The Colog

The first rule of the Wellness Center...

2012-01-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

This semester I will go to the gym every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

I am not the gym type, and today was my first day.

While getting ready this morning I realized just how unprepared I was. My tennis shoes were stolen in Guatemala so I was forced to take some of my brother's old shoes.

The shoes I borrowed are the fancy basketball kind, which made me feel like I was in "Larry Bird Mode". And as much as I like to dominate on the gridiron (that's the basketball court right?) I was just looking to go to the gym.

But as I sat down to put on the shoes I realized one of the laces was missing. I was forced to replace it with the lace from my brown dress shoes. Now if that doesn't say "skilled athlete" I don't know what does.

Once at the gym I started using some of the machines and getting my cardio on. I still, however felt out of place. All of the other people in the gym looked like they came all the time; they had the clothes, they knew the machines and each other. You could tell they felt comfortable working out at the EAC wellness center. I knew I fit in the least.

I am a list person. I like to rank things to keep them clear in my mind. For instance:
INDIANA JONES MOVIES IN ORDER OF AWESOMENESS

The Last Crusade
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Temple of Doom
The stupid alien one

That is just what I do in my head. Here's another:
MY SISTERS IN ORDER OF HOW MUCH I FEAR THEM

Katie
Markee
Rylee
Chelsee

Or
THINGS I WOULD BRING WITH ME IF I WERE DESERTED ON AN ISLAND

A boat

Or
WEBSITES I LOVE TO VISIT

Or
THINGS I WOULD RATHER DO THAN TAKE A MATH CLASS

Get a cold sore
Get a paper cut
Get a paper cut on my cold sore
Receive a wedgie every hour, on the hour, all semester from Dr. Phil.
Contract the shingles

That is just how I like to think, and as I sat on my exercise bike this morning, watching the Price is Right (I miss Bob Barker by the way), breathing heavily and trying to keep my shorts from riding up the only list I could think up was:

PEOPLE WHO LOOK LIKE THEY BELONG IN THIS GYM

Every person here
Me

I was at the bottom of the list. For sure.

And then it happened.

A man walked in, got on the machine next to me and began workin his little muscles.

This would normally be of no consequence, except this man was wearing jeans, loafers, a braided leather belt and a polo (tucked into the jeans, of course).

I don't really know why he would come to the gym to do a workout dressed like that, but he did.

And because he did I instantly felt better. Below is a visual depiction of the effects.

Thanks you, confused middle-aged man. Your wardrobe gaffe has engendered confidence in this bosom.

No Shave November: The Novembeard and its Ultimate Demise

2011-12-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have never heard of "No Shave November" I shall explain:

In November, You No Shave.

Got it?

It swept the nation, and this year it swept me up with it. I started the second week in November, but I did not shave until Dec. 1st. I will admit, however, that I did do some trimming.

I have never grown out my facial hair, and so I decided to try it.

Any man who participated suffered from some of the masculine side effects of "No Shave November", including:

Dramatic increase in grunting/ red meat consumption
Excessive use of flannel
A rejection of modern conveniences such as: indoor plumbing, deodorant and tooth care items
Heightened urge to maim/kill/barbecue innocent animals
"Me sleep more time" is heard throughout man caves everywhere
Desire to organize a wagon train and travel the "Oregon trail"
The Bass Pro Shop is referred to as "Mecca" or "Valhalla"
Urge to trade in current car for a truck
Refusal to travel without an ax, shotgun and/or jug of moonshine
Regular sacrifices are made to a statue of John Wayne

This is my Novembeard

Its really not a beard is it? More of a November goatee...
The pre-Christmas month goatee of excellence
Before I got out the razor I used some scissors to shorten the matter up a little
I shaved off everything but the mustache. I think I look like a French used-car salesman
I couldn't resist trying the Adolph stash. It was a Hit. :)

The freshly shaved final finished face.

I was not a huge fan of the facial hair until I realized that when I had it, no one asked me for I.D. when I bought shotgun shells or spray-paint.

And then, once I shaved, I was not a huge fan of the 12-year-old look either.

Leave your two cents in a comment below

SHAVED OR SCRUFFY? Which do you prefer?

Be honest! I still don't know which I like best....

Thanks for the Kindle!

2011-11-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

Well ladies and gentleman, let me here officially announce that I was chosen as a winner in the blogging contest, and that I have been awarded a new Amazon Kindle!

I am truly grateful for this gift, and I must give you credit for my winning. You diligently voted for me when I asked and that helped to get me into the judging.

Also, my brother Chantz must be given credit. I am sure that his girly belly laugh in the winning post was a key factor to the victory. In the end it was somewhat like a business.

I created a product.

You supported it because you liked it.

You gain joy and happiness and I gain payment (a kindle).

But of course, this means that I am the only one that wins a Kindle. My blog currently has about 100 registered followers, who can be seen on the right had side of the page. Out of roughly 100 members, I (the creator/author) am the only one who won a Kindle.

That makes me the dreaded 1%!

If you have been following the news recently you have noticed the "Occupy" protests that have been going on. They are unhappy with the wealthiest 1% of the American population.

I feel it my American duty to be progressive and fair-minded by OCCUPYING THE COLOG!

I will hereby cut my Amazon Kindle into equal pieces and distribute it to my loyal fans.

I mean after all, is it fair that I, the creator of this blog get an award for my work? What right do I have to claim the reward for my effort? That sounds un-American, unfair and illogical.

