Pirassununga, Araras, and Porto Ferriera

Pirassununga Zone meeting & interviews with President 

This week has been a great week as well. President is giving me some great companionships to work with. These Elders are inspiring. I just want to say that I love this work. Sometimes it is really hard but I love the feeling that I get when I truly do the Lords work with all my heart and seek His will.

Plaza in Araras

With Elder Cifuentes and Hernandez after interviews in Pirassununga

Lunch with Elder Little

I worked with the Elders in Araras and things went well. I worked with Elder Ricarte and Elder Grigio 2 days and 1 day with Elder Leitão and Elder Little. Then I passed one day with Elder Cifuentes and Elder Hernandez as well because of the interviews that I needed to do for the Sisters in Pirassununga 2 and their interviews as well in Pirassununga 1. I don't know where to start to be honest. So many things happened this past week that are worth the time writing and explaining but I will do my best to grab the most important things and write them here. So on the first day Elder Ricarte, Elder Grigio and I planned the day and worked well, visiting everybody in their teaching group, did one progress interview, as well taught a few new people. We were able to contact a new person to teach called João. He is about 78 and his wife had died recently (this past year). His son is actually the President of the Quorum of Elders. As we spoke with him about the gospel and plan of salvation he was very interested in how he could see his wife and live with her again. We answered his questions, taught the third lesson as well as talked about baptism. He said that his wife had been baptized but he wasn't. We talked about baptism by the proper authority and in the same way Christ had been baptized. He marked a date for baptism. As I work with different missionaries now and also in my own work as a missionary, I see that as we plan well, study every single day (personal and companionship) as well as pray about where we should be working then we are truly guided and accomplish great things. I was very impressed with those I worked with this week! One of the Elders was really willing to learn but when I first got there he had been struggling a little with inviting people to be baptized. Through our time teaching he has caught a vision and understands better the importance of inviting and doing it when prompted. We can invite in any moment, any where with any one, we just need the Spirit! It is our responsibility and privilege to invite and theirs to make the decision to accept. I also taught the training with him this week for the zone and it went well. We talked about the baptismal invitation, "um missionario que não convida, não batiza", as well as how important attending sacrament is in the progress of those they teach. We also discussed how to constantly build your teaching group so that you don't have to be a gato magro. It was a good week.

Last week's PDay at a sugar cane farm

Chopping down Sugar Cane

This week I will be staying In Porto Ferreira with Elder Kay and Elder Mitchell. This is the area where I started my mission so I am excited to be here again. It will be a great week. I got here on Saturday and we confirmed a few people to come to church as well as taught a family. It will be great to visit some people that I was teaching almost 2 years ago. We will be finding a lot of new people to teach this next week also.

With Jean, Eliane and Helen. Jean was taught and baptized when I was in Porto Ferriera at the beginning of my mission.

I want you all to know that I love the Lord. I am grateful for His life and His sacrifice for all of us individually. I know He is the Christ and the Son of God. I have a testimony of this. I am thankful for His gospel which teaches and guides me in my life and mission. I am thankful for the scriptures which bring me closer to Christ by coming to know Him and His teachings. I know blessings come through our obedience and through following His plan. He loves us, each one of us and is there by our side as we seek Him in prayer, study and our actions. He is our Redeemer, Comforter, Savior, Brother and Friend. As we let him into our lives we are changed and blessings and strength come to us. Open your hearts to Him.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thank you for your support and prayers.
Elder Davis

Finally Serving in Piracicaba

Piracicaba Zone

 This past week was good. I ended up going to Piracicaba 2 so travel was pretty minimal this week. I was with Elder Nunes and Elder Castro. It was a great experience. While working with them I could really see the potential that Elder Castro has to be a good leader. It is great to see when someone really has the desire to do things the right way, as well as learn and apply. We talked a lot about planning and the importance of revelation in the work. When understood, the principle of praying about which neighborhoods and streets to work in and truly trying to know and do the Lords will, makes the work go a lot better. You won't spend as much time searching and knocking doors because you will go where the Lord has prepared people who are seeking and searching.

