boa tarde! September 8, 2008

so how is everyone? hope all is well up there in zion. first ihave to start off with a little review. does anyone remember what i wrote last week, i hope so. so who took my challenge.....i got 2 emails this week from sibling who wanted in.....i am still waiting on the rest of you. for those of you who did, and are reading at least 5 pages a day, you should be around page 35 or at least close. well i hope that everyone who didnt start with me last week will start this week. there is one thing that i am come to love.....that is the scriptures. you really can find any answer in them. everytime i read them, i always feel the spirit and my day is always better. i am so gratefull for that oppurtunity that i have everyday to sit down and read from the scriptures and study the gospel, i have learned so much. i promise you all that if you start reading the scriptures everyday, that any difficulty that you are having will seem smaller and that everyday will be better. the gospel is amazing, it was really hard to realize that being home and dealing with all the worldly things, but being here and having the oppurtunity to put every hour of the day to serving the lord and his children has really opened up my understanding of the gospel. i have no doubt that this, is the true church. i love you guys tons and i am so gratefull to have my whole family in the church. both of my companions are the only members of their family in the church. i cant imagen, thats gotta be difficult. but anyway about the scriptues, you guys can email how your doing and where you are and experiences your having...i like. so anyway on to other things, i know everyone has been waiting to get a tape from me and i have sent 2 and 2 have been lost...so we are 0 for 2 right now but the 3rd time is the charm. i will try and get another one home in the next month or so...so dont be waiting around for it but one just might show up. haha who knows maybe the other ones might just make it to the end. their are fighters i know it. well i am still kickin it here in gama, transfers are coming up so i think this could be the last one here in gama. but its has been fun, the members here are way nice and i really like my bishop, he is a good guy. so i have been making a lot of cookies latly, mainly oatmeal, and i have been giving them to members and investigators and what not, its weird but no one here knows what a homemade cookie is, they only have store bought, and they arent the best, good but not the best, i really think i could make some money selling cookies if i wasnt on the mission. haha maybe i will open up bens world of cookies after the miss or something. ha ha ya proably not but good name right? i like it. so kari was critizing me on my awesome missionary humor...k i know its lame....i will get help when i get home, but for now....this is how its going to be. anyway cant think of to much else to say, nothing to new going on here, just workin away here in good old gama. i have been talking a little bit of english with my comp, but its really hard to understand him and most of the time i think he says something completly different then what he actually said, so ya good times with that. he is a way cool guy though. he definitly liked the cookies though and wanted to know how to make them. oh and i had some members asking me to come to there house and show them how to make them...ya everyone loves your cookies mom! we are having a cookie/family home evening tomorrow where i will be making lots of cookies....its a cookie feista!!! well i know there is something that i wanted to tell you guys but i cant rememeber and i forgot to write it down so i guess we will both be wondering what it was....forever and ever and ever. anyway love you guys tons, hope everyone has a great week! until next monday, which i am pretty sure is right around the corner. LOVE YA GUYS!
elder davis

