Counsel with the Lord

FHE with Ademir's family and Members

Oi-
Hope everyone is doing great! We had a good week. Although we didn't have a ton of time in our own area we tried to make sure we used it wisely. We were able to have a Family Home Evening with a couple families in the ward and take Ademir and his family. It worked out pretty well and they really enjoyed it. But later in the week they found out that they had to move out of their old house. So they moved out last week. It was quick and so we have not been able to meet with them since then. We are hoping to catch up with them this week. He was also offered a job in a different area so they were thinking they would leave the area. They were really progressing well and had decided to be baptized. I love that family. We are hoping they stay but if they leave we hope they continue to go to church and meet with the missionaries. This past week we also taught Guilharme again and he went to church. We are working towards baptism with him also. But he does have some family that are trying to talk him out of it. They do no want him to change because they do not want to feel they need to change I think. But all we can do is teach and invite so the spirit can testify and then they have to make the choice. We also helped Adriano(our baptism from a couple weeks ago) move into his new house. He and Samara get married on April 22 and so he moved into a new house so it would be all ready after they get married. I love that guy. Transfers are April 11 so I hope that I am able to stay one more transfer so I can be his witness at his wedding. I am stoked for that but if the Lord sends me elsewhere I know that is where I am supposed to be.

At Adriano's new home.

Hugo, an awesome guy from our ward who is preparing for his mission. Goes on a lot of splits with us.

 This past week I also visited every single area in the district. Our district is the biggest in the mission( in area and # of companionships) so that took a lot of time(to walk to some of the areas would take 2- 2.5 hours just to get to one area). So we spent a lot of time on the bus. haha I challenged the district to find someone whom they felt could benefit from a visit from us. I went and talked with each companionship to see how they are doing in their area and then did the "gato gordo" (the new technique that we have for making contacts) together to see how it was going and to practice. Then we visited the people they had felt we should. It is good because we all have different talents and perspectives so by doing that we learn from each other and improve. But we had a couple great days. Thursday I visited  Horto B and things went well. On Friday I went to a couple areas Interlagos B, Anhanguera and Horto A. In Anhanguera I was supposed to do a baptism interview. Right before I got there the guy called the Elders and cancelled. He said he was having doubts and was not sure he wanted to be baptized anymore. I was already almost there and I had a strong feeling to just go visit him anyway and see what his doubts were about. So we went, prayed with him and spoke with him about a few things he had questions about, then ended up interviewing him and he got baptized. It was a pretty great experience. Made me super happy to see him make that decision. Not that its another baptism for them or the zone or for the mission but It made me super happy to see him make the decision to follow the straight and narrow path, regardless of the fear of change or difficulties with families or friends. He chose to follow our Savior rather than give into the adversary. That makes me happy. In Interlagos B area I was able to talk to an investigator named Vera about the importance of marriage. It went well and so she has decided to start the process toward being able to get married. So that was good step forward! Also had an interview in Horto A with a lady named Iris. That also was a great interview and we both left feeling the spirit strongly I think. It was awesome. Lots of miracles happened last week in the district which was sweet! Most of the missionaries in my district are sisters and I have a great respect for them. They work hard. There are only 4 Elders in our district - my companionship and another one. We work very hard too but the sisters set the bar high!! haha I am thankful for them all. The week was awesome. I learned alot and I hope I was able to help them learn a lot too. This next week we will have interviews with president so I am super excited for that!

With  Elder Little and Hugo in Anhanguera for baptism interview 

Walking to an appt and saw these random pineapple plants

With Sister Hanson and Adão in their area for an interview

I want to share a couple scriptures this week with you that I have been thinking a lot about lately. The first one is Alma 37:37:
"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."
And the second is Moroni 7:48
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."
I think that sometimes we take prayer a little too lightly. It is a great blessing to be able to speak and receive answers and comfort from our Heavenly Father. Christ was our example in this too. He prayed always in all things - when grateful, when he needed strength, for comfort. We should follow that example. Everyone should take advantage of prayer in every moment in our lives. God has created a plan for us and He knows what we are passing through. Jesus Christ does too, He suffered not only for all of our sins but also for our difficulties. We can pray to Him for any type of help and I know He will provide us with an answer to our challenges. It may not be on our time schedule but it will come in the right moment. We have to listen for our answers too, listen for that still small voice.. In 1 Kings 19:11-12, it says
"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."

