So I just got in here and was expecting a bunch of emails but all that was there was a letter from mum. Any family can email me. I'd love to hear how you are all doing.
THANKS FOR ALL THE PACKAGES! Holy cow! I got 6 packages in 2 days haha. You guys are awesome. Someone amazoned me most of the stuff from the list I assume it was Heed via parents but who knows. And the alison sent a ton of food and 6 frisbees haha I dont know what to do with them. I put them in a basket that was in my room and now they function as a sort of centerpiece. We did throw around a little bit for exercise time this morning. I dont know how soon we'll be doing that again. It was my companions idea but he didnt really know what was going on. Plus I need to keep getting huge in the gym haha just kiding I do like 7 pushups and then spend the rest of my gym time getting un winded. I got one letter this week it was a dear elder from Alison and it came on friday I think. I dont know when you sent it or how much it cost but that should give you a feel for time that it takes. So feel free to let me know how you're all doing in one way or another.
Companion summary for everyone interested: Elder C. Half hispanic but you wouldnt know it from looking at him. From southern california (asperia). He has been out for 14 months. He is obsessed with machinery. Like trucks bulldozers lawnmowers planes helicpoters. etc etc etc He is always talking about machinery or whatever we see on the road and I sort of listen. We thankfully got removed from being office elders this week. That way I can focus on learning how to do actual missionary work. We were doing a lot of other jobs. They are taking the truck away too! I am pretty happy about it to be honest. It made my companion the one who loves machinery sad but I am happy we get to be normal missonaries. We work sort of hard but I dont feel like we are as going as hard as we can or as I want to. I try to kind of push us and keep us going. That leads to a lot of ... "well this is how missionary work actually is" moments. Sometimes I want to have this is how my knuckles taste moments but then I say a quiet prayer and father in heaven softens my heart. My companion has a tough week. I need to be support for him and not be another pressure adding stress. BUT I am not goint to stop trying to get us to work harder.
So I'll jump right in to what I did in the last week I guess.
I went on 2 exchanges this week back to back. That means I swap companions for 24 hours. I have to do it at least 5 times a transfer because my companion is the district leader. once with each of the other 4 missionaries in the district and then again with one of the Zone Leaders. So I was gone from my apartment for a full 48 or some odd hours. It was fun. I spoke more to people in spanish during those two weeks than I had before that. We also knocked a lot more doors than I had with my companion. I am currently contemplating what direction to take this letter so I will just go with whatever comes into my mind. So we dont actually tract in this mission. Ok now you can all pick your jaws up off the floor and dust yourselves off. They have implemented a new contacting technique and we are the second trial mission. What we do is called prayer finding. We basically walk around the neighborhood or apartment complex and know on whichever doors we feel like we should and then we introduce ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ and we tell them that we would like to leave a blessing on their home. We go in chat with them and ask them if they could ask the savior for a blessing what would it be then we offer an actual priesthood blessing pray for the blessing pray for the members of the family and ask for the spirit and peace to be poured out on their home. It's pretty cool. We get invited in lots. If it feels right we teach maybe one principle and set a return time to teach a lesson. The blessing really softens people hearts its amazing. And if the person that answers the door is english we typically just ask them if they know where any hispanics live. Surprisingly many people aren't weirded out by that question at all. The first time I was shown what to do we didnt offer a priesthood blessing we just prayed then I read the sheet about it and realized that we were supposed to offer it through priesthood authority. I offered one with the priesthood for the first time yeaterday. We were in a trailer park with an amazing family. Lots of trailers we see are run down and dirty unkept. But the family we were meeting with were currently remodling the outside all the walls. The inside was small but it was very tidy and nice. It was a husband and wife and two young sons. The oldest of which has downs syndrome and they are the sweetest people. The father talked a little bit while we were just chatting and he was teaching some pretty powerful principles of strong character. He asked us to pray that his oldest son would be able to communicate. When I opened the blessing and asked for the saviors peace and spirit to be in the home tehre was an overwhealming wave of the spirit that just poured into the home. It was amazing. It was noticeably different than the times we had just said a prayer. I really hope they felt the same way I did. I cant express the feeling with words.
We are still teaching the family of six and the mom is still holding them back a little. Our ward mission leader WHO IS AWESOME is giong to come with us to teach them this week and give them (the mom) a talk about marriage. Hopefully that gives her the desire to get married and baptized because they are all doing awesome and want to be baptized. The dad is so sweet. He always asks us questions about the scriptures and then receives answers to his questions. It happens all the time. He is so ready and excited.
Ok I will get to the strange slash funny stuff. It happens every day. I figured I could start a series of weekly columns. I dont know how it will go If they will continue or how they will morph and progress but we will give it a shot.
Roadkill story of the week: there was a dead cat in the parking lot of kroger. It was basically flat. Parallel to the concrete.
Classic arkansas moment of the week. I biked past a dead armadillo. Almost hit it. Thought it was a possum till my companion enlightened me.
Crazy person that I talked to of the week: walking through an apartment complex and this guy approaches us and says he wants us to talk to him. He was VERY CLEARLY super drunk and on multiple kinds drugs most likely. I think his name was McMarcus We told him we taught spanish people and asked if he knew any. He told us that wasnt nice and that he needed help just as much as spanish people. Then he told us he has the oldest bible in the world back at his apartment and he offered to have us come over and learn the truth. He also told us if anybody tries to shoot us when we knock on their door to tell them we know McMarcus and they wont "[mess] with us" That was quite comforting. If I ever end up in a tussle its nice to know hes got my back. Hopefully I get a chance to check out that bible sometime. I bet its pretty cool.
Socially retarded moment of the week: I knocked on door nobody answered for a while so we were about to leave. My companion took a phone call while I went to put a pass along card in his door. As I am bending the pass along card to put it between the doorknob and the door frame the door opens up and I am like ... uhh ... Hola como esta? and he goes ummm good. hahaha it was a 20 year old white guy ..... his name was keith .... there is no whiter name then keith. There just isnt.
Boss moment of the week: this dog totally barked and me and I didnt even wince.
Thanks for the food. Dont hesitate to let the food keep coming. we share all the weekly groceries we buy and as a group we arent very smart with our money. I will try to guide that to iprovement.
AND WRITE ME cumon...
There are a lot more things I could write about but There are tons of people around in the mission office waiting for computers.
Love elder Davidson
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