TODO BEM SEPTEMER 2, 2008

boa tarde todo mundo! como voces estão? eu estou muito bom. meu novo comp. esta muito legal, e coisas aqui está muito bom. ok thats enough of that. has cool as that is, you guys dont understand and i write alot faster in english. so anyway how goes things there in ZION! everything has been cruizing along here in gama centro. we have been workin our butts off, but its good cuz i dont really need my butt anyway....hha ha missionary humor ( not really funny) ha ha so i saw something really strange the other day... we were at lunch and the members we were eating with reminded me of aunt janes family, there personalities were almost idenitical, it was fun i was laughing almost the whole time, and i think they just thought the american was a bit off his rocker but oh well. but the whole family did something really weird, they had rice and beans and some other stuff that was normal but they all put bananas in their rice and beans...it was really weird, and they kept giving me banans to do the same but i was just like..no thanks i will eat it seperate. ha ha ya strange. well another month went by and we are already in sept. i really dont know where aug. went but thats just how things go here, you never have enough time to do what you need to do in a week. so guess what i have another challenge for everyone....and this time i will be checking up on it weekly....guess what it is...yep you guessed it ( or maybe you didnt) we are going to start reading the scriptures together. prophets have promised us that if you read the scriptueres daily there will come into your life a new spiritual strength. i have found this to be true in my life and the lives of our investigators. so tomorrow we are going to start in first nephi if you are already reading you can continue where you are, just end up there at the end of your reading, but if you dont mind, just start at the first. what we are going to do is everyweek i will be checking up on where everyone is and if you are on track cuz the goal is to read the whole book of mormon before the end of the year, which means at least 5 pages a day. thats really not that much, so every week i will be checking up on where you are, what i want you guys to do is to send me letters or emails everyweek telling me of a spiritual experience that you had with the scriptures. i will do the same for you guys. i know that if you do this the lord with bless you. and your days will be so much better. i have a testimony of this, since i have been on the mission you study 2 hours a day and i always read from the book of moron, and i know the lord as blessed me so much and i am so gratefull for that. anytime i am struggleing or whatever, the scriptures are always a source of strenghten and i know they will be for you too. i dont know who my mom forwards this too but whoever ends up reading this i challenge you too, to read the book of mormon before the end of the year. so starting tomorrow 5 pages a day....dont forget. :) well anyway things here are going well, dont have any new pics this week so you´ll have to wait on those. but things have been good here, me and my companion are going to try and make some chocolate chip cookies today...so we will see how that goes. its been 4 transfers here so i will probably be leaving gama here in a few weeks. maybe. the other day i was talking with someone and wasnt really thinking, just talking....after the conversaion i realized what happened. the lord really does answer prayers, just in his time. you have to been patient and wait for his answer. i love you guys tons. hope everyone is haveing a great week and i hope you are all excited for the snow to start here in a few months....cuz i wont lie, i am jealous! :) i have been cookin down here and nowi have the sweetest lookin tan line you have ever seen. i will proably wear a white shirt and tie when i get home, so i dont show the lines! ha ha jk well time to be on my way. i love ya guys tons. ps dont forget we are starting our reading tomorrow, and i am talking to everyone here...jill jake erin meg kari nick mom anne (and family) dad....and for whoever else recieves this email. well love ya guys tons!! HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT WEEK!
TCHAUZÃO!
elder davis

hello to you and to you and to you AUGUST 25, 2008

hello again family!!! boa tarde! entaó eu espero que todo mudno esta muito
bom e todos coisas são boas. ok so thats enough of that....i can speak but i
feel special ed when i write, its takes me too long. ha ha well i hope
everyone is doing well. it sounds like some of you had a very fun filled
weekend. i myself,have had some good times...but not really. nothiing to big
as been goin down...here in GAMA. after awhile you start to get the
crazys...if there is such a thing. gama is good but i start to see people
that you taught and didnt like you, or people that you taught and really
really didnt like you, or people that just dont want you in there house
anymore. ha ha its interesting to find them in the streets and go talk to
them... they really like it. but hey i just want to help them out. but ya
things are great, the new comp is a clean freak. i know you would like that
mom, today we cleaned the house like any other pday but man did we
clean....everything is spick and span...i kept saying to my self, geez this
is the way mom would clean. ha ha so yes our house is very clean. and i am
going to make some cookies again today for some of our investagators. the
cake cookies, they are cheap and everyone loves them so bonus 2! (its ok
that you dont understand that) well well well what else can i tell you about
my experince here in gama. its alot different here, the houses are small and
right next to each other. and everyone has a gate with bars and everything
so somthimes i think geez...its like a prison, no wonder the people are
cranky. but seriously though its sometime depressing. haha so we have been
walking all over gama oeste...teaching anybody that will recieve us, you can
always tell the difference between the people that want to receive you and
the people that do it just because they do it. ha ha i will say one thing
though, i love the members here, they are so great. they always want to help
you out and most of them are converts so they already know how things work
with the missionarys and stuff so they are pretty good at helping us where
we need it. my new comp as been switchingthings up alot latly but to be
honest i really like the change its nice to be doing somthing different
after 4 and a half months of the same thing. so when i got that maple....ya
we had pancakes right away...first thing we did! ya they were awesome
possums! k i really sound like a nerdy missionary......crap! ha ha so we had
zone conference last week and wow. i can tell you for sure that i know that
pres. pizzirani was called of god to further the work here in brasilia. he
really is a very inspiring guy. he knows how to get a going. i wont lie his
wife is a little weird, but sweet and definitly wants to make sure that all
the missionaries are healthy. and yes if you were wondering i am healthy, i
even eat my lettuce at lunch.... i am working on the tomatoes but ya those i
am still haveing a hard time with....not likin those yet.....so did i tell
you i busted out a new shirt at my 6 month mark, not sure i shared that with
the group yet. its true, i went on ya splurge...its was pretty bad, but i
have a new shirt! its crazy how fast time flies here. i really still feel
like i just left the ctm and now its already been 6 months, creeping up on
7. before you know it, it will be 2009 and then bam! i´ll be home. well i
dont have any cool stories for ya this week, i will see what i can do next
week to make things a bit more spicyier...ha ha hope everyone is doing well,
i love ya guys tons...thanks again for all the letters and what not. they
mean alot to me. I LOVE YA GUYS!
até mais
elder davis