I sincerely apologize for working in order to make a good blog that people like. I am sorry that I won an award. It is shameful that I accept payment for doing what I do. Why that sounds like...The American Dream!

Sincerely,

The Colog 1%.

Blogging Contest: Why You Should Vote for Me

2011-11-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

You will all notice that right at the top of this page there is a little blue button that says "click to vote" on it.

I am currently in a blogging contest, and by clicking on that button you are helping me get one step closer to winning the contest, which means I get a new Amazon Kindle.

Now, with all the Presidential debates going on right now on TV you are probably tired of hearing all the mudslinging and the campaign talk.

I will now give you a list of simple reasons why you should click
that blue button (vote for me)

I am not running for President of the United States (yet).

I am currently the only American man in the contest (for real).

I am not a member of the Ku Klux Klan. (No one should be.)

I have been nominated multiple times as "best uncle" by the 10 members of my niece and nephew jury.

I speak Spanish (ole!).

I wore an argyle sweater to church yesterday.

I was once stung by a jelly fish.

I am a poor college student.

I love using parenthesis (I'm not really sure why).

I do not have an Amazon Kindle (yet)

If that doesn't convince you, only empty promises will.

In that case, here is a list of empty promises. If I win I will:

Withdraw all American troops from Antarctica.

Make it illegal to sell packages of 10 hot dogs along side packages of only 8 buns.

Form a stronger trade alliance with France so that we can get cheaper French Vanilla Ice Cream.

Declare every Friday "National Ice Cream Day" (see number 3).

Outlaw the production of Speedos (you know you want it to happen).

Place Nicholas Cage at the top of the "Worst Actors" list.

Make blog-stalking an Olympic sport

Un-make swimming an Olympic sport (see number 5).

Declare "The Andy Griffith Show" to be the official American television show.

Stop the production of candy corn (NOBODY likes that stuff)

Pass a law limiting the amount of cologne a man can put on before entering an elevator.

Declare The Jonas Brothers to be public enemy number 1. And 2. And 3.

The contest ends the 18th of November, which means that we still have several days to rake in the votes.

If you have already voted, pull out your cell phone immediately and call the person whom you can influence the easiest. Get them to vote for the Collog.

VOTE FOR ME!

The 4 little uteri that could...

2011-10-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

I understand that the majority of people who visit my blog are not my immediate family members. Because of that, I will offer a quick recap of my family tree:

First off, here is my oldest sister named Katie. She is the one on the right.

This is sister number 2, Rylee. She is (probably) (currently) my 4th least favorite sister.

Chelsee, number 3. She is the 'non-existent' one.

Markee, number 4. She's the crazy one.

Each of them is a wife. Each of them is a mother. But today I ask you...have they done enough?

Have they done enough to bring joy into my life? I'll be the first to admit that they have brought SOME joy to my life. On a joy scale of 1 to 10 they have brought me 10. Their names are:

Mary-Kate

Ryder

Camdyn

Lowee

Layne

Nash

Peyton

Davis

Charlee

Ezra

Once again I ask: Is it enough? Is it America?

I am here to give the answer. It is NOT enough.

Some may accuse me of being selfish. Other still might say it's none of my business. But the following mathematical equation should help us all to understand:

ninos + uncle race > everything else in the world

That was approved by science.

Now, I'm sure all the sisters will have separate excuses. For instance:

Katie: I'm reaching the age where child bearing is no longer physically possible.
Me: Katie, you are old but you still have some kids under your belt (pun)

Rylee: I just had a baby. I'm the last on the candidates list.
Me: Man up, this is my happiness we are talking about.

Chelsee: (inaudible meek whisper)
Me: I don't care if your current children are monsters! They are cute monsters!

Markee: But the next one might come out looking like me instead of its daddy.
Me: Thats not a....ok actually that is a pretty legit excuse.

If my sisters would stop being so selfish and start being a little more fertile, my life would be even greater than it currently is.

I would go instantly to an 11 on a scale of 10.

But really sisters this is a tribute to you and your uteri. You are good moms and your kids are highly cute.

My conclusion is that if you have the ability to produce such precious ninos, you have the RESPONSIBILITY to produce precious ninos.

I hereby issue a decree: THE FIRST SISTER TO BEAR THE NEXT CHILD WILL RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING PRIZES

The privilege of naming the munchkin after me. Race if its a boy and Raciena if its a girl.

I will give your big pregnant feet a massage at any point during your gestation. Limit one massage per pregnancy.

I will personally buy you whatever psychotic food you may be craving during said pregnancy (tuna and ice cream, pickle and peanut butter sandwiches etc.). This of course only applies if you live in the same city that I live in. Which none of you do :)

Now get crackin!

My Shoes

2011-09-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

Since it is impossible for all of you to be in my shoes, (either at the same time or individually) I feel the need to post about some recent events, situations and other sundry happenings that I think are interesting.

So you will notice that this post has nothing, in fact, to do with my actual shoes.

The first event was a classroom discussion in my Cultural Anthropology class. I like that class about as much as I like gummy worms. And I hate gummy worms.

We are currently discussing sexism, gender roles in a society, racism, discrimination etc. The following is a crude representation of what happened in that class and in my mind (notice the use of capital and lowercase letters) :

Teacher: "What is race?"
My Thoughts: My first thought "Well Race is 6 feet 2 inches of awesome." My second thought "Noun. A biped of the Caucasoid persuasion, possessing great aptitude in the field of making a fool of himself in public situations."