It is so important to be humble enough to know that we cannot do this without Him. We need to know that we depend on Him, and we need to recognize the special opportunity we hold every time we have the chance to say a prayer. We have a direct line to our Heavenly Father but if we don't do it with humility or sincerity, it wont make it past the ceiling. I love you all and I testify to each and everyone of you that Christ lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer. Joseph Smith was called of God to restore His Church and we again have the authority of Christ here on the earth. We have a living prophet, his name is Thomas S. Monson and we will have the opportunity to listen to him share the will of the Lord on the first week of April. I invite you all to listen in! If you are not familiar with it, you can learn more about it by looking up General Conference April 2017 @ lds.org

Some pictures this week from our district meeting thanks to Sister Cardoso who took my camera.

The Sisters in my district - Cardoso, Dimartini, Adão, Hansen, Ostler, W. Silva, Costa (in the back), and Ence.

Elders in my District - Elder Little, Hugo, and Vasconsoles.  Then Elder Costa (ZL) and me.

Chatting and having some refreshments before District mtg.

Love you all! Have a great week.
Elder Davis

Obedience brings blessings

Multizone Meeting with President & Sis. Bangerter

Oi-

Hope everyone is doing great and had a good week. Man was this past week awesome but tiring! Elder Vasconcelos, my new companion is doing great! We worked sooooo hard this week! This past week we taught a lot of lessons! We had a multizone Conference one day but still got in a bunch of lessons for the week. He has been willing to work and work so that is great! We would come home and I would get my calls done to the companionships in the district and then we were out. We were beat! But the week was great. Where can I start? haha. I will just hit the highlights.Tuesday we had a lesson with a friend of a member named Guilharme! He is super awesome. He has a great sense of humor and is really humble. He is progressing quickly as we teach him. He came to church for the second time this past week! So that made us pretty happy! We will be talking with him tonight again, and we will be marking a baptism date with him! We also visited Ademirs family this past week (Ademir, Carol, Luciana and Gabriel/Antonio). We marked dates for baptism with them as 25th of march. Ademir and Luciana need to get married so we still have some things that have to happen before that but we are moving forward. Ademir is also striving to change some habits. He is truly ready to change and it's amazing me how much he loves his Savior and wants to change to not only help his body but also his family and do right in the sight of the Lord. We attended the baptism of a member's daughter and took one of our investigators with us so they could see what it was like. She was baptized by her dad and it was not in a font but a pool in a yard. That was a first for me. .Adriano who we baptized a few weeks ago asked me to be one of the two witnesses for his wedding. I felt honored and was super stoked about that. I am more excited to see them get sealed in the temple a year from now. It would be awesome if I could go! Campinas temple is about 15 minutes from my area now but is actually in a different mission.

Baptism of a Member's daughter

With Erico Dos Anjos and members of the ward and family that attended the Baptis

Getting set up for the Baptism

 Got to share this with you because I know Dad will get a good laugh. I didn't end up going to the Dr. for the dog bite. When I talked with Sis. Bangerter she said it would ultimatelybe a waste of time to go because unless you were showing major symptoms they would not give you any shots. There was another missionary that got bit and when he went, they would not give him a shot or anythng. They said just to watch to see if the dog died in the next ten days. haha Maybe after I graduate I need to come down here and be a PA. :)

With Elder Cifuentes (from my 1st zone), & Elder Sander at multizone mtg. (with Sis. Bangerter photobombing in the back!)

With Elder Azevedo @ multizone

At Multizone with Sister Janser (she was in my first zone)

With Elder Pontes

With Elder Soares - one of the new missionaries. Awesome guy!

With Elder Gomes (previous ZL) and Elder Sander

With Elder Waters

With Sister Dimartini and Elder Ricarte (ZL) - in life there is always reason to look up!

We had about 38 lessons this past week. We found a lot of new people to teach and that was awesome because as we all know that everything changes - we lose some and gain some so you have to always be working to find those looking for the truth. We were blessed to find a lot of good people to teach. It makes me so happy to find those people. To not only find more people so we have people to teach but to find those children of God who are just waiting for the gospel that will bless their lives and the lives of their family for eternity. I love thinking about Gods Plan. The experiences of life, even the small and simple things that happen to us, can bring us joy and make us happy. Each experience can be an opportunity to grow. Sometimes we may think why did this happen but we need to think about how we can use that experience to grow and to bless the lives of others. Life is good, we should enjoy it and make the most of the opportunities we are given. 

