"The Future is as Bright as Your Faith"

Sumare Zone with our Banner of Goals

Hope everyone has had a good week. Elder Silva and I are doing great! He is awesome and I am grateful for the chance we have to work together. He works hard and has a great spirit! Had some awesome experiences this week. On Thursday we went to some appointments and everything fell through. So we knocked some doors. The whole loooooong street, and didn't have any success. Elder Silva said, "Man, how did we knock the whole long street and not one person was interested in a message about God? As he said that I remembered that we had skipped a house because the person left in their car just as we were at the house next door. We had assumed no one else was at home so we passed by. So we went back and knocked there. A guy, David, came out of his house and we talked to him and scheduled to teach him on Saturday afternoon. Once again the Lord shows that we have to go to the "fourth floor last door" like Elder Uchtdorf said. It requires us not to give up and to seek out all opportunities to find His sons and daughters prepared for the gospel message. It was cool - a definite blessing.

With Elder Mansell at our service project

On Saturday we were in divisions with the Elders from Ward Vila Flora. I was with Elder Mansell who has 4 months in the mission. I got him up and out the door at 6:30am to get to this appointment at 7:15 in the morning! He probably will not want to do divisions with me again! haha This guy could only be visited at this time during this week so we made it happen. It went well. Then we went back home and got our studying in before going to a service project. We were helping a sister with her garden and lawn. Talk about a funny thing to see. Elder Mansell was tearing out a bush and I swear to you that every 5 seconds I heard "Oh, ants stung me!" There was a big struggle going on in that garden! Brought back memories of living in the South with red ants! Haha   After the service project we went to David's appointment. He was not at home yet so this other guy opened the door and invited us in. We thought he was a stepfather. We shared with him why we were there and he said he was interested in hearing our message too. Then David arrived and we started the actual lesson. While we were teaching, the guy we thought was the stepfather, said that we were answering many of his questions before he had time to ask them. I think he said during our lesson 'Wow, what a coincidence!' 7-8 times! I am grateful for the spirit giving us guidance in the things we needed to teach and say. In the middle of the lesson he said, 'Do you want to go to my house and say a prayer there too?' I was thinking "isn't this your house?" but we agreed and went even though when we left the house we had no idea where we were going! Well we went next door! hahaha This guy is dating David's mother but does not live in the same house. Here that is very unusual - like this never happens. When dating they usually live together and sometimes do not ever marry. So we were excited to see that that would not be an challenge. You can see how much God prepared this man to receive us with His message. As we shared the first vision we saw him shiver and he spoke up that he felt a strong feeling pass through him. David also said he felt a feeling of peace. The older guy said that he prayed to Heavenly Father yesterday to receive the Holy Spirit and to be touched by him to show him the right path. We were thankful that we arrived at the right time. The Spirit truly does inspire us to find those people who are in need. As we read from the Book of Mormon and then he prayed his eyes filled with tears as he told us the feelings he was having were nothing like he had ever felt before. That opened the door to speaking about recognizing the promptings of the spirit. He said that he felt Jesus Christ was sitting next to us. What a powerful lesson and experience! He does have some challenges and needs to make some changes in his life but we are on the right path now. Imagine if we had not chosen to go back and give that one last door a knock!

We have been teaching a woman who has suffered from strokes which keeps her from walking without a lot of pain or assistance. When we were with her this past week we felt prompted to share the account of the Priests crossing the Jordan River with the ark of the Lord in Joshua 3. We talked about how they needed to step into the river first and come in to show God that they had faith in Him that he would part the waters for them to cross. We told her that it is that way with us sometimes what seems impossible becomes possible if we have faith. That if we are baptized and seek to follow Christ miracles can happen. She called us later in the week and said with great joy that she walked to the end of the street and came back alone and said she was almost running for joy! We were very very happy to hear that she had planted her seed of faith.