Teacher: "How can race effect our lives?"
MT: "Well it depends on how well you get to know me."

Teacher: "Is there more than one race?"
MT: "My Facebook search seems to indicate that yes, there are many, I have never met another, however."

Teacher: "What does it mean to be a racist?"
Me: "Well considering that a Marxist follows Marx and a Darwinist believes in Darwin, a Racist must be someone who believes in or follows Me. Right?"

As you can imagine this went on for a while in my mind. There is no one who really knows my name in that class. Therefore I am now letting you all know what its like in my shoes. On this same note, I don't pay a lot of attention in Anthropology.

Moving on to my English classes. In Ms. (Dr.) Simonton's class this was one of the take home assignments she gave us. No bull.

"Write a Faulknerian sentence at least 50 words long, using linking words, subordinate clauses, and parenthetical asides."

Now that may sound like gobs of fun to you, but I often leave that class feeling like an idiot. That's what homework feels like in my shoes.

I now have to go do homework. But thanks for stopping by the Colog, ya bunch of Racists! :)

Please leave a comment (i'm sorta in a competition)

My name is Race and I go to college

2011-09-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

My life has been quite busy lately. Let's take a look at where I am and what I have been doing, shall we?

These are the books required for only 2 of my classes; Western Literature and Literary Criticism. 2 classes, 4books. The scientific name for these books is now-I-don't-have-icus free time-icus. Very dangerous species.

This is another of my least favorite parts of the EAC campus. It may look like a simple raised portion of sidewalk. But it is oh so much more. Its scientific name is make-me-trip-icus in-front of-girls-icus

It gets me almost every time. Right in front of the Library.

Also, the first Sunday I was here the Sacrament meeting schedule at the LDS church where I go was changed. It was a one-time thing but it threw my schedule off. I eat at the cafeteria. I missed lunch. This was a big deal considering I could not buy food (Neh. 10:31). We were in a difficult position.

That is until we pooled our resources (brought from home) and made the following Sabbath Day feast.

It consists of two homemade cookies, a single bran muffin (split precisely in half) and some room temperature root beer. Ingenuity!

Despite the previous statement about having all of my free time taken from me, I have managed to escape the grasp of my assignments periodically and have a (small) social life. Myself and Jordon Udall whipped up a delicious pan of 'double date' this weekend. We went to the ward pool party and then on a bowling extravaganza. Observe:

Jordon and his super date Kammie.

Myself and my super awesome date Julie.

He looks good and he IS good. In the second game he blew us all out of the water.

This is Kammie's patented method "The Maschue Roll-Through". It's incredibly effective.
Her not paying attention.
Me not paying attention.

Fun date. Good times.

Wilderness Survival Adventure

2011-08-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

This week my long lost brother and I had a wilderness survival adventure as a last hoorah before we each go off to different schools. It is reminiscent of the popular television shows like "Survivor Man" or "Man vs. Wild" or "Dual Survival". I will do my best to document this great journey, but it might be a little hard for you tenderfoots (tenderfeet?) to grasp. To help you understand I will start with a short list of terms that should NEVER be used and their acceptable alternatives.

Words Not To Use

Camping/backpacking/hiking. The correct term is surviving
If you fail at camping you are just a lousy camper. If you fail at surviving you are dead. Higher stakes.

Woods/forest. It should be referred to as the wilderness.
The root-word of wilderness is wild. The root word or forest is rest. We aren't resting. We are surviving.

Build/ Make. You don't "build" a shelter or "make'' a snare. We fashion things.
As in "I fashioned a bow out of a willow limb." or "I fashioned pants from that tree moss."

The following pictures and videos are designed as highly educational and instructional. They were filmed on site by survival professionals. Do not attempt anything you see on this blog. We headed off into the wilderness with little more than an empty canteen, a shoe lace and a dream. The following is a list of the top enemies we were against while in the wilderness:

Bears
Dying
Not knowing how to set a snare
Dehydration
Getting lost
Not having food

Here are our backpacks all ready to go.

Ready to survive
Despite the popular theory, I did not break this tree.
A big rock face we saw on our adventureNear some pretty awesome countryThis was the site we picked for our basecamp.
We quickly began to fashion a shelter.

In progress
The finished product

Shelter sweet shelter. We began the fire starting process by a friction method (rubbing 2 sticks together)

I will now post some educational videos. WARNING: High Belly Laugh Content.

And yes he really did eat that.

We went out to set snares in the wilderness to see what we could catch for dinner.

We had rope in hand and found a great place that was full of squirrels. It was then we realized we did not know how to make snares.

That is the brunt of our adventures. We experienced swarms of wild bees and I vomited through the night. But we did what we had to do.

After comparing our skills to those of the survivalists we see on TV we can only reach 1 conclusion about them. Those shows have to be fake.

Presented by Guide to Online Schools

Back Home On The Mountain

2011-08-06T10:25:00.001-07:00

Near Sunrise
By Uncle Sams Place
Sunset at Lee Valley Reservoir
Loch Ness Monster!

Burn Spots

More Burnage

LAST LETTER HOME!!!!! June 27, 2011

2011-06-27T16:21:00.001-07:00

Dear Family,

Well, that went by fast.

