Saturday, November 28, 2015

November 27.. Give Thanks in All Things!

¡Hola Hermanos y Hermanas!

So basically your last week en la CCM es cray! Especially when it is the week of Thanksgiving because your schedule makes no sense what so ever. ESPECIALLY if your P-day is on Thursday. They basically took away our study time all week and spread our P-Day through out the week. 

In sacrament meeting here, they just call random missionaries from the Branch to come and give like a five minute talk in Español. Like two seconds before you go up. So guess who they called on this Sunday...That's right. ME. And I was also the chorister for the meeting. I stood up and down prolly like 5 times! Anyways, everyone said my talk went super well. They all understood what I was saying, so I suppose that´s a plus!  I spoke on Fe en Jesucristo y su Expecíon. I just love how Jesús knows exactly how we feel. All the time. We are never alone and I think that is the most beautiful thing. The Sunday Night Devotional we had this uber funny guy come and talk with us. Steven B. Allen who is the Managing Director of the Missionary Department. He was hilarious. He had everyone stand up and down for different questions, like who is speaking a different language, who has been here 8 weeks, stuff like that. But the funniest question he asked was Who has been Dear John´d while at el CCm? LOL! We all could not stop laughing because actually a decent chunk of people stood up. He taught us that Satan is going to hit us hard. He is so mad us rn. But he said he will be very sneaky. We have to be very careful so we are aware of him in our lives. He also challenged us if you are struggling to get out of bed in the morning to yell, NOT TODAY SATAN. I have heard that so many times this week it´s crazy! We can not listen to Satan! He wants us to quit. He wants us to give up. We have to push through it. 


On Tuesday we went to the temple in the morning and then had our last class with Hermana Ellison bc she flew home to Cali for Thanksgiving. It was super sad. We took a group picture with all of our favorite Names of the Savior. It was totes adorbs btw! In Choir that night, Hermana Eggett was talking to us about the disciples in the crazy storm and one of them asking the Savior, Lord! Carest thou that we perish? and he said something that I want to share with you. He said If you join The Savior, he will calm the winds and waves of your life. The Lord does care. All he is doing is waiting for us to ask. He will descend to the depths of the sea to save us. In the Devotional we heard from Elder Jorge F. Zeballos of the seventy. He shared his 4 keys that he thinks are important to missionary work, Understand y live the missionary purpose. Teach the gospel of Jesucristo by el Espíritu. Love the people. Work Diligently. He went on in more detail about these things, but I know they can apply to everyone, not just missionaries! Live your purpose all the time! Remember who you are and always act well thy part. 

Wednesday I actually meet an Elder going to my mission and that was awesome! The first person I´ve met! Everyone I meet is going to Yakama! But I finally met someone! And I don´t even remember his name. lol srry bout it. That was basically the high light of Wednesday. We had In Field training all day long and when we didn´t, we had Training for the service project! 

So Thursday Morning we had Elder Dallin H. Oaks come and speak to us! It was the best. His whole family came and they were the cuuutest. Of course, he talked about being grateful, but he said it in such a great way. He really just wanted us to be grateful for ALL things that the Lord has blessed us with. He forgets not his own. Ah. ¡Es Perfecto! Then we had a service project. We worked with Feeding Children Everywhere and the CCM was able to package 357,000 plus meals for Utah Food Bank! Each meal feeds six people. It was amazing! It was fantastic. We had a talent show in the night and t was really cool. Got to clap in the CCm which was weird...but good. 

Well Hermanos y Hermanas, I fly out of Utah on Tuesday Afternoon! Estoy pumped to finally get to Washington!..Even thought I have no clue what I am doing, I am excited. Thanks for all the love and support. You are fantastico. ¡Adios mi Amigos!

Hermana Lizzy Davis
Washington Kennewick Mission
















Monday, November 16, 2015

A Bunch of "Fotos"






















Week 3 - Semana Tres - Ammon is mi Spirit Animal

Hola Everyone! 