President taking a selfie with me and two sisters (Sis. C.Silva & Cardoso) from my district. 

Receive a missionary of excellence certificate = mandatory photo with Pres & Sis. Bangerter. Love them!

 Like I said we also had multizone this past week and it was awesome. I loved it. I always love seeing Elder Sander and all my friends but also love getting the opportunity to talk to President and give him a hug. He is literally the best mission president in the world! The assistants talked to us about a new weekly planning schedule that is "powerful". It was a great new way that we can look at weekly planning. It focuses on how we can recognize our investigators' needs and plan it all in an organized way so we can complete the will of the Lord. President also talked about obedience. It was pretty awesome.

President's object lesson about "hitting our targets"

The spiritual thought for this week is two things. First what my president talked about. "Obedience brings blessings but 100% obedience or perfect obedience brings and does miracles." Sometimes we think the small things are not of much importance but as we do the small things everyday, we will start to see the change in our vision of everyday life and we will also start to see the hand of the Lord more in our life. He is always there but if we are distracted, we will miss those tender and precious moments that will strengthen our testimonies and keep us on the path. Second, I know that God has a plan for each one of us. Sometimes I think, why did this thing happen to me or why didn't this thing happen for me. But the problem is that our thoughts or ways are not the same as Gods (Isaiah 58). His ways are perfect and glorious. He sees the whole picture. How we handle those simple and small things that happen to us affects the whole plan. I think of it like being in traffic - sometimes there is an accident or construction or something that makes you take a longer way or a different way you did not want to originally take. But by taking that way He puts someone in your path that you need to help that you wouldn't have found if it weren't for those challenges or obstacles. We should look at those small things as a blessing in our lives or as an opportunity to bless the lives of others rather than something to complain about. Our Heavenly Father lives, He loves us and watches over us. Christ lives, He is my Savior and my Redeemer. He suffered for my sins and for my difficulties. He knows what I am passing through and helps me daily. He loves each and everyone of us. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of Jesus Christ. The one and only true church. We have the same authority (priesthood) that Christ had in his day, here on the earth again.The Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God. With the Bible and the Book of Mormon, we have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and is a prophet in this latter days. He translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God and we have a prophet here on earth today in these latter days. His name is Thomas S. Monson. He receives revelation for each and everyone of us. He is God's mouthpiece and we should listen to everything he says and apply it in our lives. Each and everyone of us has worth in the sight of God and He will always be on our side walking with us. Remember that each and everyone is a child of God and we should follow Christ's example and help one another along the path. I love you all and have a great week!
Elder Davis

Gato Gordo

Working with the Zone Leaders - Elder Costa & Ricarte

Oi-

Hope everyone is doing great! I am going to have to make this quick. Wow this week was crazy busy! I know I say that every week but every week really is! One day I had to go to a different area to do an interview and had to walk an hour and a half to the interview and an hour and a half back. It is was out there! haha I don't have to worry about putting on weight here - we walk it all off. This week was spent mostly on working hard to find new people to teach. We are working hard to really connect with people and understand their individual needs and concerns. So when we are trying to make new contacts we try to start conversations with people by asking them questions of what they are looking for in life or what they would like to have that they do not have. Here in the mission they call that the Gato Gordo (which translated is the Fat Cat - not sure why it is called that but yeah that is what it is called! :P ) So we did a lot of knocking of doors this week and were asking people what they felt they were lacking that would bring more joy or happiness in their lives. We get a lot of different answers some say something like a job, health, or more peace in their home. Whatever anyone says it is pretty easy to apply it to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is so complete and as I study and share it I realize how really all answers can be found within the gospel. We are so blessed to have so many resources to guide us in choices but also help solve problems and be better. When we hear people talk about wanting better health we share with them the word of wisdom and the blessings of the priesthood. When people talk about needing a job or a better job we talk to them about blessings that come through tithing, putting the Lord first, we also share the ldsjobs website and the autoefficiency classes the church offers here. When they talk about wanting peace in their homes we talk about forever families and how to be one, Family Home Evening, also principles with promise and the organizations within the church that help families grow individually and together. The list just goes on and on.. We all know those things but we sometimes take for granted how complete the gospel of Jesus Christ is. If we live the gospel so many things in our lives will improve and become better. We really don't have to look elsewhere in the world for answers - the gospel has the answers. After speaking with them we invite them to church and if they come to church we know that they are serious about wanting to change and to find answers. Then we are able to teach them based on their individual needs and concerns. It is an awesome approach because it is focused on individuals.