This past week I also did a service project with Elders Nunes and Castro which was great and then went with them to the sisters area to help them out with some interviews and finding new people to teach. Elder Nunes interviewed some people and I did too. We also found some new people to teach. It was great because when we were walking down a street and knocking on some doors that we felt prompted to knock, we found some really great people. One was a youth who we talked with awhile at her door who was very interested but her family was not home so we marked a date for the sisters to come back and teach the family. Then at another door down the street a man answered the door and asked what we wanted. We shared that we were missionaries and had a message that would change his life. He threw us the key and told us to enter. He said he normally wouldn't have opened the door for us but his wife was out working and he was home alone. He had his right leg amputated from the knee down and used a walker to walk. He had definitely had some challenges in life. As we talked with him we learned that he felt little purpose in life. He doesn't go to a church or many other places because it is difficult to get there with his leg and walker. We spoke about the importance of spiritual guidance and nourishment in our lives and that it is essential to have that in order for other parts of our lives to go well too. It is the base of all happiness and strength. We invited him to church and he was enthusiastically said that he would go! We also talked about baptism and he said that he has been waiting until now to be baptized because he never had the opportunity. We told him that today was his lucky day because the Lord sent His true representatives to help him complete his dream of being baptized. We discussed the importance and meaning of baptism with him as well as read out of the Book Mormon and gave him one. We asked him to pray about all we had shared and marked an appointment for the missionaries to come back. He thanked us for coming and you could see the new hope he had. It was a great experience.

Dinner with Eliane and family with Elder Jackson, Nunes, Castro

We also found a few more people to teach in the Elders area this week and marked a baptismal date with a girl called Emily for this coming Sunday. She is someone who had already been to church and received all the lessons from the missionaries. She had even got to the point of setting a baptismal day but didn't go through with it because she was scared of making the wrong decision. She understands and lives all the commandments and truly has a desire to follow and live the gospel. I had a progress interview with her and we talked quite a lot about her doubts and fears. We opened the scriptures and learned a little bit together about the obstacles/temptations of Satan and how he wants to ruin what is good for us and the opportunities that will take us forward in life. She felt the spirit as we spoke and a confirmation that she needed to be baptized so this Sunday is the day she marked. The other person we found is called Natalia. She lives in our street and she has already been to church 3 times in previous times. We invited her to go to the transmission that happened yesterday. It was a Noite Familiar da Presidencia da Area and she went! She is reading the Book of Mormon every day and has decided she wants to be baptized. The Elders will keep teaching her and follow up with her.

My thoughts and study this week have been a lot on personal revelation and the Gift of the Holy Ghost.Some great quotes on this is one by Pres. Nelson and one from Elder Boyd K. Packer.

"But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." - Pres.Russell M. Nelson

" No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration" - Elder Boyd K. Packer
Personal study is essential. We need to read the Book of Mormon everyday as well as study the scriptures. Not just study but EXAMINE the scriptures to find the things that will protect us in everyday battles. Because without our personal study daily, we are going into the battles of the day without armor and leaving the protection that God has to offer us unopened and unused.

Have a great week!
Elder Davis

Changes bring Growth

With Mara, Adilson and their daughter in Rio Claro. How I love this family and am grateful for them.

Hope everyone is doing great. This week was good. Being back in Rio Claro I have been able to see a lot of great people that I knew when I was here before and love. I am grateful I was given that opportunity.  I am in Piracicaba to day so was able to check out the futbol stadium for the Piracicaba club and get a jersey.