I have offically been a Misisonary for 1 year and 3 days. Tommorow I am going to the temple for my last p-day and then wednesday I am no longer "in the field". Thrsday early they put me on a plane and that night I will be with you all.

As for our reunion, I have a few requests. I want you to bring the following 22 things to the airport (if possible):

Gary
Kathleen
Katie
Tom
Mary-Kate
Lowee
Davis
Rylee
Reece
Ryder
Peyton
Ezra
Chelsee
Daniel
Camdyn
Layne
Markee
Eric
Nash
Charlee
The biscuit
Grandpa Sherwood

That is all I want. It isnt that big of a list is it? Haha i bet that some of them wont be there but either way it will be a crowd. I dont know who all is planning to be at the airport but keep your eyes peeled for the deering family. They should be easy to spot. Elder Deering and I get off the same plane at the same time. We are sitting next to each other the whole way home.

As far as requests for when I get home I think pistachio dessert would be fine. You make what you want and I will eat it. And just so that you all know this still doesnt feel real. It still hasent hit me yet. I get kind of excited about it but seeing you all is such a foreign thought and action that I cant really comprehend it. I feel normal. I am working like normal. I dont know when it will hit me but I expect that it will be soon.

Well this week was a good one we had some miracles occur here in the branch. We have been working on reactivating some of the many less active members here. THis week we had 3 families in the chapel that hadnt showed up in a long time. The familia Morales came. They had not come in about 5 years. Mario Carillo and his family came and so did the familia Beliz.

Sister Beliz had not come in about 4 years either. I met her and i washed her dishes (despite her resistance and we kind of hit it off. She is a nice lady about 40 years old. I intived her to come and she said "No Elder". Her son is on a mission and he always gets afer her telling her to go. A few weeks after I met her we swung by her house to see how they were and she told us that her Mother had passed away a few days before. She opened up a little and cried to us. After we left I had the idea to print her off some of my favorite talks about death and ressurection. I printer her "He is Risen" by President Monson and "Sunday will come" by Jospeh B. Worthlin. We passed by the next day and dropped them off with her daughter. The next sunday in comes Hna. Beliz. Me and Elder tanner were shocked! The whole branch was shocked to see her too but very excited. She came up to us after and told us to come by her house that night.

When we went by she told us that she read the talks and said that for the first time in a long time she felt the Holy Spirit. She said that her testimony had been revived and that she has plans to bcome 100 percent active again. She has come 2 weeks in a row. Great expirience.

Thank you mom for inviting non members. I have a special list of people that i want you to invite as well that i will send in another private email. I am glad that we will have non members there I will take that into account while preparing my talk.

I dont really have alot of other things to say....i still feel like a misisonary and I am excited to come home i guess but sad to leave this country and this people. Mostly I am sad to have to take off my nametag.

The other thing i have to write about is my final interview with President Baldwin. He is also going home this week and so he wanted to have a final interview with the people who are going him this week. He called me into his office and we had the last interview. I asked him some questions and he gave me the "you are going home now" speech. It was pretty hard for both of us but we got through it pretty well. As part of the going home package they give you there is a talk entitled "Love and Marriage". PResident held it up and asked me "Have you thought about that recently?" I said no and he said "Well you will Elder". That was weird. But he cried, i cried (surprise of the century) and we said our goodbyes. The nice part is that we live in Arizona and so i told him i would visit and keep in contact. Elder Deering wants to go golfing with him the week after we get back,

I have a big packet of papers to go through when i gat home. President gave me medical tests i have to go through and letters for mom and dad and president hunt. I have a lot of stories and photos to share. This is going to be so weird.

I have heard from almost all RMs that have left this mission that I knew well that there is a terrible post mission depression that sets in. I will just have to keep myself busy I guess.

Well I think that is it. I still have a few hours left as a missionary working in my area. It has been POURING gatos and perros here lately. it will be a wet last few days. Just like i like them.

Well i gotta go and be a missioanry still

Love Elder Connor Race Davis, Peronia Guatemala.

Looking cool and ready to come home!

2011-06-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

20 June 2011

2011-06-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Well that week went by fast! It still doesn't feel real that I am coming home. It hasn't hit home. I feel like I did when I reported. I don't know what to feel. I don't feel anything. Its kind of hard to process and so it just seems like nothing is happening out of the ordinary. I feel very blessed to be focused right now. My thoughts are not focused on home, as much as Elder Tanner tries to get me to talk about it. Hahah but i feel like its just any other week of my mission, even though it is the last week.

Seeing as I am not baggy at all, i have no bagginess to write about, therefore I will write about my area and my week.

This week we went to Antigua Guatemala as a zone. It was my last of about 6 times going during my mission. I bought some stuff to bring home. One of the funnest things I did there was take a picture with Elder Deering. Our first change (which was the last time we were in a zone together) him and I went to Antigua with our trainers. We climbed to the top of a famous hill there and took a picture together with all of Antigua behind us. This week we went back to the same spot and took the same picture, fast-forwarded 2 years. Putting the 2 photos side by side is pretty neat. We were both kind of chubby before. "Baby fat" as E Tanner calls it. My cheeks were more full and we both had more of a baby face. We now look like old tired men. Hahha

I also bought the nativities in Antigua. I bought 6 and payed about 10 dollars each. Or, phrased another way, you people owe me 60 dollars. Hahah

The nativities are nice, some of them are bigger than the last one I sent home. But they are all in good condition, with one small exception: the man sold me 1 of the nativities without a Baby Jesus. Now, if you ask me, a nativity without a baby Jesus is not a nativity, its called "several people standing around a donkey". I will see if I can get a replacement baby Jesus.

