Monday July 21, 2008

helllloooo!!!! how is everyone? sounds like things are going pretty well
from whati have heard. anne is coming down and what not so that should be
fun. well lets see whats new in the life of elder davis? we have been
working really hard so thats good, but the past few weeks we havent had any
baptisms. but there is one thing that i have learned from all of this.
things start to get really hard before the miracle, you have to push even
harder to get to it. and we are on that path. we found 2 new investigators
last week that are awesome. one, her brothers were baptised and she lives in
our area so it was a reference from some other missionaries but we have only
taught the first lesson and the book of mormon and she said that she
believes it...because it makes sense! thats the first time i have heard that
but its true! we have a baptism date for her in 2 sundays and i think she
will be baptised! so thats really good. then there is this other girl who
found the missionaries in 1998 and then again in 2004 and was never invited
to be baptised! i dont konw what those elders were thinkin cuz she is way
cool and she asked if she could be baptised with out her husband, he is way
cool but doenst want to be baptised becuase his family is cathiloc and all
that kinda stuff...but we are workin with him. but i think she will be
baptised this sunday!!! i am getting way stoked. so lady made this really
good cake...it was like the best cake ever....it was this coconut cake (
they eat alot of coconut down here) but it was soooo good. so i asked her
how to make it and i made it today, but it has to sit in the fridge for a
couple of hours so i have to wait but i will let you know how it is next
week. so today we are going on an adventure!!!! elder leite has to buy some
pants and we are going into brasilia to buy them and guess what they have
there.....BURGER KING!!! so we are going there for lunch!! i am way stoked.
i am going to get the biggest meal ever! i will take some pics and you guys
can see how it goes...so guess what the other night we were walking around
and i saw the brazilian style cat lady. she had like 50 cats i am not
kidding you, it was ridiculous....but it made me laugh. my companion didnt
understand why it was funny..ha haha well other then that things are going
really good here. i mean today i am eating cake and burger king and we have
some baptisms comin up. doenst get better then that. oh so last week i made
the cake cookies...pretty sure we ate them in one sitting so the next day we
went to the store again and bought some more cake mixes and i stayed up a
little later so make some more cookies...ya they were way good. i am just a
cooking machine. ha ha oh so this family asked me what i eat for dinner and
i told them about french toast....they wanted to know how to make it so i
exlpained it to them, not sure if they ever made it, i forgot to ask them
but it proablby wasnt good thats why they didnt say anything to me. all they
now how to cook down here is rice beans and meat...seriously. and you would
think they know what burritos are, but they dont. most people havent even
heard of them. strange i know. well i better be going....OFF TO BURGER KING
I GO!! ya i am way excited if you couldnt tell. well i love you guys tons!
thanks for all your support and your prayers. i hope everyone has a awesome
week!!!

falou!
elder davis

Monday July 14, 2008 hey familia!

hey familia!
hello from brazil! well how are things? sounds like you guys had a good b
day for jake and what not. jake hope you got that card. anyway jill is home
and leaving again and erin is gone again and gezz is anyone staying home
this summer. holy cow. well things are good here, mom wanted me to tell you
a little bit about my comp. seeing how i have had the same comp for three
transfers which is like 4 and a half months, i better know some things about
him. well he lives up north here in brazil, joão pessoa. he is the only
member of the church in his family which is amazing to me. because his story
is really cool. its long so i will shorten it. but he has been catholic for
his whole life and he moved to campinas where john is about 3 years ago, got
converted there and then went on a mission. the people down here are
amazing. i dont think i could do that. he has the biggest sprirt ever, i
promise. he was in the army down here for about a year, and he has been out
in the field for one year and 4 months now. he goes home next march. but
after 4 months we are starting to get along really well. we dont have much
in common but we both love the church and want to serve so thats all we
need. its funny cuz we are away from our families we always say all i have
is you...that sounds really weird now that i wrote it down, but its alot
better in person, its acutally funny in person. ha ha maybe its the way we
say it. he speaks really good engllish and wants to study at byu when he is
done with his miss. i told him to come to the usa and i would take him to a
good brazilian restuarnt. rodigio grill!!! lets see, oh we might do a trade
this week with the zone leaders which could be good i guess....good and bad.
ha ha but ya all is good. we are going to have a family night again tonight
with a family and we invited the whole ward. usaully not very many people
show but its good to get the whole ward together down here. its
different....just the ward and the way they do stuff but its good. so i
bought my self a water melon and ate like the whole thing...i took some pics
so you guys can see...ya its pretty sweet. anyway i am doing great and i
hope everything is going well there at home. oh cool story, so the other day
we did a contact and the guy that took our card threw it on the ground about
50 feet after he left us and this lady found it and picked it up and called
the number and now we are teaching her and it looks really good. she said
she was looking for the right religion and when she saw the pic of jesus
christ on the card she said she felt really good about it and wanted to
call. THE LORD WORKS MIRCILES!!! its amazing how the lord works. i love
this work. the gospel is true and there is nothing on the entire face of
this earth that can make someone more happier then being the member of the
true and only living church of jesus christ. this is the true gospel and it
is such a blessig for me to be here and spread the word, to help create
those eternal families. i love you guys tons, dont forget it. hope
everything is well. thanks again for your support. you guys are the
best!!!! be safe and wear your seat belts ha ha