With Elder Garcia, Dickson and Waters at the Piracicaba XV Stadium

Reppin' Piracicaba

Last week we started out having a family home evening on Monday. We had about 15 investigators come from one neighborhood that we are working in. We are working in a neighborhood called Maria Cristina. All of the people we are teaching in that neighborhood have come from references. We have been trying to be more efficient in our work in our zone as well as the mission. It all started with just one teenage member called Flávio who I told you about last week. He gave us a reference, a guy called Danilo - his nickname is "Sorriso" (smile) because he is always happy hahaha. He is even happier now! We began teaching him and then he invited his two friends to come to church with him as well. And then they gave us names of 10 more references that are family members, friends as well as neighbors that all live in the same street and the street above. All through one youth that was willing to share the gospel with one friend. We were really happy to have this all happen. Now parents, families and friends are listening to our message. It is a testimony strengthening experience that taught us that truly through the small and simple acts of one person much good can happen. Many are now able learn of Christ and come unto Him. One person makes a difference for one and then they pass it on and it ends up blessing many. It has been a great experience. Danilo and Richard were baptized this past week and we are still teaching the rest of their family and friends.

With Danielo before his baptism

With Richard before his baptism

Family and friends of Richard and Danielo after their Baptism

Transfers are this week. I was transferred. I will be going to.....well there isn't really a specific area. President Bangerter called me to be an Assistente Viajante (traveling assistant). So I am here in Piracicaba at the mission office- this is where I am kind of based. But every week I pack up my backpack and am off to a different area. I travel to 4-5 different areas in a transfer to help other missionaries that are having challenges or may need a little extra help. I do not have a regular companion. I become companions with the companionship I am going to help. It will be a great opportunity for me to improve as well as learn with others! I am really grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve the Lord and the people of Brazil. My mission does not feel like a sacrifice to me but it is definitely a privilege. I love my Savior and am grateful for all He has done for me and all the blessings I have received at His hand. I have a testimony that He lives and loves each of us. He knows us and knows what we need and is waiting for us to come unto Him and then step up and live the gospel so He can bless us. I have learned so much these past few transfers and I hope to learn even more continuing forward. Every week will be a new adventure. Thanks for all you do. Love you all!

With Elder Torres at Leadership

With Elder Cifuentes, Sister Pinhero and Sister Jesus at Leadership

Elder Soares' last Leadership Meeting - he's going home this transfer!

With Elder Gonzales at Leadership

#5Weeks Still cannot believe it.

Elder Davis

Follow the Promptings

Elder Theodoro and I with Nayara and her family - Marlene & Webster, Thaynara, Laura

This past week was super great. I know I say that every week but it really was. We had the opportunity to feel the guidance and promptings of the Lord as we worked with His sons and daughters that have been prepared to receive His message. It is great to work and feel the Lord guiding you to those who are searching for Him and a better life. I just got to Piracicaba for a leadership meeting tomorrow so I am sorry but I only have a few minutes to get his written. I'll have to make it quick.

Monday, we had an FHE with a member that is active but just in the sense of that he goes to church. He could use some strengthening. So we decided to talk to him. He is a teen that is 15 yrs old. We challenged him to invite all his friends from the condominio where he lives to play soccer or basketball with us. Ends up quite a few were interested in coming and getting to know us! Initially I think they love hearing an American speak Portuguese! hahaha. But ultimately it is the Spirit that speaks to their hearts. So we went there and played basketball, soccer and then shared a message with them. We invited them to continue to receive our messages and they all accepted. So we marked dates to meet with them this week.

Nayara, who we have been teaching and whose family joined the church a year or so ago, is getting baptized this week and will be sealed to her family in the temple on the 28th. I am happy for her and for the blessing it is for the whole family. She is ready now and has moved forward and followed the Spirit. It has been a great blessing to be part of it. Danilo has also marked a day for baptism this week. We also have four more people we are teaching marked for the following two weeks. We had all our investigators at church this past Sunday also which was super awesome! The Lord is blessing us for sure.