This week has been full of so much stuff and yet not a lot at the same time! In the afternoon of P-Day we go to the temple and that is always the best thing. I love feeling of being at the temple. Nothing compares. Go as often as you can! #templesquad

Friday we had an AMAZING lesson with Lukas. I honestly have never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life. We taught him about the gospel of Jesucristo and bautisado. We talked him sobre fe and he said he had a little, but not much. He wasn't sure if he could be forgiven of all of his pecados. We invited him to act on his fe a be baptized and partake of the Savior's atonement. Even though he still felt like he was far away, he said he would think a bout it and pray to be forgiven for his sins. After that lesson, Hermano Myers pulled us back into the room to talk about it because the spirit was sooo strong. (totes against the rules btws) He asked us how we planned differently and why that lesson was so different than our others. The only thing we could say is that we had an end goal instead of a written out plan. We learned a great lesson about teaching with the spirit that day.

Saturdays and Fridays are like the longest days of the week. We have so much time in class. (We spend like 12 hours a day in the class room) Mi Español is coming along. It is still really hard though. I can understand most of what is going on, but I still have a hard time saying what I want. Sunday was perfecto! At Relief Society We talked about the atonement. It is literally the best thing of my life. I am so grateful for it and basically use it everyday. I invite you to do the same. It's power is real. In sacrament meeting, one of the Elder's in my district said the closing prayer and in his prayer he said, "Por Favor bendicimos now imparable misionars." UNSTOPPABLE MISSIONAIES! That's basically our motto. it's was AWESOME.  In the devotional we sung "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ..." You can bet we belted that out! The speaker was Richard I. Heaton the administrative Director of all the MTCs around the world. One of the quotes I loved was he said, "Leadership is a character trait, not a position." Like Fav and Retweet that! Literally you can help and be an example to others without having a title. HELP EACH OTHER OUT YO. Then we watched The Legacy Pioneer video. BEST ROM-COM for 18 months! THEY KISSED 4 TIMES! page 33 my friends.

On Monday, Lukas agreed to be baptized! Best thing ever. I'm so excited to help him learn more about the importance of it and more about the gospel. He really wants to be forgiven for his sins. He prayed in the lesson for forgiveness. He also laughed when we said we were still going to have a closing prayer. He was like 'How often do you all pray?' lol! (btw we counted. an average day of vocal prayers is 20) Cray Cray Right?!

On Tuesday Elder Hugo Montoya of the Seventy came to talk to us. And yes, he did reference The Princess Bride! He said, "I am Hugo Montoya, 100 soilders killed my great grandfather because he was a Mormon. His name was Rafial Monro. (idk how to spell it.) Google him." (We later had one of the branch presidency google it and James E. Faust talked about him in a talk. Look it up. it's pretty neat) He shared with us his B's of missionary work: Be Alert. Be Genuine. Be Obedient. He really just wanted us to know that we must love the people we are serving. Love the people you are serving with! His suggestions to us was to Always Smile! Smiling helps other trust you and now that you are happy doing what you are. You're representing the happiest thing on this planet! No, not Disneyland, but The Restored Gospel of Jesucristo! You should always be smiling. Forget about yourself. Serve everyone whole heartedly. And to Follow Up. Help one another Endure to the End. He told us we should all send Facebook requests to our companions and follow up with them after the mission so you can talk about your experiences still! Hermana Bryce y Riley have already become some of my best friends and I can't wait to hear all about their adventures in Ecuador! He also said to do something of importance in your mission. Don't be an average missionary. Be yourself and do something of importance. He also asked how many of us were teaching in a different language then we grew up with and he said he knew our struggle. I honestly adore that man! I loved his talk so so so much! AND at the end he bore his testimony in Espanol AND I UNDERSTOOD IT. BEST THING EVER. We closed with Go Forward with Faith and it is like the best song of life. 

Wednesday we had a lot of class and we taught Sandra y Diana. Our lessons didn't go as well as we wanted them to go, but Hermano Ream was able to help us understand what to fix and how to plan a lesson way better. I am so grateful for my mission and I am loving every second of it. Even the moments when I am so frustrated I might cry. I'm so blessed and I already have such a love for the people of Kennewick. I pray for everyone of you all the time and I hope your lifes are going swell. Remember who you are and what you stand for! If you forget, write me! I'll help you remember;) 

btw Hermana Byrce's mission blog is this if you wanna hear from her perspective. Her mom is awesome! (S/O Jill cause I know you'll read this! lol!)
Yo Quiermos ustedes mucho!