elder davis

Tuesday July 8, 2008 tudo bom!!!

hellllloooooo fammmmmiiilllyyyy! hello....what is going on with you guys?
well lets see same area same comp, things are great and i have plans today
to go buy some frosted flakes....or surchios down here, they are on sale so
i will be buying alot ha ha. but ya things are good. iadded some new pics so
you can check those out. but lets see...well last night we had a family
night with this family and wow....are they the loudest fmaily i have ever
met. holy cow. everyone talks at the same time and when everyone was talking
the dad started singing a hymn and the top of his lungs....it was not a
house of order...freak. my companion was freaking out, i was just kinda
laughing at the whole thing. but it was fun. so we got a new pres and the
only big rule that he changed was we have to be in our house at night at 9
no later. the last pres said we could be out as late as we wanted if we were
teaching.....i kinda like the new rule, i wont lie. :) i have been pretty
tired latly. but all is good. anyway things are moving along. we were
teaching this little girl the other night she is about 12 or 13 but i think
she loves americans cuz she wouldnt stop looking at me the whole time, so we
are going to baptise her. ha ha well from what i hear this summer has been
completely different. everyone has been gone and what not. sounds ufn. but
guess what...school is around the corner for some of you....wow actually its
just erin...that sounds weird. erin is the only one left to graduate
highschool. wow! this is weird. well i think todays is going to be short cuz
i cant think of anything else to say...ha ha we have just been working hard
and i think this will be the last transfer with elder leite so we both are
trying to work as hard as we can. so some new american elders arrived
and...oh ya sister kevern is here now...jake knows her brothers. we talked
for a bit, she is pretty cool. she is going to be a really good missionary.
but ya some new blood arrived and i wont lie it made me feel alot better
about myself...cuz they are really struggling. it reminds me of me. ha ha
but to see where i am now really helps me out. so it was kinda good to see
someone else struggling really bad. that kinda sounds mean but ya. well time
is wrapping up here...i am way excited for you to get my surprise...its
going to be so sweet! and i am still very bitter towards the post office
down here...they lost me last tape, i dont think i can ever forgive them.
well i hope everyone has a great summer, whats left of it anyway. from what
i here its really hot up there. its actually really nice down here. its like
perfect weather. but that will only last till the rainy season and then say
good bye to clear skys....wow that sounded really lame, i am becoming a
goober! crap! ha ha well love ya guys tons, keep on keeping on......thats
what i always say. ha ha HAPPY 4TH OF JULY AND 24TH OF JULY oh ps i sang the
national athem for elder leite on the 4th of july and then had some
watermelon....its tradition geez. i had to celebrate some how. well time to
go love ya tons!!

elder goober
or
elder davis ( i prefer davis)