With Nayara after church

Wednesday was another great day. We went to Rio Claro 1 to help the sisters. We visited some investigators that they are teaching and then went to visit some other people for them. They had some appts to go to so we went by ourselves in a neighborhood that they have been working in. Elder Theodoro and I have been talking and working on how we can truly follow the Lords promptings in all we do. We decided that we would try to follow an impression on the first time that we feel it instead of thinking about it then following it. We just started following every impression that was good. Many blessings came and good contacts were made through following those promptings. We finished our work in that area and we were going back to our meet up with the sisters to go back to our area. We were passing a street and saw a man standing outside his house on the side of the road. I felt like we should go talk to him so I did and spoke with him a little about who we were and asked if we could help him in a way. He said that he needed help because he was without a job and had been looking for a job for a long time without any success. We invited him to the self efficiency class that the church has to help people put together a better resume to give to companies and employers. He accepted and we asked if we could go into his house and meet his family and leave them with a prayer to bless him and his family. He gave us excuses and rejected the offer. I felt that it was essential that I persist with him. I persisted and asked him if he didn't have "2 minutes to talk to God in a prayer or worship him". I sometimes think if we really think about what we are rejecting we will reconsider. He then reconsidered and let us in and we ended up teaching the first lesson to him and his mother. They have since accepted to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it's truthfulness. They have felt the Spirit in the lessons and are thinking they will be baptized at the end of the month. What a blessing it is to have the guidance of the Holy Ghost in our lives that prompts us. Through following the small and simple prompting that we needed to persist, Jefferson and his mother's lives can be forever changed for the better. What a great gift we have all been given to have the guidance of the Holy Ghost in our lives. I love the Lord and I am thankful to be serving Him here in Brazil.

After district meeting with Sisters Silva, Wood, Fullmer and Gamarra and Elders Kleinkauff, Sederholm, & Theodoro

Have a wonderful week. Thank you for your support and love. Love you all!
Elder Davis

Be Meek & Humble

 

With Elder Theodoro

This week was good! General Conference was inspiring and awesome! We are settling into Rio Claro 4 pretty well now. Elder Theodoro has 4 weeks here and I have a week now. It is been great to work with him. Elder Theodoro has a great desire to work and be a good missionary, he is one in fact haha. We are working so great together. He is a type of a companion that supports you in your efforts as well as helps you take on the load of the hard work daily. I am sure that he will bless a lot of lives here in Rio Claro 4. We are planning on and making the changes that the area needs to become Zion again. I am very excited to see the changes that will happen here. We are already seeing a few changes in the leadership here with being excited with the missionary work and the effort we are putting forth.

With Sister Gonzalez and Silva. Sister Gonzalez finished her mission in June and is now working in the CTM in Sao Paulo. She came to watch General Conference in Rio Claro

This week we saw a lot of miracles! When I got here there was 1 person in our teaching group and this person hadn't gone to church or even been taught the first lesson. The area could have been in better shape to be honest but my companion and I made goals this past week to change the area completely. Get to know better the members the area and to establish a great teaching group. It took a lot of work and sweat but we were able to do it!

This past week we left the house early every day on the search for new people to teach. We received some references from the sisters. We contacted them and even though these 2 references didn't work out, through them we were able to find people that we never thought we would find or teach. They are progressing well and it will be awesome to see the result of the gospel in their lives.

An example. We were walking to contact a reference called Angelica/Jose. When we were going, neither of us knew the area well, and so we ended up going down the wrong street in the wrong neighborhood and we were passing a lady that was sitting on the sidewalk. She yelled "Os Mormons" "The mormons" and that was already a key signal to do a contact right?haha Sometimes missionaries avoid those contacts because some people just wanna pick and poke at you but it is always a great chance to share the gospel and answer some doubts that some people have about the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ. We talked to her and she said she had recognized us by our clothes that we use (white shirt, tie, pants, nametag). We asked her about her and what her name was, she responded it was Margarette. We talked to her and invited her to get to know what we do, she accepted. We then told her about what we do as missionaries. Invited her to listen to our message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized like Christ was because she never had the chance to be. She accepted the chance to learn more. We marked a date to come back and came back and taught her the first lesson. During the lesson we invited her to pray and ask God if everything we said was true so she could have the certainty about the message and its truthfulness. We will be going back there this week.