This week I will finally get my suit i bought a few months back and I have the plan to give my old black suit to my current branch president. He is tall like me (a miracle here in Guate) and doenst ever wear a suit to church. I think i will end up giving it to him. We`ll see how it goes.

Being in my last week is a little weird, but like i said it doesn't really phase me. One thing that makes me very grateful is that I don't feel like I have to change my pace to end with success. I have been far from perfect as a missionary but I feel like I can continue to work and obey and study at the level I have been at and end with honor. In other words i am not scrambling here in the final days of my mission to be a hard working elder. I am not trying to be extra obedient to make up for 2 years of iniquity. The bible dictionary in Spanish defines diligence as a "constant and valiant effort". I don't feel like i have to make anything up in these last weeks of my mission.

I realize how simple (but not easy) it is to be a successful missionary. You don`t have to do anything other than what you are asked. Do what you are asked in the way that it is asked of you and do it consistently for 2 years.

We are not asked to baptize thousands or to move mountains or to change an entire county in 2 years. We are asked to go out and work, obey the rules and do it for 2 entire years. 24 months, not 23. I have found it very simple, yet taxing. But at the end of it all it is highly rewarding.

I had to speak in church again this week. It was my last time speaking in Guatemala. It seems very strange to think that I will only go to church 1 more time and then i will be in the stake center in RV. Go figure. As i said, it doesn`t feel real.

I don't have a lot to say, my next email (my last) will be a little more "baggy" seeing as I will only have 2 days left.

I gotta go and I will see you soon,.

Elder Davis

2011-06-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

The rice, beans and tortillas look delicious. But the question is........
IS IT REALLY MEAT???????

June 13 2011

2011-06-13T11:51:00.001-07:00

Hey Family,

Well looks like from your email that you had to evacuate and then you returned. That all happened in between email sessions! That make me very happy that you are back in RV but it sounds like the mountain is pretty trashed. That will be depressing to see when I get home.

This week was awesome and I have a lot of things to write.

First of all this week I got a haircut and the guy destroyed my hair. I will try and take a picture so that you can see it before I get it fixed for the plane ride home. I looks like a blind man went at it with a butcher knife.

The second piece of news is: FAKE AMERICAN CLOTHES: Thats right, Elder Deering and I went to a place that sells fake american clothes and we went to town. You all had mentioned that you wanted to go and do some clothes shopping after I got home. That will not take as long anymore because this week I bought the following: 4 t shirts, 1 "tommy hilfiger" polo, a "Hugo Boss" tie, and a hollister sweater. It all come out to about 60 dollars. the T.shirts were about 3 dollars a piece. So ya. The sweater is the coolest thing in the world. It is a cardigan, and we all know how cool those are.

Also speaking of clothes it looks like from the pictures that the Buscuit got a new suit. That is exciting news. I got his graduation announcement and Julie Reece`s too.

This week i had my second to last interview with President Baldwin. Before the interviews started he sat everyone down in the chapel and talked to us for a bit. For the 3rd time in 2 years i saw him cry. He got up and said "The time has arrived". I was a wreck and so was sister baldwin. THen in my interview with him we were both pretty happy until the closing prayer that i offered and i just started crying like a baby. It wasnt even my last interview. But it was still rough. My last interview will be the 25th and that will be the last time i see president baldwin as a missionary. I plan on going to his homecoming the week after mine.

Also coming home from interviews we had to hurry and get home and so we caught a taxi. As we were driving we started contacting the driver. His eyes just got wider and wider and started paying more and more attention to what we were saying. I told him that I hadnt come to Guatemala to tell him who Jesus Christ was, that was something that he already knew, But i told him that I had left my home and family and come all the way to his country to tell him about a man named Joseph Smith, a prophet of God. By the end of the ride he said, before we got out of the taxi, "I have never heard anyhting like what you just told me in my life. I am very interested and i would love it if you would come by my house. I work everyday but sunday but would you please visit me this Sunday? I wrote down his address and then promised him the elders would visit him. That night I called the elders that lived where he lives and gave them his number and address. The elder called back 5 minutes later to say that the man answered his phone and said that he want to go to church that very sunday. It was by far the most Espiritu Santo filled taxi ride ever.

Also i eat lots of eggs now. Exciting? No but its all i got to talk about. I will attach picture of how Elder Tanner and I pound eggs.

Also anther thing that has been going on recently is that the members of this branch dont like me very much. That doesnt usually happen, i seem to get alng great with the members everywhere. It is happening here because the Elder that were here before us were not that obedient and so I come along and they see me as "no fun". For example "oh elder davis you dont want to watch `Evan Almighty` with us? The last elders did." or "No there is no rush, the other elders didnt leave our house till 9:40 you can stay longer."

Stuff like that happens and they think i am a party pooper. That is the impact disobedient elders can have on an area.

This week we were waiting for the members to show up for sacrament meeting and a stray do showed up instead. But apparently this dog wanted to hear the gospel becuase he was trying to get into the chapel really hard. I was kicking the thing in front of the church trying to keep it out and it was trying to bite me and get in. It was pretty intense. I felt a little silly fighting a dog in my suit infront of the chapel. But you do what you ahve to do.