Tuesday July 1, 2008

hello family!!! can you believe that we are already in july!! before you
know it, it will be 2009 then 2010...thats generally how things work....9
comes before 10 and so on. anyway things are great here...you want to know
about transferss.....dun dun dun dun..... i am in.....GAMA CENTRO STILL can
you believe it....i can. and my new companion is..... ELDER LEITE
STILL....nothing changed for me. elder leite and me both thought he would be
transfered cuz he has 3 transfers here and this is his fourth. but nope the
lord needs him here with me....there must be a fmaily here that needs to
hear the gospel from us....so i need to get going here so to get out there
and find them! well things are good here though. our district changed up
abit we finally have more then one american! its not just me anymore! but
its not like we speak english anyway. so last transfer was not so good, we
worked hard but we didnt do as well as we wanted to, so this transfer we are
kickin it into high gear and getting things moving along here in good ole
gama. i feel more and more comfortable here everyweek, cuz the lanauge is
getting alot better and i understand alot more. i can actually respond to
people now...its crazy right. i think so. well other then the big transfer
news, everything seems pretty normal here. i finally got the pics workin so
i added some new pics to the site. you can see me in my first all brazilian
wear....sweet uh? ya i know. i had to get a jersey i mean i am in brazil.
come on. and there are some other goodpics on there. some brazilian food
that i ate...called cush cush, i dont konw how to spell it but thats how it
sounds...not to bad. and i cant remember all the pics i added so i wont
explain them all but ya you can check those out. well we got the new
president now....he is ofically in. but i wont have an interview with him
till zone conf. so that will be in like a couple of weeks. well we did a
changed last week with elder j. lima that was difficult, i wont lie, it was
one of those companions that you just love.....because if you dont love him
you are going to kill him. ha ha but all was good. it was only for the week
so not to bad but i will have one more transfer with elder leite! so
ya....one more with my father. oh and i dont really want to let this info
out cuz it is top secret....but....i have gained like 16 pounds...crap. oh
and the weather....its alot better then its sounds like up there. its only
about maybe 80 to 85 down here and thats in the middle of the day, the
nights are cold for the brazilians, they all wear coats, but i love it! its
perfect. the weather is actaully really nice. so i am gratefull for that.
and we are in the dry season right now so i havent seen rain for like a
month which is cool i guess. oh and guess what...i told you last week but
there is a surprise coming for you guys, should be there soon!!! you
exciited cuz i am! well things are great here, i´m safe and e]healthy and
working hard. i love you guys so much. thanks for your support and love, it
really helps me.i am so gratefull for such an awesome fmaily. alot of people
dont have them or they are just not that great, so to have a family that is
so close together is such a blessing for me. i love you guys tons. hope
everyone has a great week and everything is going well. dont forget to help
mom with the yard work everyone!!! and i am being serious ha ha

i will leave you with my favorite quote... in d & c 128 i think
brethen shall we not go on in so great a cause, go forward not backward,
courage brethen, onward, onward to victory!!!!

GO ONWARD EVERYONE!
i love ya tons, have great week!!!

Tuesday June 24, 2008 Hello Family!

hello again! so this last week was pretty good, nohting to big happening. we
had our last zone conf with pres aidukitus which was kinda sad cuz he is an
awesome guy and i really good leader. he knows how to get ya working. so
this next transfer will be with the new pres. so thats going to be cool i
guess. plus it looks like i will be getting a new comp for the next
transfer. plus this week elder leite is doing a trade with some other elders
so this week i will be comps with elder j lima. and then the next week i
will get a new one for the next transfer. so cool cool. anyway so the other
night i had some really good food, wish you guys were here to eat it with me
:) it was this stew thing you put over rice and it was made out of all the
stuff in the middle of the cow, heart lungs liver..ect all the stuff except
the stomach..and i wont lie it was pretty good, i am glad no one told me
what it was till i starting eating it....ha ha but ya it wasnt too bad....oh
and guess what ! i have a suprise for you guys!!! but you wont get it till
next week...maybe it might be 2 weeks but it is on its way and you guys are
going to freak out! ha ha but i wont tell you so that you stress and freak
out about it ha ha. but its good trust me. anyway things are great here, we
are working hard. we have this one investegator that...wow we are not doing
anyting, the lord really did prepare her for us. she works everyday at this
school so we only have 15 a day to teach her so we show up and teach and
then leave...no time for anything else, but she just accepts everything we
say and is reading the book of mormon and praying and everything! the lord
really did prepare her, cuz it feels like we are not doing anything, she
asked to be baptised!! how cool is that. its amazing what the lord can do.
the first time in church she asked if she could have a principles of the
gospel book so she could study and read to come prepared for the next
lesson. members dont even do that!!! its awesome to see her change and
prepare her self for baptism and guess what i get to baptise her! sweet uh?
ya its definitly a miricle! nothing less. well other then the sweet food and
working hard things are good. i am doing great, i might have put on a few
pounds but my pants still fit...ha ha so all is good. its crazy that we are
already in june, almost july! holy cow time just flies by. i am loving it
out here, i miss you guys tons but i wouldnt change it for the world. i cant
think of anything else to put in here....we are just working hard and
enjoying the peanut butter ha ha! oh so i think i already told you guys last
week but i dont rememebr. so i went to subway and wow....it was the best
thing ever! i almost cried and then i didnt, ha ha but ya it was awesome. it
was a good break from rice and beans, ps last week i said i was going to
load some pics but the computer was freakin out and i didnt get a chance to
do it. and this week the same thing, the computer is freakin out so i will
try next week. well everything is great here i am healthly working hard and
building the kingdom of god. oh so we had a member who gave us 4 contacts
that she did in the road one day...guess how old she is...10 years old...the
little girl went up to complete strangers and told them about our church and
then took address and numbners and passed them on to us...freakin cool uh?
ya i thought so. well time to go, so till next week.
i love you guys tons! thanks for all your support and letters! i love em...
ps dont send anything through mission ties to my house, send them to the
mission house. mom make sure everyone knows. well i love you guys. hope
everyone is haveing a awesome summer, cuz i am! stay safe and i will talk to
you next week...erin and jake no fighting whoe gets to mow the lawn ha ha ha