One last one. We felt prompted to knock a door down a street from an appointment we had and a woman came out(Ana Lucia). She talked to us a bit and then called her son to come talk to us (Clayton). He said lately he had been very sick and that he had not improved after 3 days, going to the hospital even took an injection and nothing helped. I felt prompted to offer a blessing so I offered and explained what it was. He accepted and invited us in. We went in, we talked a little bit and you could see he was having a hard time just standing. He was not well. So we gave the blessing. We came back the next day and he said he felt completely healed. We explained that it was through God and the authority that we have as representatives of Jesus Christ and his faith that his happened. We will continue to teach him and his mother.

We had a great week and I am grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. Remember to keep the faith. As Pres. Monson used to say the future is as bright as your faith. The Lord has great blessings in store for those who follow Him.

Love you all!
Elder Davis

Staying in Sumaré

PDay with the Sumaré Zone 

It was great starting off the week with the broadcast from Salt Lake and the message of the 1st Presidency. I am glad we got to watch it. It was really inspiring! I love President Nelson and all of the apostles. I support and sustain them.They are men of God and you can see it in their countenance and in their work. It is hard to believe Pres. Nelson is 93. Wow! He is an example to us all on how to take care of our mind, body and spirit. I hope that he continues with good health! He is truly an inspiring man!

Catching lunch with Adriano. So happy for him and Samara!

Last Monday Adriano a good friend and one of our converts from Hortlandia surprised me with a visit here in Sumaré. It was awesome to see him and spend some time with him. He truly is like a brother to me. He told me the exciting news that he and Samara will be sealed in the temple in February. President said I will be able to go which will be so great! One of the greatest blessings of my mission has been seeing Adriano baptized then married and now being sealed. I am truly grateful and so happy for him and his family.

We visited Cleodenice this past week. We had a baptism date marked with her but she is getting a lot of opportunities to work and she is taking advantage of every opportunity. That is good but it also is kind of getting in the way of meeting with her but it will all work out. She is a great person and so ready to learn.

We have also been visiting Pedro. He is another person that works 24/7 if he can so sometimes its hard to find him in his house to teach but we finally got in contact with him. We invited him to come to stake conference this week. He came and brought his girlfriend. He has been to church a couple times now and our lessons with him are going great. We have truly started to see our work with the wonderful members of Amizade Sumaré come into place.

Transfers were this week. I will be staying here - I will have three transfers here in Sumaré. My companion will be Elder A. Silva. He is a DL in my zone who will now be a ZL. I look forward to working hard with him and learning from him!

With Renato's Family saying goodbye to Elder Araujo

With Elder Conceição

With Elder Hermínio of our zone

I wanted to share a spiritual thought. In Moroni 10:8-23 Christ speaks of gifts we have all be given. It says specifically in verse 17-18 that ALL good gifts come by the Spirit of Christ and are given to each one of us, individually, according to our will.
"And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will. And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ."
They have been given to us but it is required of us to search and develop them.And it says unto each man they have come "severally", we all can be blessed with many talents we just need to put in the work for them and pray/fast diligently to find them. Sometimes they are very evident and sometimes it takes a little searching. Usually it requires being willing to be outside of our comfort zone. But as we magnify and use the gifts we have, then the Lord will not only bless us to develop them to a greater level but also give us opportunities to develop other gifts. I have seen this in myself on my mission. But if we do nothing with them they will be taken away as it tells us in the parable of talents in the Bible. So as we start this new year remember several talents can be yours as you work diligently to find and then use them in righteousness. I am thankful for the opportunities I have been given to grow and for the talents the Lord is helping me to develop. I love my Savior and am grateful for this time I get to serve as His disciple. Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Davis

His Work

Sumaré Zone with Pres. & Sis. Bangerter (minus Elder Conceição and Elder J. Oliveira)

This week was a good week. We had interviews with President on Wednesday which are always good. Then Wednesday to Thursday we did divisions with the assistants, Elder Christensen and Hainsworth. It was nice to see them and talk and catch up on the old days (they are both from my CTM group). I then went with Christensen on divisions and it was awesome. I was able to learn from his strengths and see some things that I can do to improve and be a better missionary. I am glad to be able to have the opportunity to improve each day. As well as it was awesome to work in Piracicaba because I haven't ever passed a transfer there!

While in Piracicaba at the mission office I ran into Sister Ramirez from one of my old zones.