Well i gotta get going if i am going to attach the pictures i want to.

Gotta go.

Elder Davis

June 6 2011

2011-06-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hey fam

Well first of all, WOW about the forest fire. Its hard to tell from the letter how serious it is and how eminent the danger is. I mean houses would only burn in Eager because of embers right? I can`t imagine flames getting into town. But anything is possible I guess.

I cant imagine evacuationg eagar but I guess its possible. Let me know about the details. Would you go to St. Johns? That is where I would go....there is nothing to burn out there.

So on a happier subject this next week I will be going to Antiuga, the land of souvieners and I want to know how many nativitys you want me to buy. I will get them if you let me know.

On a sadder subject, this week Elder Tanner and I were walking down the hill to find a family. We passed the bus station and went down to the house. The dad wasn`t home so we turned around and headed back up. We walked past the bus station again and it was full of people. We had just been there 5 minutes earlier and no one had been around. In the time we went down to the house and come back up some one had run onto a bus and killed the driver.

We were there close by but didnt hear anything. Aparently the driver was an inactive member of the church (just like everyone else here) and lived just a few houses down from us. The bus station ius about 200 yards from our house.

This week was also kind of a dificult one for me in the beggining. This last change I just want to find a lot of new investigators and leave the area and the branch in great shape for the next guy that comes along. We have been talking to EVERY family that we see in the streets and putting appointments to go to thier houses. I feel like I am working harder and being more diligent this change that i have been ever before. Elder Tanner and me are working like crazy people and i felt like we werent getting results. We had appointments falling through left and right. Satan was working hard on me.

It wasnt so much not being successfull that got me but rather the fact that i didnt know WHY i wasnt being successfull. We have been trying hard and sweating alot and last week we only found 1 family. That is strangely sub par for a week here in Guatemala. Luckily the end of this week turned out great and our prayers were answered. This week we found 4 families and a total of 16 new investigaros. Most of that happened on sunday. Payday!

I hope no one that served their mission in Europe is reading this because I am sure they would have loved to have found 1 family a week during their misison. hahha

Also something random happened this week. On saturday we were talking at about 8:00 to a guy in the street under a street lamp. THere was no one in the street but us 3. I was telling the guy about our message and trying to get into his house and teach his family (this was during the drought of success) when out of nowhere the guy falls on top of me and almost knocks me over.

When we both got steady again we saw this huge dude with no shirt on walking by. He was pretty drunk and had shoved the poor guy as hard as he could. The guy (felix is his name, we have a lesson with him on wednesday) got pretty mad and wanted to guy fight the drunk guy but decided not to because the drunk guy had a gun. SO ya, thats probably a good idea felix, dont fight the armed drunk man.

Other than that I am doing great, just trying to stay focused. It is really hard to just think "well i wont be here in 3 weeks anyway" which is not a good attitude. But things are going well and ELder Tanner is doing great. Thanks for the email and we will talk next week.

Love Elder Davis

May 30, 2011

2011-05-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hey family,

Hows life back in the USofA? Things here are good, let me tell you about my week! I will start by responding to your letter mom.

Sounds like graduation went well, it is hard for me to believe that Chantz is graduated but it is even harder for me to believe that I graduated 3 years ago! It seems like that just happened and that i went off to school.

No you hadn`t mentioned that the Stoners had a Filipino living with them. That is pretty cool i guess, i am sure that Eric is loving that. I know I will miss speaking with native speakers when i get home.

I am sure you are now getting everything ready for Chantz`s college adventure now. I bet he is feeling pretty nervous. It is funny, after being a missionary I don't really fear very many things. You learn out here what you can do and what limits you can be pushed too. For instance before the mission i would have shyed away from "hard professors" at college etc. now I am confident i can do it. The mission helps you understand the hard things are just that: hard, not impossible. I may even take a mathematics class at school when i get back (GASP!)

You had not mentioned about your cousin Dan Sherwood. But that is terribly sad, i will keep them in my prayers.

Ok seriously, Ryder graduated from Preschool? When i left he couldn't even speak well! These niños are gonna be HUGE! Davis was born my first change in the field! He is probably setting up his 401k by now.

And for the record you people are SO baggy. You cant just ask me 4 weeks before I come home what I want to eat at my homecoming. That is just madness. If you are lucky i will let you know my last week.

Well this week for me was good. We only found 2 families which I know is below our potential but I am excited and optimistic about this week that is coming. I have the goal to talk to every family that I see in the street and contact them. It works well and is a tradition handed down by Elders Douglas and Hatch. Gracias Pues! In the district the goal is to find 12 families in one week. That would be a record breaking week for this district.

But the other day at lunch Elder Tanner and I were served liver. Now, i know that liver is eaten in the states too but....wow i am not a fan of Guatemalan liver. I just tasted as if someone had been filtering urine through it. Oh wait a second, that is what a liver does! No wonder I didn't like it much.

Also this week we taught a guy that lived in the states for a while. He lived in Vegas and actually got baptized in a Spanish branch up there. He got sent back here and we found him. The plan is reactivation. But at the end of the lesson with him he busted out his guitar and wrote elder tanner and I a song. It was sort of weird. "They walk all day here in Guatemala. They preach the gospel and are from Arizona." Something like that. It was odd.

