Hold to the Rod

Hanging with some members on P- Day

Oi-
Hope everyone is doing well! So like every other week in the mission this was a completely crazy week! It seemed even crazier because we had a lot of interviews to do in other areas. We were using buses all over the place. But in view of having so many baptism interviews in the district and because our investigators are doing so well – it was a pretty super week!

Putting in some miles in the outer part of our area

When I first got here we hardly had anyone to teach and we were spending most of our time looking but this past week we have been teaching all the people that we have found! I can definitely say we have been blessed with some people that are ready to hear the gospel. We are teaching this guy who’s nicknamed Cowboy. It seems weird to call him that in a lesson plus it makes me want to laugh (haha) so I just call him by his real name Reganer. He is super awesome. He is pretty open minded and is humble enough to know that he doesn’t know everything so he will pray to find answers or receive confirmation of what we are teaching. That sometimes can be a big obstacle, to get people to pray to ask for themselves about the

Part of our area .

truthfulness of the things we teach.They rely on their own knowledge or what they have been taught before and then make a decision or judgment based on that instead of asking God . But he has been praying to know himself and has been coming to church so he is making great progress! We also have Nelson that we are teaching. He is an older guy that has a really great knowledge of the gospel. We invited him to be baptized in our last lesson and he said, “I know what you are teaching me is truth and this is the thing that I need to do.” So we set a baptism date for two weeks! I am happy for him. Everything is going well and I have faith that both these guys will be baptized. I am super excited, our schedule this coming week is full so hopefully next week we will have more good news! Our ward mission leader has been working with us too. He is so awesome. He is really a cool guy and is willing to help us however he can which is awesome. It is great to have that support.

Our Ward Mission Leader Eudes and his wife treating us to ice cream. 

Forecast for today - rain. Forecast for everyday- rain.  It definitely is the rainy season.

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Sad but true…the rat story continues. We thought after we got rid of the one we were done. But we found another rat - in our washer this time. He got out of it and was running all over the balcony but we finally got him. We are hoping he was just another random rat and not a “brother” of the one from last week. haha I do not want to be doing this every week if we have a whole family of them.

So this past week as I was reading the scriptures I was thinking about Christ and how He was scorned and not accepted by His own people. Then one day this week as we were walking in the street we had some people make some unkind comments about us and the church. It wasn’t the first or the last time I am sure. But it made me think about what it must have been like for Christ. Not that we had it to the same extent He did or to the level He did but it made me think on that again. As I thought about it the feelings of love and respect I feel for Him were so overwhelming. I love my Savior and I am so thankful for Him and all that He endured for each one of us so we can repent and return to Him and our Heavenly Father. Then I realized how when there was judgment before from others that I sometimes would let it bother me when I first came out on a mission and even before that. Now I immediately think of the Savior and what He thinks, not what others around me are thinking or saying. I think we all need to ask ourselves at times, “What is more important, what the world is saying about me and the church? Or what the Savior thinks and says?” It is like Lehi’s dream. We can become preoccupied and worried about what others are saying & doing or we can just throw those thoughts aside and move on. Because what they are saying isn’t important. There will always be judgment from others or pointing fingers at those who are trying to live righteously. It has almost always been that way, we see it in the scriptures. We need to focus on what is important, hold tight to the iron rod and remember the Lord’s words. We need to first seek the kingdom of God and everything after will go into place. If we put God first, everything else after will come into place. Everything we can ever ask for. Like Pres. Uchtodorf said, “God sent you here to prepare for a future greater than anything you can imagine.” So stand strong, hold tight to the rod and move forward!

I love you guys and hope that all is going well with everyone! Have a great week!

Elder Davis