We also did divisions in our zone with Elder Conceição and Elder J. Oliveira this past week. I went with Elder J. Oliveira to Portal Bordan (their area). We were able to find new people to teach as well as confirm some people to go to church. I was going to do an interview with someone they had marked a date with but it had fallen through. She wasn't home at the time they confirmed with her and the morning after wasn't home either. So I did not get to speak with her but the division was good. It was a good opportunity to help them with a few things to make their work go a little more efficiently and for me to learn from them also. I appreciated Elder J. Oliveira's heart because when I made a suggestion he sincerely tried to apply it and wrote down a few notes. His example touched me. We all need to be open to learning from one another. We did an inventory at the end of the night to see how the division was and to talk about what we thought. It was really cool because even though the day had been hard and we were only able to find a few people, we were both able to see we had been blessed by the hand of the Lord. As we did contacts, knocked doors and visited a few people, we were still not having too much success and then finally the Lord would bless us as we would find someone who really needed to hear our message and agreed to come to church on Sunday. He blessed us various times during the day with miracles! Can't give up you just have to trust in Him.

Elder Araujo and I with Elder Conceição and Elder J. Oliveira for divisions

Unfortunately not all the people in our own area that were supposed to come to church this week made it but we were glad to see those that did. Cleonice came. She is awesome. She is already participating in the class discussions and even bearing her testimony of things she has learned! It is super awesome to see that. She truly has a pure heart and because of that the Spirit is able to help her recognize truth and experience a "change of heart". Those are the moments that I love when people gain their personal testimonies of the church and of gospel principles and are able to respond to our questions with "Yes, I know it is true." I love that feeling and that happiness that fills their heart and mine. As we were showing her the baptismal font and answering some of her questions on Sunday we asked her if she had felt the Lord touching her heart confirming what she had learned that day was true and she quickly responded "Yes, I don't have a doubt in my mind about that". She has decided to be baptized! Oh the joy that I feel in my heart when people truly accept the truth in their hearts. Thankfully I have changed a lot on my mission thanks to the Lord and many others. I have always felt happiness and joy as others have accepted the gospel but it was sometimes I think partly for a selfish reason. I had worked hard and I liked feeling like all of my work had been worth it. But I quickly came to learn it actually was not very much of me, but it was the spirit of the Lord that was helping these people come unto Christ. I now feel the joy and happiness not because it is a reward for hard work but because it is another precious soul coming back into His fold. It is a brother or sister who has found the path. I am grateful that I get to be a small part in that happening and to feel the joy and happiness that comes with it. I am thankful for this opportunity to be a disciple of Christ. To set ourselves aside and do His work and help people come back into His fold.

I hope you all have a great week.
Elder Davis

Miracle on 2nd Street

Baptism of Caroline and Leandro

How can you describe a week of just miracles? Miracle on 2nd Street? Because it was just that! haha We have some investigators that live on Street 2 of Virigilio Viel (the neighborhood). Their names are Caroline and Leandro and they have a daughter Angelica who is 5 years old. They got baptized this past week! Pretty awesome! I am so very happy for them. They are growing so fast, learning so much and loving it. We all felt such a strong spirit during their baptismal service and the ordinance. They are super special. This week also was a blessing on the zone Sumaré; everyone had the opportunity to mark baptismal dates this week for the end of the transfer! The Lord's has blessed us immensely in finding those who are seeking Him.

Every week we have experiences great and small that make me realize the Lord is there and mindful of us. He is merciful. He is loving and He is all-knowing. Our investigator Cleonice that we started teaching this past week had a lot of questions and a strong desire to be about doing good. She told us she had left her church because no one wanted to work! She felt that not just certain people should be doing the Lord's work that everybody should be involved. so she asked if she could go out with the sisters of the church and visit people to make them stronger and give a message to them to help. We jumped right in there and said we had a message that would help her accomplish just that that she was wanting to do. So what do you know, Cleonice comes to church on Sunday! I went to the Relief Society President, Lúcia, and I told her about Cleonice and asked if she could talk to her about the things she was asking about (including visiting teachers) at some moment during or after the class. You know what she said? "How great is the Lord, am I right Elder? Our class today is about visits and visiting teachers. How we can strengthen the Spirits of others as well as our own along the way of life." Pretty awesome! It is a small miracle but it is a reminder that the Lord is always aware of His children and what they need. It also reminds us to follow promptings because what we do and say may be what someone has been praying for or needs. As I said, The Lord is loving and all-knowing!