boa tarde! AUGUST 18, 2008

hello!! how is everyone?! well i am rockin things here in gama centro. as
you know i got a new comp...did you know, well if you didnt you know now.
his name is elder nunes, and he donest speak english so it has been only
portuguese for the last week now. well i think i have been slacking on the
picture thing the past few weeks, cuz the computers that i have been getting
have be really really high tech.... but this week its working so there
should be some new pics on there that you guys can look at. well about my
comp. he is from curatiba, in the south and he lived with his aunt before
the mission. the only people that are in the church from his family, are him
and is brother which is 15 i think. he is way cool though, he doesnt speak
any enlgish, alittle, i have been helping him learn so thats kinda cool.
but mostly its been portuguese which has really helped me out. and the last
week was his first here in the area so he didnt know anything....wow it was
way different. because he doesnt know anything i had to be the senior for a
week so kinda show him around and introduce him to everyone....it was hard
but really good at the same time. by the end of the week i was pretty
exhustated. but no things are going good here, he kinda has been changing
some things up from what elder leite was doing, so thats kinda weird. but
thats how it is right, everyone has there own way. we moved the beds around
so we dont have bunk beds anymore, which i am glad about cuz i wasnt a fan
of the top. so the other night we were at this members house asking if we
could do a family home evening there and i cant explian it....its impossible
but the members name is messias and he really is like dad in almost everyway
except he speaks portuguse....and i mean that in the very best way dad....i
was at his house and i just couldnt help but laugh and no one knew why and i
couldnt explain it to them either...but dad i found your long lost twin! he
even has grandpa davis´ ears....hahaha thats all i can say. well things are
going great, we have been working with the same girls i thinki wrote about
in my last email...so nothing to new. i have been getting everyones letters
and it sounds like everyone is doing great...jill i moving!!!! holy cow and
jake is workin...school, no school... and erin is living the teenagers
life.... megan is spoiling her self...jeaallloouusss! anne and the gang (
wow that sounded like dad....love ya dad :)..) are doing great...traveling
the states to visit family. dad is doing his thing, and mom is still
planning the suitcase...ha ha. well things are great here in brazil, the
weather is still hot and dry and the rainy season isnt supposed to start
till oct. so i still have a few months.
there is one thing that i did learn this week that really helped my
testimony to grow. after getting the new comp and things kinda mixed up and
having to take over the senior postion for a week, there is one thing that i
am very gratefull for. the power of prayer. when your away from family and
you need help, the lord is always there. everytime i needed some extra
strengh to keep going, or some help on where i needed to go or what so
say...he was there. and when i knew that i needed some more help, i knew i
was being strenghen by all of your prayers. you guys really dont know how
much it means to me to have all of you behind me, supporting me and praying
for me. both of my last 2 comps have been the only members of the church in
there family expect the brother of my comp now, but still i dont think i
could do that. it would be so hard to leave my family and not have them
behind me supporting me. just knowing that you guys are behind me and that
you are praying for me, makes things just that much better for me, it really
does strengthen me. i want you guys to know that i love you all so much and
i am sl grateful for this gospel and that through jesus christ we all have
the oppurtunity to live together for ever! what a great blessing that is!
there isnt any greater. and to know that all of my family is in the church
and that i will be able to live with them forever is such strength to me. i
want you guys to know that i know with out a shadow of a doubt that this is
the true church, that chirst lives and that through him and his sacrifice we
can live together forever. nothing means more to me in this life then you
guys. stay close to the savior and turn to him in all of lifes difficulties,
he is there waiting at the door, all we have to do is let him in. i love you
guys so much, i hope everyone has a great week! i heard abou the spot you
set for me at dinner in honor of the cinnamon-less french toast...ha ha love
you too.
ate´ proximo semana!!!

tchauzão!