Also this week I got a letter from Claire Eager. She said she reads the blog. Hi Claire!

Anyway she told me about a bunch of cool things that are going on back home. For example, we now have a singles branch. That is new and interesting. ON a related note, do we have a Spanish branch still? Cause if so i am gonna go and hit that fiesta up when i get home.

She also told me that despite the fact I haven't gotten letters from that group of friends, that they have not forgotten me. I remain unconvinced. (But its too late now folks, you blew your chance to write me and get blessings :) )

Haha but she also mentioned that i will be home for the debut of the new harry potter movie. However, i think she did her math wrong cause i don't get home til the end of June. She said the movie comes out 14 of June or so. So sorry Claire i wont be there for the party! I already have plans for that day with Elder Tanner. ¡Baptize Familias!

OH and by the way family, i forgot to mention something that i bought in my last area for the girls. A member lady there makes jewelry and i bought you all necklaces for mothers day, They are the big fat bead kind that you mujers always use. I hope you like them, if not I will come back and exchange them for you. Hahah

But other than that I have been doing great and working hard. I mentioned last week about William and his family. This week we were able to go back and talk to them again. This time his wife came out and listened as well. They did not read the book of Mormon but did glance a little at the pamphlet and so we explained the importance of the BOM and committed them to read it. They, like others, thought the Book of Mormon was just another version of the Bible. Lots of people think that its just the "Mormon Bible" and that it just has a different name. I have no idea where that comes from because all you have to do is open it and see names like Zarahemla to know it is not the Bible. But now they know and we will go back and see how their reading went. The wife was very nice. Her name is Eva.

We also have another family that is preparing for baptism in June. The familia Jeronimo. The dad is already a member and the son and mom want to be baptized in June. I will let you know about their progress as it happens.

Well love you all gotta go

Elder Race Davis, missionary man

May 23, 2011

2011-05-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Family

Well tomorow I hit 23 months in the mission. Although i am sure you all at home are not conuting of course.

Well this first week with Elder Tanner has been GREAT! He is a great companion to have. He is humble and just wants to work hard. It loks like we are going to have a TON of success in this area. We challenged a family to be baptized that has been listening to the elders for a while and they agreed to a date and so it looks like we will be baptising a family this change. We also had a really incredible expirience with a man this week.

We felt impressed to do so and so we knocked a door near our house. It was a nice house and i made the pesemistic comment to Elder Tanner that "rich people hardly ever want anything." A lady came to the door. I told her we had felt impressed to knock her door and she agreed that we could come back another day. SO we went back and the dad came out this time. He said that right then they were eating dinner and that if we came the next day he would have time. So saturday we went to his house. He asked us how much time we would take. I told him that if he only had 5 minutes then we would only stay 5 minutes. He let us in and then we began to talk. We introduced outselves and told him why we were in his house. He began to talk and told us that his wife had told him that we had said that we had been impressed to knock his door. He siad he felt that was signigicant. Then he said the following: "Because of the violence and the situation now a days, I never let people i dont know into my house. I had the intention to come out and tell you yesterday that we werent interested. But when I saw you and spoke with you I felt something in my heart telling me to let you into the house. I too feel that God has brought you too my home."

Me and elder Tanner were both pretty shocked. That is like an ensign story! He then told us about some of the reasons why he believes in God and some things that have happened in his life that have influenced him. He stopped and said that he was speaking more that we were. And THAT is what missionay work should be like.

We then started to talk to him about how is family could be together forever, IT was ok but did not feel right. I felt prompted to talk about Prophets. I asked him "Do you know what a prophet is?" THat started a conversation about Prophets. I and ELder Tanner gave out testimonies that God loves us and that to guide us he calls Prophets. We told him that we knew that there is a prophet today on the earth. The spirit in that room was so thick you could have cut it with a machete. The humble testimony of Elder Tanner is propbably what pushed it over the edge. When you are new you cant do much more that say "sè que eso es verdad" "i know its true". Elder Tanner is better than most newbies with Spanish, but it was simple somewhat awkard testimony and it hit the spot.

I could tell that the man (his name is william) could feel what I was feeling. I felt prompted 2 or 3 times to say "William i want you to know that we know our message is true." I said it 2or 3 times. "William, know that we know this is the truth." "WIlliam we are sure about all of this. THe holy ghost has confirmed it to our hearts."

It was simmply one of the most powerful lessons i have ever been in. We gave him a book of Mormon and I challenged him to baptism on the spot. I asked him "if you come to know that our message is true will you follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptised by someone who holds the priesthood power of God?" He said if the Lord lets him know its true he will do it.

William said we could come back to his house this week and we have an appointment to go. I am reallly excited to see what happens. I imagine he has read what we left him in the BOM.

Other than that Ihave just been getting to know my new area. The other day i am pretty sure i saw a dog eating a human skull. I cant be positive but that is what it looked like. E Tanner thought so too.

My branch is pretty cool, it is rather small and was a ward about 4 months ago. It had to be made a branch because of lack of worthy males. THe Bracnh President is a returned missionary but both of his councilors are recent converts of less than a year. But they are all good men. I was asked to speak yesterday as a welcome to the branch. I think i did pretty good.

This change meeting we just had was the last one for President Baldwin. He will not be at my last change meeting. But thats ok. HE will at least give me my last interview.

