Blessed and Happy State

Zone Conference with Pres. Bangerter

Oi!
So this past week was a blast but as always was super busy! My district is baptizing a lot so we are always on the run to other areas doing interviews. Anyway, this week we did get some teaching done too and started teaching a few new people . One is Maria. We actually taught her the first lesson with the Book of Mormon. In the new training we received from President, he has taught us how to make our teaching understood by everyone and more simple and clear. We have always tried to be as clear and understandable as we can and base things on where people are in their understanding but the way he has taught us is amazing and we have had great results this past week with it. We used it in teaching Maria and it really helped her as she is learning. She is reading the Book of Mormon to find out for herself the truthfulness of it so that is a great first step for her. We are excited to continue teaching her. We also visited Nelson again this week. His situation is a little more complicated because his family is not interested in learning about the church and do not want him making any changes so that makes it very difficult. Satan is definitely trying as hard as he can with him to keep him from making the change. When we visited him he opened up to us about the struggles he is having and questions he has. We answered the questions he was having and he said he would be at church on Sunday so that is great. We are going to continue talking and teaching him as he progresses. We have also been teaching a girl named Kethlyn for awhile and she was at church Sunday. She loved it. One of the great things about the mission is watching people come to Christ and change and become so much happier and at peace. It really gives me a lot of joy and happiness to see them happy. I have learned about the joy that comes from serving your fellowman and genuinely loving them to the point that their happiness is your happiness. When I started my mission, I had trouble with that because I am not an outwardly or overly expressive person in that way and I thought you had to really know them to care about them. But now I know that if I look at them and see them as Christ truly sees them, then it is easy to have a love for them as my fellowman. I am learning to definitely throw everything I got on the table and try my hardest to help them find the truth they are seeking! :) In this life we are all in it together right? So we need to do what we can for each other. This week we are planning a ton of Family Home Evenings with members to better work with them in our teaching. (For those of you who do not know what a Family Home Evening is - it is just where once a week members of our church spend that evening with their families to have gospel lessons, do activities together like sports or service things, talk about issues or challenges and also they usually plan their week as a family, etc...) 

Time to celebrate - got a new fan! haha With Elders Gomes & Costa -zone leaders 

This past week we had zone conference and all had interviews with President Bangerter. As always it was awesome. He is the best - really and truly the best! It does not feel like an "interview" -we always just talk. He is my mission president first and foremost so he helps me understand my calling as a missionary but he is also like one of my best friends who I can speak to about everything. I am definitely blessed to have him in my life, as well as each one of you that is reading this now. I think one of the best gifts in life are the people you are able to meet and share life with. So yeah that was basically my week this past week. It was pretty great. 

Thanks for the new ties and the Valentines package!

Elder Vieira repping  Y soccer - thanks for the shirt.

Spiritual thought for this week is the scripture Mosiah 2:41. It says:

"And moreover I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it"

As I think about how much I have learned and grown in the past 7-8 months of my mission, I am so grateful for the tough experiences I have had. I have come to know the true meaning of happiness in my life. Happiness does not mean we do not have challenges or obstacles or that we have all we desire immediately and easily. And most of the time when the hard times come, we may not understand why something is happening to us at that time. But as God has told us in the scriptures, his ways are not the ways of man but they are always for our benefit but require our faith. He is there for us. I can definitely testify He loves us and if we are striving to do the best we can to live as He would have us live, we can be happy. We have to use our agency to choose wisely because he cannot bless us if we purposely are making bad choices. Yes He is a loving God but He is also a just God too. And the great thing is He is forgiving and through the Savior's atonement & repentance we always have a second chance. I know that His ways are above ours and His thoughts are above ours too so at times we just have to go forward with faith and trusting in Him when we do not understand why certain things are happening. I have come to realize that if those tough things didn't happen, I wouldn't have gained a testimony of that principle or been able to learn to have the strength to get back up and continue strong in the church. We need to be happy and not take the challenges/burdens in our life as a bad thing or something to complain about. We need to take them as a blessing and learn from them. We need to show Heavenly Father that He can trust us and that we totally trust and rely on Him. We need to choose to be in that "blessed and happy state" and show those that are searching what it means to truly follow Christ! In a talk Elder Bednar reminded us of our baptismal covenants and he said "as a representative of Jesus Christ your life is no longer just about what you want but what God wants for you." I testify to you that the happiness we will feel in the Celestial Kingdom with Heavenly Father, Christ and our families is far above any other type of happiness we could feel with earthly things. I love you and thank you all for being the examples you have been for me. Thank you for all the help you have given me throughout my life too. There are many who have lifted me, taught me and inspired me. Thank you.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Davis

Everyone knows as missionaries we always get barked at and sometimes chased. Well this guy is my favorite because he is literally too heavy he can't get up.  No chasing from him.

Random cat that we found in our house one day when we came home - no idea how it got in.