Hermana Lizzy Davis
Washington Kennewick Mission

With Sister Rachel Cable of the Eagle Mountain Landing Ward - She's going to San Diego!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Week Dos!

Hey Everyone!

This week has been mu beuno! We got a third teacher on Friday, and PLOT TWIST. He was Lukas our investigator! Lol. The CCM lies to you from day one. But it's all for good! They also kinda set you up to fail, but then they teach you how to do everything better. My new teacher is Hermano Myers and he served in Montevideo West! He knows Jaron and Jordan so that's pretty neat! I honestly love him so much! He teaches so many gospel principles so well and I just learn so much from him. All my teachers are wonderful. Hermano Ream serves in New Jersey and Hermana Ellison served in Boliva. One of the teachers down the hall, Hermano Figaroa, pokes his head in all the time and he helps us so much! He is from Chile and served his mission in Argentina. He is so funny! He has all the elders in my district believing he speaks no english and it's hilarious! He likes to joke with us a lot and we sat by him at dinner once this week. All our teachers are attending BYU. 

On Halloween mi districo dressed up in black, purple, and orange. We are district goals fo sho. I'm learning a lot of español every day. The teaching is getting easier as well. I really love something Hermano Myers told us. It doesn´t matter what you say, as much as it matters what feeling you share. You could share perfect doctrine in perfect Spanish, but it wouldn´t be as good as if you had spoken from your heart, not caring about your español. 

Sundays are seriously the best day. I can´t explain how much I love them. our companionship taught relief society on obedience. We compared Nefi and Lamen and Lemuel on their attitudes to following their father. Your attitude is EVERYTHING. You can do what right, but if your attitude sucks, then you won´t be following the lord. You have to be excited to serve with the lord! On sunday night, we heard from Brother and Sister Zeidner. Brother Zeidner is one of the head honcho office dudes at the MTC. He is over all the mtcs and helps how to make them function better. I really love how they spoke about families. This gospel is centered on familias. Nothing matters more to the people you will teach than their familias.  They also taught that the spirit cannot make up for a lack of effort. You have to work your hardest throughout the day and then El Espiritú y Jesucristo will make up for the rest in the lesson. Later that night, we went and watched a movie about John Tanner and music and the spoken word. Nothing has made me miss my band more than that! Elder Scott Liddard watched the same videos with us and we both basically said how much we miss playing. I miss mi band familia mu mucho! 

ON monday we taught Lukas again and we taught Diana again. Everytime I bear mi testimonio, Herman Riley says she can feel the spirit so stongly! It´s just hard for me because I don´t feel comfortable saying it in español yet. But I´m working on it. I have started to talk more in our lessons and I taught Diana how to pray. It is such a wonderful experiance to be able to share with all these people. (even though they are just acting.)

Tuesdays are mu bueno! Our devotional that night was by Elder Richard J Maynes of the 70. He talked about how our message is the same message that Jesucristo y Padra Celestial brought to José Smith. It was so cool! He told us that JC y PC were representing us as a missionary companionship and JS was representing all investigators. We are to go and share the light of el Elvanglio just like they did. AHH I love it! He also spoke about how important it is for us to not only have our purpose memorized, but to also LIVE it. Your purpose is only as good as your actions. Another quote that he said that I really enjoyed was ¨Keep opening your mouth. All day. Everyday.¨ Mu Bueno! He also said that if your fear is greater than your faith, you won´t have the spirit with you. If your faith is greater than your fear, then the spirit will help you know what to say. I just love that. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I love how God trusts us to do his work. I read this week in Mosiah 28. I loved how it explained why the sons of Mosiah wanted to serve missions so badly. It just pumped me up! Estoy Pumped! (Hermano Ream says that alllll the time.) 