LOVE YA GUYS!


elder davis

MOnday, June 16, 2008 hello again family!

well family, another week down and on to the next. things here are great and
it sounds as though things are still moving there too. so today we went and
played some futeball!!! ya it was awesome, we actully played some futeball
and ping pong...it was fun to acutally do something on pday instead of just
clean shop and study, then work at 6. i took some pics of today and of our
desks after we cleaned them...can you guess which one is mine, pretty sure
you could. its just like me.... anyway there was some stuff that was going
through my mind the past few days and i wanted to write you abou tit. in
this church people have to make sacrifices, thats just how it is, good
things arent easy and thats why its hard for some people to be baptised.
because they are so used to thier church were they arent asked to do
anything expect pay money for there sins and then all is well. our church we
ask them to go to church every sunday and stop drinking coffee which is a
huge thing down here...if you dont drink coffee your not brazilian, serious,
even little 7 , 8 , 9 year old kids drink it. its ridiculuos. oh by the way
i had my first coffee down here last week ha ha the memebers drink this non
caffinanted coffee and they gave me somne and i didnt konw how to give it
back with out being rude cuz coffee is a big deal down here so i drank it
and wow do i hate coffee...anyway back to what i was saying. we ask the
investigators to make sacrifices, maybe small to you but its not for them.
even with the members, they nver do family home evening so we always hold
one eveyrweek and invite all to come. so i got thinking about the whole
family home evening thing and did some studying on it, and its amazing the
promsied blessing that come to the families that hold family night once a
week and fmaily prayer and scrip. study. the blessing are there we just have
to take them. and we try to get the members to realize that. but a big issue
is you cant force kids or parents to do it, people have to want to do it or
the blessings wont come. i have seen some of the families here that inact
these things into there lives and wow it is just a huge difference. now i am
not saying this to make any of you feel bad or anything like that but i tell
you this because i have seen first hand the blessing and how happy families
are when the do these very small things. and it comes down to sacrifce. you
have to sacrifice your time in order to do these things, but the blessings
that come are amazing! i promise families every week that if they do this
the lord will pour blessings out upon them. because he really does. now the
reason i write this whole letter is to challenge you guys to inact this into
your lives. it wont be easy i can promise you that, but i can also promise
you that if you do these simple things that your lives will change
dramaticlly. you will see a difference in everyonces life. i challenge you
to have family prayer and read from the scriptures everyday. even if it is
only for 15 min. one chapter...one verus,.... but everyone has to be willing
to do this, now that the summer is here it might be more difficult but thats
what a sacrifice is. now mom can come down and wake everyone up and make
them come out and listen to her read and what not, but then it is no good.
what mom is going to do...if thats ok mom...ha ha is come down and wake
everyone up and let them know that she is going to start in 5 min. and if
you want to go out and join her you can if you dont want to you dont have,
but i can promise you that everyday will be better. its amazing to me but i
feel like since i have been out here on the mission being so far away from
you guys i have really grown closer to all of you. just throough letters. i
love you guys ton and i am so glad to have such an awesome family. hope all
is well and hope everyone has a good week!!
check out the sweet pics...

ps nothing to big here just workin hard and playin futeball!!!!! love ya
tons! ps erin i am way good ha ha ha

elder davis

Monday June 9, 2008 is it really junho?