It is still rainy season and rains almost every day. Sometimes the rain helps us out a little because as we were knocking doors people are very kind and want us to come in out of the rain which gives us an opportunity to talk to them. Double blessings! :) Brazilian people are super awesome. They are a very generous and kind people. I love that about them. One day we knocked doors all morning and didn't get in one door, which is not normal. But we kept the faith and kept on going. It wasn't until later that night it all worked out. Sometimes things are rocky at first but if we keep going forward strong with faith, it will smooth out and everything will work out the way it is supposed to! So that night we surprisingly found about 5 people who are not members but are family of less active members. They all came to church on Sunday and we also had 4-5 other people that went who had been there last week from our contacts doing gato gordo. So we had a pretty good group at church. We are teaching a family that is super cool. Carol, Luciana, Gabriel and the dad Ademir. So Ademir is really never really home but we have taught carol (14 yrs), luciana (the mom) and gabriel (9 yrs). They are all doing great with the lessons. They had questions about the need for proper authority in the priesthood and the restoration but they understand now that no one can just be a prophet or establish a church, you have to be called of God and have the AUTHORITY to do so. Anyway, it was a tough but great week. This next week we will have a multizone on Wednesday so it will be great to see all the mission friends and Elder Sander again.

This week's thought is a scripture about Nephi and the Liahona. There is so much we can learn from Nephi's example. 1 nefi 16:28-30.

28 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them.
29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things.
30 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given upon the ball.

The three things that were needed for the Liahona to work are also needed for the spirit to work in our lives; faith, diligence and heed or attention. We need to have those things daily. We need to have faith in God which leads us to pray & search the scriptures to know His will for us. Then we have to be diligent in this seeking to know and to repent and be better. because sometimes it does not come right away. Then we have to give heed to it by following the promptings we get when it does come. Those three simple things will help us accomplish many great things. I want you all to know that I know that God lives, Christ lives. He atoned for our sins and was resurrected. He is always with us and will always love us. We have a loving Heavenly Father and He knows us each individually. One day, we will return and live with Him again if we follow the straight path which he has set for us. I know that to be true. Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Elder Davis

After 9 months of avoiding it I fell victim to one of the dangers of missionary work -dog bites! haha

Principles with Promise

With the APs  and Elder Sander at Leadership Meeting

Oi todos-

This past week went by super fast. We had a great week. Carnival started and everybody left the small city where we are because there is nothing to do in our area that fits the "carnival crazy" party requirements. haha It is pretty mild where we are. It was tough to find anyone in their house or get them to answer the door but we gave it a shot. Didn't get much done in respect to teaching but it's all good! We have transfers tomorrow and I am staying in my area! My companion is leaving for the zone that I was in before coming here (Pirassununga). We kind of thought that my companion probably would be leaving, so we made the best of the week. It was awesome. My new companion will be Elder Vasconsales.

With Elder Sander & Passos at Leadership Meeting. Passos finished his mission.

This past Tuesday, we had another leadership meeting in Piracicaba. It was nice to see President again and all the friends of the mission that are zone and district leaders. Got to see Elder Sander and Elder Passos. Elder Passos is returning to his house tomorrow, he finished his mission. He is from Recife which is about a 3 hour flight from Sao Paulo. I think people do not realize how big Brasil is. Recife is not even on the most northern part of Brasil but he said if you drove by car it would take like 35 hours to get to his house from Piracicaba. So it would be like going from Charlotte to Utah or something like that. Brasil is so huge!! The meeting was great. President talked a lot about teaching principles with a promise and how to better teach our investigators that in order to feel the truthfulness of gospel principles they need to live them and reap the promises that come with obedience to them. He also spoke about how we need to help others by showing an example. Some questions he asked us to personally ask ourselves that I want to share with you is "Can we expect others to do the right thing if we aren't doing it ourselves? Can we expect to have everything go well when we aren't doing all we can? Are we helping others through our example? If others aren't doing the right thing do you follow their example or are you their example?" We often are worried about what others are doing and what they shouldn't be doing but really we need to focus on our example and choices. We need to let them see us enjoying the blessings of obedience. We can all help others through our example and that almost always speaks louder than our words. We all know that when we choose how to act or be it should based on what Christ would have us do rather than what is accepted by others. But it is not always easy. We need to do our best to represent Him in every moment, every place and every word and action. It was a great meeting that inspired me to reach a little higher and be a little better.