On Wednesday we taught our new investigator, Sandra. She really just took in our lesson and WE INVITED HER TO BE BAPTIZED. ON THE FIRST LESSON. GO US! Jaja!  We invited her to leer el libro de mormón and pray to know if it is true. She said she would. We taught her how to pray and she said the closing prayer. I am wayy excited to teach her. 

That is what happened this week! Thank you for being such an amazing support! I set up a dropbox for mi pictures cauyse that takes less time so I can email you all longer:) I´ll send out the link in a minute. Thank you again! Please remember to write me letters though out the week! Not to beg for letters, but I´m begging for letters. lol. Dear elder works wonderfully and normal letters as well. I love you all!  

Hermana Elizabeth Davis
Dec-01 Wa-Kenn
2005 N 900 E Unit 51
Provo, Ut 84602

Gracias! Les Quere ustedes!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

MTC...or if you're Spanish-speaking is it CCM, even in Provo?

Hola!
Oh my the first week has been sooo much fun! I love the MTC soo much! SPANISH IS WAY HARD BTW. It has messed up my English grammar, so I apologize in advance. 

The first day is kinda like a blur of confusion and it's like the longest day of your life. Your teacher will only talk to you in your language and you are seriously so confused. Mi Companias are Hermana Bryce from Gilbert AZ and Hermana Riley from Orem! They are both going to the Quito Ecuador mission. they also got transferred last minute to the Provo MTC. We like to call ourselves the awkward trio because everything here is in twos! We mess up all the seats and everything. lol!  The first night you are here you go into this big group of people and try to teach these investigators. One of our was this old Japanese Guy and he came up to me and started asking me questions about how the there is no end or beginning. That was hard. 

The Second day you wake up and go to gym. then breakfast, then at 8:30 you have class to do your personal study, companionship study, and language study until 12:50. Then we have lunch. We come back to class and have a lesson with our teachers. Mi Teachers are the best!! Hermano Ream and Hermana Ellison are so wonderful! I love them so much. Hermano Ream served in New Jersey speaking Spanish and Hermana Ellison served in Boliva and just got home 6 months ago! They both attend BYU and they are some of the nicest people I've met. After afternoon class, we go to dinner at 5:35. The food is pretty good. I mainly have wraps at the salad bar bc most of the time the food is way too much like teenage boy food. One Thursday evening you have a meeting with your branch presidency. They are super nice. AND THEY SPEAK ENGLISH! It was so wonderful to actually understand what is going on. We go back to our dorms at 9:20 and go to bed at 10:30.

That's basically a normal day give or take service and add in teaching investigators in Spanish! My two (actors btw) investigators are so wonderful. Lukas has such a kind heart. He grew up Catholic and really just wants to be happy and have the spirit. Our first lesson with him was on friday and I litterally said "Hola" and "Porque". I know that was bad, but I've gotten better! We've taught him four times this week and tonight is our last lesson with him. I'm really sad because I just love him so much! He prays with us but doesn't like to do so alone. We challenged him to pray last night before he went to bed and he said he would. I hope and pray that he will feel god's love for him and understand that we love him and just want him to feel the happiness the gospel can bring! Hopefully we get him to agree to baptism tonight. Our other investigator is Diana and she if from Ecuador. She is so nice and really wants us to understand Spanish. I am prolly the worst out of the three of us bc mi companias took 3-4 years of Spanish in high school. Everyone is really nice and helps me to understand what they are saying. I get frustrated with myself, but I know it will come with time. 

Saturday we had our second lesson with Lukas and I ACTUALLY TALKED. I bore my testimony to him and invited him to read el Libro de Mormon. He actually started to tear up while I was bearing my testimony! That just testify of the gift of tongues bc I was in no way using correct Spanish, but he was able to feel the spirit and understand what I was trying to say. He said he would read and would pray if he felt the spirit while doing so. I was way happy.