Another miracle. We went to contact the other reference, Marilene. We went there and she wasn't home, but through that we entered in the wrong street AGAIN and through asking people for directions we ended up meeting a man named Tiago. He is a man that passed through a rough time as a teen and young adult. He ran into some problems with the law but through time he gained understanding that this wasn't what he wants for his life and for his kids. We explained to him how we are here to change people lives through Christ and if he would just accept our messages, he would be able to change his life in a way that he could never imagine. We invited him to come to know the gospel of Jesus Christ and follow Christ's example to be baptized. He accepted them both and we marked a date for the 14th of April. He is excited and said he will take his whole family to church this week. We will keep you guys updated about him.

I will mention just one more. We always are trying to get a reference from every person. God has a purpose for everything and so if that person didnt work out, there must be someone that they know that will work out. We went around doing contacts before lunch then we ate at Websters and Marlenes house for lunch. They are Recent Converts of 11 months. They will be sealed this month in April. The whole lunch we went on talking about the sealing and their getting to know the church and the missionaries. In the family there is Webster, Marlene, Thaynara, Laura, and their other daughter Nayara that isn't baptized. The whole family was baptized besides her. We went on talking about the gospel, sparking interest and conversation with her about religion. She came to ask questions sometimes and then she asked one key question "Isnt it hard speaking about the gospel when so many may not believe?" I responded to her that its not easy but its a great experience because it is the truth, if we just be humble and accept it in our lives, we change for the better" She then responded asking how could I know it was all true. That was the door we were waiting for. We talked about the lessons and messages we share as well as how she could know for herself that it was all true. We marked a date to come back on Saturday and teach her. We taught the first lesson and had her pray about the Book of Mormon in that moment and the lesson. After the lesson she said she knew it was true and that is what she was waiting for. She said that she never had interest in the message of the missionaries the whole time that they were teaching the rest of her family and coming the past year but for some reason she had a desire to know now. It was a great opportunity to explain and bear our testimonies about the Holy Ghost/Spirit of God. He guides us and helps us understand the truth if we just but listen to His still and small voice. But we have to have a desire and be ready to listen. We have had some great lessons with her and have marked a date for baptism with her for the 14th of April.

So many miracles happened in our area this week. It changed from 0-100 in just a week. Elder Theodoro and I were talking about how this is an example of the small and simple things that really take us to understand the ways and paths of God. We cannot understand and be guided if we don't prepare ourselves to receive this guidance and then get out and do the work with faith. God blessed us so much this week. We began the week with nothing but we did our part and relied on God to guide us to His children that were ready to receive His message and He did. It was a great learning experience. I am grateful for my companion and the opportunity we had to be instruments in Gods hands.

Couple spiritual thoughts from General Conference from Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Dallin H. Oaks:

“Meekness is a defining attribute of the redeemer and is distinguished by righteous responsiveness, willing submissiveness and strong self-restraint,” he said. “ ... The Christ-like quality of meekness often is misunderstood in our contemporary world. Meekness is strong, not weak; active, not passive; courageous, not timid; restrained, not excessive; modest, not self-aggrandizing; and gracious, not brash.”

“A meek person is not easily provoked, pretentious or overbearing and readily acknowledges the accomplishments of others.” Elder David A. Bednar

We must be humble to accept Gods will. It is quite simple. We need to do what we need to do so that we can be blessed. Be meek, let us do our part in Gods work to bless the lives of others and God will do the rest.

“Though each of these practices may seem to be small and simple, over time they result in powerful spiritual uplift and growth,...This occurs because each of these small and simple things invites the companionship of the Holy Ghost, the Testifier who enlightens us and guides us into truth.” Pres. Dallin H.Oaks
It is through the small and simple things that the spirit can bless us, teach us, guide and protect us. We must do these things with our heart and out of love. Do them because we want the presence/spirit of God not because it's our routine or obligation.

Have a great week!
Love you all!
Elder Davis

P.S. I included a few pictures from a multizone a couple weeks ago that I was not able to upload until now.

With Sister Bangerter

Sister Jenkins last multi-zone

With Elder Rudd

With Elder A. Silva 

On the bus with Elder Torres headed to Multizone