elder davis

mudancas!!! AUGUST 11, 2008

heeeelllooooo!!!! so whats up? well the big news this week is transfers came and i am........staying here in gama centro!!! but i am getting a new comp. elder nunes! my last comp elder leite will go train another american somewhere else. well thats the big news of the week. oh and of coarse, we had a baptism yesterday....woot woot! we went quite some time with out one but we finally pulled one off. we baptised a father and a daughter, the dad is dating a member of our church and i think they will get married! which is awesome!! but thats the big news this week. i will put some pics up of the baptism. but other then that, nothing to big going on here. this will be my fourth transfer here in gama centro, so when its over i will have spent 6 months here!! thats a long time. the members here are way cool and i love the area, but when you stay so long in one area, after awhile you start to get sick of it and ya i am at that point. but at least i will be getting a new comp tonight and that will be a good change. i dont know anything about my new comp just yet so you will have to wait untill next week. but can you believe that its already august and in no time it will be sept. ya i dont konw about you guys but time is flying by here. erin will be back in school soon and sounds like everyone else is just working hard. ok so i have been trying to get the computer to work but it wont read my card reader..some work and some dont so i will try and get the pics on there next week. sorry. well today we have been kind rushed cuz we have to be in the chapel in aza norte at 5 oclock for the transfers. so i dont have to much time today. oh but the other day was my 6 month mark!! ya baby! so i decided to celebrate and whip out one of the white shirts that i was saving! so ya i have a new white shirt( thanks mom). well things are going well here, we are working with some people this week to baptise this coming sunday. we had this young boy that we were going to baptise this week, and everything was working out, his mom even gave permission and everything. but friday alot of things happened and she told us not to talk to her son anymore....some people were saying alot of bad stuff about our church to her. its sad that, this kinda of thing happens. which is happens quite often, but when it happens you just got to keep on keeping on. but ya things are good, i am doing great. last night i had to direct my first baptism meeting for some other elders...ya it was pretty funny. pretty sure i said some stuff that didnt make sense cuz some people started laughing but ya it was fun. i had a good time. well erin good luck with school and what not, jake hope work is going well for ya man. megan, dont take to many vacations geez. kari and nick..... hello ha ha. jill...jill jill jill....hopé efy was fun, sure it was. anne and brandon and the kids...waz up!!! harold... wear a seat belt. ha ha and mother....take it easy this week ok? :) well time to be getting on my way. i love ya guys tons and i hope everyone has a good week. i´ll let you know about my new comp next week. LOVE YA GUYS!!!
tchauzinho!!!
elder davis

onde é julho? JULY 28, 2008

so where did july go? this last month just flew by...and it will be agosoto
this week! wow! well things are going well transfers are coming up in a
couple of weeks and i am pretty sure i will get a new comp, elder leite has
been here for 6 months, so ya. anyway i should probably tell you about this
last week...i am only guessing but i think you want to konw. well monday we
went into brasilia to buy some pants for elder letie...and while there we
stopped at burger king....ya you read that right burger king. it was proably
the best thing ever! i miss american fast food. i bought the bk stacker with
4 patties and elder leite got the whopper. with 2 meals big como it was 36
ries! it was so worth it though! ha ha that was proabaly the coolest thing
that i did on my pday so far. so the other day i was looking through my cam
and i found some awesome pics that nick took on my last sunday.....thank you
nick.....they made me laugh for quite some time. ha ha they were pretty
sweet, nick knows what i am talking about. well lets see what else, we have
been working really hard with these 2 girls, one is married the other isnt,
but i think they both will be baptised this coming sunday. as their baptisms
are getting closer, you can tell satan is doing everything he can to stop
it, they both didnt go to church this sunday cuz one got robbed sat night
and the other one, her husband went one a big drinking bing, and he hasnt
drunk in 8 months. so ya we have to trying to do all we can to help them. so
on fri we had an investegator that had a birthday and they invited us to we
stopped by, thats what those pics are of. that was pretty sweet. oh and i
bought a pizza today....and it made me think of...its not delivery its
dizornos! ha ha, cuz i bought it at the store and....nevermind. oh so i took
some peanut butter to a investagators house and they loved it...pretty sure
everyone that eats it, loves it. but ya things are good here, the new pres
is pretty cool, very calm, but cool. well not much else going on here. we
have alot of work to do this week, so its crunch time baby! i love ya guys
tons. hope everyone has a great week! i will talk to ya´ll next week!

LOVE YA GUYS

elder davis

ps i have the coolest lines on my arms and neck...you all would be so
jealous!