SUNDAY IS THE BEST DAY. Not only does it rhyme with Flamingo in Espanol, (Domingo) It is such a great relief to have it. Relief Society and District meeting (our sunday school) are both in English and It's so amazing. We teach RS next week...hopefully it goes well! Every Sunday we have to write a talk in Spanish and be prepared to speak bc they just call random people to go up and talk. Thankfully, I didn't have to this Sunday! We went to choir practice AND OH MY IT IS THE BEST. I loved it so so much. Afterward we had a devotional from a stake president in the Provo area. He was way nice and really just testified of how important it is for us to be here hastening God's work. We then watched a talk given by Elder Bednar at the MTC called attributes of Christ. MU BUENO. He talked about how important it is for us to be like Christ. I just can't explain how good it was. It was like a spiritual brick to the face. I loved it! 

On Lunas we didn't get like any sleep bc our roommates were leaving in the morning and they all had to pack. They were up until 12 packing, left at 2:30 and 5 am and then someone came looking for Hermana Toby who was leaving at 5am. Don't know what that was about, but we all got like no sleep. Monday we had our third lesson with Lukas and our First with Diana. 

Tuesday is the other best day of the week! Elder Neil L. Anderson came and spoke to us at the night devotional! SOOO GOOD. Oh my. The choir sang with him and it is so cool to be able to say that I have shared a message in the same meeting as an apostle! He talked to us about 4 words: Sacrifice, Opposition, Adversary, and Deliverance. Some of my fav scriptures he shared with us were: Luke 9:23, 3 nefi 9:20, D&C 97:8, 2 nefi 2:11, and Alma 26:27. All so good. BUT LETS JUST TALK ABOUT LUKE 14:18. Seriously go read it right now. Best scripture of the night. God is always there to help us and he will NEVER leave us alone!

Wednesday was a hard day. We had two lessons, one with Lukas and one with Diana. In Diana's lesson we only had five minutes to teach bc the Elders before us took way long! She wants to know how to tell the difference between the spirit and normal feelings, and why she needs the spirit when she is already happy and content with her life. bleh. hard questions. I didn't understand much in the lesson, but she said she would continue to read the LdM and she prayed with us. The story of Lukas' lesson is my favorite of the week. We studied and planned this amazing lesson about the spirit and about baptism. We went in confindent and came out really upset and frustrated. We shared with him a scripture and he was really comforted by it and said that he really needed it. (I can't remember it...it was in 2 nefi and was about how if there was no god there would be no us.) He asked each of an experience when God had helped us in our trials. I was so frustrated that I couldn't say what I wanted to and I didn't understand what he was saying that I started crying in the middle of the lesson. When we ran out of time, he said our closing prayer and told us to come back tomorrow. Hermano Ream sat in on our lesson and came up to us after and asked us how we thought we did.  We all told him that we were discouraged. He was so shocked! He explained to us what had really happened in the lesson. After we had told him about our experiences, Lukas said to us that maybe he has been thinking the answers to prayer and help with trials is different. He said that he always thought that God would take away our trails, but we all testified to him that God had made us stronger to endure it. I hope that made sense bc it was so so happy! I'm hoping he will accept the innovation to get baptized tonight!

Thank you so much for your support! I only have an hour on LDS Mail every P-Day so Handwritten letters would be great! They seriously are the best boost to a hard day. (We get mail during lunch and dinner everyday) Then I can read your letters whenever and not just quickly scan them on Thursdays! Dear Elder.com does work btw. My Dad said he posted my address on my Facebook if you feel the desire to write me. I love you all so much!!

btw this is my and mi companias discription of the MTC.
1. The first Day is the longest day of your life.
2. Elders are in fact, still teenage boys. (and they don't always smell that nice)
3. Getting letters is seriously the BEST feeling in the world.
4. You'll learn more Spanish in the first day at the CCM then you will in all of high school.
5.Even when you think your lesson is a complete failure, the spirit does amazing things.
6. Your companion from out of state will be amazed at the leaves changing color.
7. You will also get tired of them saying, WOW! It it's so cold out here
8. Two companions is better than one!
9. Being a part of the MTC Choir is the best! (Especially when an apostle comes to visit)
10. I was wrong about my missionary purpose when I came out.

The mission purpose isn't to baptize or convert. Our job is to help and invite! I love the CCM so much and am way grateful for being here! Adiaos!

Hermana Lizzy Davis
Washington Kennewick Mission