President Monson passed away this week as you all know. As I thought about Him and his passing, my thoughts were not sad but instead were thoughts of the many good things that he did for us and for the world as a prophet of God. He was and is a great man who served the Lord and everyone with all He had. He held nothing back. I remember when I went with my family to my first session of General Conference when I was about 12 and they played "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" when he walked in to take his seat, everyone stood and the whole Conference Center became quiet. I felt the Spirit so strongly. I knew then He was a prophet of God. I turned to my mom and said "Did you feel that?" She was already crying of course. But that is an experience I will never forget. I am thankful for him and for who he was and the example he set on how to serve the Lord. I pray for comfort for his family. I also pray for the 12 apostles. I know that they will have guidance they need to guide the church in this time.

Thank you all for the prayers, support and love you all show me, I really do appreciate it and I can feel it strengthening me every day.

Elder Davis

Happy New Year

Christmas Multizone with Elders Toebe, Dickson, Mitchell, Hainsworth, Silva, Christensen and Sister Ribeiro

Happy New Year! Sorry I wasn't able to write an email last week. We had a leadership meeting in Piracicaba on Wednesday so I traveled there on Tuesday which was P-Day because of Christmas on Monday. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

With Elder Cifuentes! Miss this guy! What a super comp. he was!

With Elder Kleinkauff, Sisters Nascimiento & Costa from my old Zone in Sao Joao da Boa Vista

With Elder Almeida

With Sister Peres

It is rainy season again - with Sister Januario 

Anyway the past two weeks were good! How can last week not be super, with it starting with Christmas Eve and ending with New Years Eve. How cool was that! It was super great to talk to the family on Skype and to see them finally! How great is the joy we receive from our families right? Heavenly Father is so merciful in that He blesses us each with a special family and with wonderful moments that we share with them to cherish for the rest of our lives and beyond. All that ties us and binds us together with our families and with our Savior and Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for eternal families.

Baptism of Rayssa with Bishop Alves and Elder Aruajo

Christmas Dinner with the Oliviera Family and Mayara

"Felz Natal" Photo from Multizone

Christmas was great. It is always a special time to remember Christ and His ministry but feels even more incredible when you are a missionary. We had a baptism on the 23rd and that made it even more amazing. I am grateful I had the opportunity to pass another Christmas as a representative of Jesus Christ. It truly is amazing to be a representative of Jesus Christ and focus on only His work each day. It is great to feel His spirit guiding us and to feel a little of how He felt when He was here on earth preaching His gospel. I am thankful for the gospel and the scriptures that tell us of His life and the true path He showed each of us that we need to follow to have His spirit. Each day I feel humbled and honored to carry His word to those that are in need of comfort and who are seeking purpose and truth. This Christmas season we worked hard as a companionship to teach with the powerful spirit of Christmas. To help others ponder on what they want to accomplish in life and what gifts are most important and how they can have the spirit of Christ or Christmas every day. I know that it is only through Christ that real changes can happen and our will to do good is strengthened. He leads us from bad to good and from good to better. It is only through letting Him and His gospel into our hearts that we have a true change of heart and miracles happen in our lives. I want you to know that I love Jesus Christ. He is my Brother, my Savior, my Redeemer and my Rock. He is who will keep us strong and rooted through the storms and challenges of this life. We can always find peace in Christ even when there is not much peace in this world. He is the way, the life and the light. May we all seek to have the Spirit of Christ more fully and consistently in all of us this year. As we make goals this year I hope we all focus not only on the things of this life but what will matter in the next. I know that will truly bring us more happiness and peace as well as bring us closer to our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Thank you all for everything that each of you have done for me this past year. I love you all and wish you the best for 2018!

Elder Davis