chapter 31. Sister replied, "I read chapter 31, and then I read 32 and then 33. It was beautiful. I learned a lot and I felt so good while reading. I love verse 3 of chapter 32 that says, "Feast upon the words of Christ, for the words of Christ will tell you all things that ye should do." I ABOUT FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR AT THAT POINT! Every time we teach, or plan or even just talk about this family I get my breath taken away I get so excited. Not expecting a better answer I asked Brother how his reading was. He basically said, "I know it is true. I want to be baptized- and then looked at his wife." She also said she was ready. She told us that, "As I have been reading and praying and wanting to know if all you are sharing is true I am amazed at how my prayers keep getting answered. God keeps answering my prayers." Then she said how she is so happy that God "sent us to their home." She told us that "Brother loves watching movies at night, but now all he does is read The Book of Mormon." She said, "I used to be the one dragging him to church, now he is the one encouraging me to go." It is amazing, but not surprising, what happens when someone who truly wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true, reads and prays in faith to know of its truthfulness. The Book of Mormon is changing their lives, and it has and still is changing my life. 

          Now after having said they you would say, "they are too good to be true." Well, you're a bit right. They are leaving on Friday to go to Manilla for work. We gave them a baptismal date for Feb 8th and Brother just keeps telling us that, "That is first on his schedule" and he really wants to come back so he can be baptized but it will be hard for them to be baptized by that date with them going to Manilla. They also may move there for good. I am hoping that the, "Words of Christ will tell them all things that they should do." Anyway, you can see why I am excited to go out into the field and TEACH ALL DAY LONG!

         Well, it is so sad to hear about what happened back home. My heart goes out to the Udall Family. I hope they know that there are prayers being said here in the Philippines for them. It is heart breaking. I am thankful for a mapagmahal na ama na nasa langit (A loving father in heaven.) I am thankful that even though NOT ONE of us is perfect, Christ is. And he performed a perfect atonement for us all. God has a perfect, and merciful plan for his children he loves so well, and our life here on this earth is only a SMALL part of that plan. I know that God loves us and he watches us and takes care of us. It says in the Book of Mormon that "He doeth nothing but it be for the benefit of the world." Well I love you Udall Family and I pray for you. Thank you for all you have done for me in my upbringing. 

       Thanks for everyone's prayers for me. I love you all a bushel and I hope that you are safe and sound! Keep praying, and reading and going to church. I love you all. I love my mission. Obedience brings happiness. 

Elder Davis

   

This is called Bicol Express..Pork with spicy peppers, sooooo good, rice and a weird salty egg. To be eaten with hands.

I love the Benevidos family and the newest addition.

HAHA Chokepoint? Check point!

Send some moisture our way!

Monday January 6th 2014

Well Howdy! And Happy New Year!

       Happy New Year. I hope everyone's New Year has been "fine and dandy" to use Mom's words.This week has been awesome. It was the first week of the transfer and we have already had 2 exchanges with Zone Leaders. This is my last transfer in the office and this is also my busiest! I am so excited! Mostly I am excited to get out into my next and assuming last area!! But I am not excited to leave my current area- I have been here for forever and I love the people here- especially the investigators and we have some amazing ones right now! I told President he should just move the assistants area somewhere else and then I can finish my mission in this area haha. But I have learned on my mission that it is not WHERE you serve it is HOW you serve, someone said that last General Conference. ANywho, we had a GREAT WEEK! 

        This past week we had transfers and it was MAGULO but also very fun. Then we had trainer's training and our new batch of 21 brand new missionaries got here! We opened 7 areas this transfer- that is hard to do. Anyway I love seeing new missionaries and their excitement. I love training trainers too! I hope that I will be a trainer being trained in a transfer or two! But we got them all trained and all out in their areas and everyone is ready for the new transfer/areas/YEAR! It is the most exciting time to be a missionary ever! 

        Yesterday was the best Fast and Testimony meeting I have ever heard in my whole mission. It was amazing and perfect for our investigators! The meeting started and we were heart-broken that our investigators didn't come.. then they showed up in the opening hymn! I felt like flying around the chapel I was so excited! Even those that bore their testimonies in our ward talked about how happy they were when our investigators came in the door. Anyway, person after person when to the pulpit and bore powerful testimony! Almost all of them where in Bicol and I understood probably 99 percent. If they are talking about Gospel stuff I get about everything. But one of our investigators isn't from Bicol and I don't know how much he understood but I do know that he felt the spirit as they testified. We went to them after church and they couldn't quit talking about church and the testimonies they heard! 

      The brother said that he has accepted everything we have taught and is ready for baptism. His wife is on the other hand is just as awesome but hasn't accepted baptism yet. She is getting closer and closer by the day though. You should see their faith growing! I have never been a part of more powerful lessons than the lessons to them. We bring a recent convert of the sisters with us and he is just a living testimony. It is amazing. PEOPLE- missionaries can only do so much- we need members when we teach to truly help investigators. Offer your home as a place to teach and invite everyone you know to learn more about the Gospel. If you are scared about offending them I promise that it will be far more offensive in the next life if you haven't shared this with them rather than if you do. Anyway they are awesome. SO PREPARED BY THE LORD! I wish I had a picture to send you of them, but I don't. 

         The picture I sent you with me and the guy doing the "power fist" is President Lopez! He is one of my favorite people I have met on my mission. He works for the church in like the construction part of chapels and what not and when I was assigned in Ocampo they came and painted our apartment. When he was there we started talking about the Gospel and how blessed we all are. (We made pork adobo and where eating it while having this conversation.) He started talking about how much he loves the movie, "Treasures in Heaven: The John Tanner Story" and my companion told him that I am a distant descendant of him. He started crying and saying how great John Tanner is. He asked me if I have ever, "begged for bread." I told him no, that we have been very blessed as a family. Anyway I could go on but since that day me and President Lopez have been great friends. And he always feeds me saying, "John Tanner's descendants can't go hungry." This past week I had exchanges with the Zone Leaders and they live in their area so we by and of course they fed us and I took a picture with President Lopez. I don't know how I will ever leave these people- but seeing them in the next life will be amazingly happy! 

          I wish you guys could be here and experience all that I experience everyday. I wish you could be in our lessons or just be a fly on the wall, or to be more realistic, a really big spider on the wall. I wish you could see how amazing these people are. I love old Nanays! The little kids are adorable and the Tatays are classic! I love these people and I love this Gospel and I know how much it helps them in life. They need in now and forever, and so do I. I have no idea how I am ever going to be able to leave them... it makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. But for now I just don't want to waste time! I love you all and I miss you. But I will see you when I see you, as for now I will enjoy my pig brain soup and beautiful people. Very often I teach people who have very close to nothing a message that is priceless. I hope we are thankful! Happy New Year! 2014!

Elder Davis 

      

"old school pump"

President Lopez. He is a president of a branch here in Naga stake. But he works in like constructing chapels and things for the church and I have worked with him before. He loves me because he found out we are related to John Tanner. He always feeds me because he says it isn't right for John Tanner's decendants to "go without bread."

Delicious pig brain soup.... Log Log

Smiling pig, smiling Elder.

Investigators and Elder Davis