President Bangerter

After Leadership Mtg.

Thursday we had a zone meeting to relay the info we got from the leadership meeting and that went well. A sister in our District, Sister Araujo is ending her mission this week so we had a little party for her and took a zone picture. We had a zone t-shirts made and got them this past meeting so of course we had to get a photo with the t-shirts on.

Zone meeting - in our new zone t-shirts

With Elder Miki from our Zone

Sister Burbank and I at zone Meeting

Sister Cardoso trying to prove she has "grown"and is a spiritual giant

Last week of lunches with this guy

After lunch we learned how to call and feed the chickens.  Picking up all kinds of skills here.

Elder Vieira using his super powers...haha

Which one of these is not like the other? Got bit by something and this happened...

So my spiritual thought this week goes along with what President said about obedience on Tuesday. It is D&C 82:10.

"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

That scripture is a great reminder to all of us of the great blessings and promises that are there for us if we obey. I have a testimony of that - we have to have the faith to live the principle and then we will see the promised blessings come into our lives. Make it a great week!


Love you all!

Elder Davis

Make a Difference

Loving the Mission!

Hey Everybody-

Hope the past week has been great for everyone. Our week was the usual crazy busy week. We worked extra hard on Tuesday to get in a lot of good visits because we found out that I needed to go to Piracicaba on Wednesday. Adriano was one of the people we visited and we marked a baptism date with him that day. He got baptized this past Saturday. Irmão Lima, a member in our ward & the dad of his girlfriend, baptized him. Adriano is so awesome and will be a great strength in the church! He was super excited and happy. I am sure that he will be a blessing to everyone in the church because he has a pure heart with pure intentions. He is a selfless type of guy that wants to help everyone and likes to share what he knows to help everyone get on and stay on the path to righteousness!

Meeting with Adriano at the home of the Lima Family with Elder Costa our Zone Leader.

Getting the font ready for Adriano's baptism

Love this guy! What a great example he is!

At Adriano's baptism-with Elder Vieira, Adriano, Samara, Irmão Lima

So Wednesday we went to Piracicaba for me to take out my CPF for Brasil. A CPF is a number that is assigned to you that identifies you and is needed for basically everything you do. Kind of like a social security number at home. It was awesome because I got to see all the other Americans in the mission. It was great to talk with them and see how they were doing! There are not too many of us so we are kind of spread out everywhere. Also got to spend the day with President there so that was awesome. I love that man. He is a great example to me.

On the way to Piracicaba - a nice change from walking everywhere.

My district grabbing some food together on PDay

Unfotunately after getting home from Piracicaba my companion and I both got sick on the same day and had to stay home Thursday and Friday. But Saturday made up for it and was the best day because Adriano was baptized! I am so grateful that I got to teach him. He is a pretty incredible guy. We are still working with Kethlyn and Selena. Things are going good with them and they have set the first week in March for their baptisms so we are working towards that. There are a few challenges with their families but I have faith that it will all work out.

Setting up for ward activity

Faith Walk at Ward Activity

Adriano at Ward Activity

Celebrating Elder Vieira's birthday at  Irmã Diogo's home

We also had a ward activity this week which was great - kind of like a faith walk. Then on Sunday it was Elder Vieira's birthday so we went to Sister Diogo's house for dinner and to celebrate his birthday. The best present of the day for all of us was Adriano being confirmed. His example has definitely strengthened my testimony. No matter where we are on the path to Christ we can contribute and bless others lives. Whether we are just learning about the gospel and making a change in our lives as new members or if we have been in the church our whole lives, we all can make a difference for someone. He has made a difference for me and hopefully l have made a difference for him. We each are given gifts and talents that make it possible to make a difference for someone. We all grow when we share them. We need to not think others know more or have more experience or do not need our help. Everyone needs help and everyone needs to be strengthened. It is important to have pure intentions, share what we have and try to help others stay on the right path back to our Lord and Savior. By doing that we will stay on the right path. I hope that everyone has a great week!

Take Care,

Elder Davis

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.