hello again family! well whats new and exciting with you....well not sure
cuz i didnt get an email about all that this week, so i guess everything is
good, or you all went on a big trip without me and didnt want to email me
becuase if you did i would be really jealous. well i´m not because guess who
is in brazil, oh thats right, its me! its awesome here, i definitly miss
some things from home that they dont have here but you learn to love the
stuff here. so ya things are great. they had this sale at the grocery store
this week and so i pulled a mom...i stocked up on cereal! ha ha i bought
like 4 boxes. its just frosted flakes but here its called surchious...weird
uh? its made by kellogs and it has tony the tiger on the front so i am
pretty sure its the same thing. plus i got the peanut butter from mom and i
have been putting it on everything. my pancakes, french toast, just bread,
cookies, bananas, apples, cearel, pretty much anything i eat i have been
using the peanut butter, proabably not healthy but its so good! anyway
things have been going good. we might go on splits for the week, my comp
isnt sure yet but because he is the district leader and everything he can
choose when so i think we might go on splits for the week so that will be
cool i think. well we have been working our butts off. and it pays off! the
lord will bless you when you are working hard and praying for miricls. so
from what i hear its hard to find a whole family that is interested and
baptise everyone. and we found one! we are still working with them but
everything seems really promising. they are progressing and everything and
we are hoping to baptise them in like 2 weeks! i am way exited. there is
nothing better when you can bring a whole fmaily into the gospel and great
something eternal! wow that sounds like a long time. but just knowing you
can create an enternal family really makes you want to work that much harder
to bring them into the church. things are good here though. we didnt have a
baptism this last sunday because the 2 that we had didnt show up....kinda
lame. so we were going to play futebol today with some kids from the ward
but that fell through so i am kinda bummed out about that. but i got awhile
to play some futebol down here. so i had to sew my first sew....does that
make sense, it does to me, is that bad. ha ha but anyway i mastered it.
pretty sure i could sew anything, i am that good. well mom thanks again for
the package! i think you can tell how much i loved it. and the usb thing is
working out great. thanks a ton. and to everyone else..... aí! hope everyone
is doing well. can you believe it has already been 4 months. crazy. so at
the ctm my district and i planned to have a district meeting at chilis when
we all get home...cuz everyone lives in utah, and one of them as never been
to chilis cuz he lives in oak city....the milker, elder shipley. anyway just
thought you might like to know, i cant think of anything else to put cuz
nothing is coming to mind. but i am doing great. i´m safe, healthly and
working hard. couldnt ask for more right? well i love you guys tons. we
might have zone conf this week so i am way excited about that. i love zone
conf, its the best, you always get fired up after and plus sister aidukitus
gives out candy, cant beat that! well time to go, still gotta clean the
apartment and what not, pday isnt play day, even though sometimes i wish it
were. well love ya guys tons, hope everyone has a aweseome week! talk to you
guys next week! later!

elder davis

Tuesday June 3, 2008 what up family!

hello again family! wow it seems like so much stuff happens in between our
letters everyweek. well this last week i had the oppurtuniy to go to the
dedication of the curtiba temple which was so freakin cool. its amazing the
spirit that is there with you as you watch it happen miles and miles away.
then on mon i got to go to marina hall in brasilia to hear the
prophet...wow. it was so cool elder nelson and his wife spoke and then the
prophet spoke and wow the spirit was so strong. the prohet spoke on
choices...and how the choices we make determine our destiny. we need to do 4
things to help make those choices that will help us get to that destiny that
we want....we need to seek to listen, seek to learn, seek to labor, and seek
to love. i love it when pres. monson talks, you can feel the love that he
has for each of the millions of members of this church and the sprirt that
he brings with him. its amazing. it was like a spiritual boost for the rest
of the week. it was really cool. anyway next week is zone conf. and its the
last one iwth pres. aidukitus, then we get our new pres. so that will be
good i guess. i love pres aidukitus, he is so awesome. he really motivates
you to work. its awesome. so there is a new elder in our district who went
to olympus high and he konws some of the people i know...i didnt know him,
but knowing the same people kinda creates this bond when you are so far
away. its cool. and i get to see elder buck my ctm comp everynow and then.
its awesome cuz we were really close, so thats always nice. anyway things
are good i did get the package i just havent recieved it yet. it made it to
the office and an elder picked it up for me, its at the setor sul mission
area which is right next to mine so i will get the package toomorrow during
our district meeting...so i am like freakin out....PEANUT BUTTER! i am so
freakin stoked. but ya things are good. i am learing stuff everyday from the
language to just how much the lord will bless you if you work hard and put
all you have into this work. this week has been so good so far. the
dedication of the temple and then the prophet. it has really strenghten my
testimony of the truthfullness of this church! and that we really do have a
living prophet on the earth today, how cool is that! no other church as
that....well i cant think of anything else. i am having a great time serving
and i am so glad i am here. i miss you guys tons, but i am so glad i have
the oppurtuniy to serve. from what mom was telling me it sounds like you
guys are doing good. school is out by now i think and summer begins...its
crazy its starting to get cold here...not for me but all the brazilians wear
like long sleeve shirts and pants and hats and what not. and i am over here
sweating my pants off. you gotta love it! well hope everyone has a
wonderfull week and dont do anything to fun this summer! :)
i love you guys tons, thanks for you love and support. it really helps me
get through those tuff days...which i mean i never have...i´m a davis i mean
come on. ha ha

love ya guys tons!

elder davis