Sounds like seminary graduation went well. I showed ELder Tanner the pics you sent and he said "yep i played against them". haha funny. It is werid to think that i will be just missing graduation and all that. I will get home just 3 weeks after.

I will be very happy to meet elder tanners parents when i come back. I am sure he will send some paackage with me or somehting like i did with Elder Johnston and Elder WInters..

I went to a graduation party like the one you are talking about. It was at Thatcher High and only graduation seniors were alloud in. I was an RV junior. Hahah but i got in and won some stuff too. For more infromation see Matt Platt.

I am excited about coming back here one day. You all will love it and no you will not get decapitated and left in the streeet. We will only go to safe areas of the country. THe only thing that gets me is the money and the time. WHen would we come? I am going to be a busy little feller i think. Haha darval would know random facts about guatemala.

As for the question "what food do i want when i get home" i dont want to think about that yet. I well let you know "mas adelante". You people are baggy.

Gotta go

Race

SNOWFLAKE LOBOS!!!!!

2011-05-19T14:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Sorry that I am writting so late but we had some things to do. From now on (for the next 5 emails) I will be writting on Mondays as normal.

And why will i be writing as normal? Because I am now a NORMAL MISSIONARY again! I am no longer in the office. I have been assigned to a field position in my last area with my last companion, Who is it you might ask?

None other than Snowflake`s own TARRIN TANNER.

Yes, i know it might seem impossible but President Baldwin has assigned me to serve with Elder Tanner for the last 6 weeks of my mission. He is currently sitting next to me and we are having the time of our lives toghether. We are both really really excited to be working together and he will help me go out with a big bang!

Yesterday was change meeting. I stepped down as assistant and ELder Rosales from El Salvador came in and took my spot. He will do a great job with Elder Moore. This change Elder Musick went home which makes myself and the other Elders in my group the oldest missionaries in the mission. Jokes are flying like mad.

But other than changes/new companions/last change news, i am doing great, Last week before i left the office i had a bad expoirience. I had to shave and didnt have time to do it at the house. We took the mission car to the office and on the way inside i stopped at a store and bought a disposable razor. I cost me 3.50 quets. In american money that is about 40 soemthin cents. Let me tell you that trying to shave with that terrible thing was one of the worst things i have ever done. I never cut myself shaving but i came out of the office bathroom covered in knicks. It was a stinging, burning expirience.

Well im not sure what else to tell you all. My new area is called Jerusalem and it is on the outer fringe of the capital. Elder Deering is my zone leader and he is sooooooo happy to have me in the zone. He is a good guy and we will end together in glory.

Well i want to know how graduation goes and the birhtdays as well. We have a couple of may birthdays in the family if im not mistaken.

I have a lot of goals for my last change and i am really excited to accomplish them. And i can think of no one better than Elder Tanner to do it with. ANd i want to tell everyone (lest there be any doubts) that i am not baggy/trunky. I actually still dont feel like my mission is ending even though i know that it is. I will just keep on working until the last second so dont you worry about that.

I dont really have a lot to say. This week was busy but boring if i´m honest. Just lots of preparing for the new assistant etc. I did however buy mothers day gifts for mom and the 4 sisters from my favorite member in boca del monte. She makes jewelry and i bought necklaces for each of you. I think you will like them. If not well then i will come back and change them in.

Well i gotta go and chagne the world with Elder Tanner. I´ll write when i have more time.

Love, Elder Davis

LAST AREA, LAST COMPANION! COUNT DOWN IS ON!

2011-05-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Well it was good to talk to you all. I do however NOT have an accent. At least that I can hear. And if i were to have an accent it would not be Mexican.

Well that is crazy that Greer Lodge burned down. I think its probably a good thing that I am coming home pretty soon because if i don't the whole city will get destroyed. Look at what has happened since i´ve been gone: the high school got hit by a plane, Greer lodge burned down, the dome changed colors, etc. Things are going nutty without my presence.

I am really excited to get Chantz´s announcement. It is too bad that I am going to miss his graduation but that's not a big deal. Just throw your hat in the air and pretend i´m there.

That is too bad to hear about Grandpa Davis. I will be praying for him.

Chantz and Rulon going camping sounds like a fun time. That was actually one of the things i want to do with Chantz when i come home is go backpacking with him. I am confident I can out-hike him. Guatemala is very hilly and i walk with a pretty heavy backpack everywhere. So maybe when i come home him and i can take off for a few days.

So big news in the mission. The Joseph Smith movie is out on DVD now. I am pretty happy about that. I comes in a pack with other videos in the distribution center. It is the Doctrine and Covenants video. Now i can use it to show investigators. Its the same video that was shown at the visitors center. You should go out and buy it.

Hahah i was thinking the other day about who my new roommates will be. Before the mish i would have been pretty stressed about who i was with and i would be making sure that i got in with the people i wanted. After all, who wants to live with a wierdo right? Well luckily ladies and gentlemen i have been living with wierdos that i don´t know for the last 2 years. Stick me with WHOEVER you want and i am sure it wont match some of the comps i had in the mountains. That being said it would be nice to have normal roommates.

The rainy season is just now starting. In Boca Del Monte (where i live) the rainy season means one really cool thing: GIGANTIC TOADS. We were in a lesson last night when a gigantic toad came slapping in the open front door. The mom screamed and me and the little kids in the family followed it out into the yard to get a better look. It was about the size of a large grapefruit. Really sweet.

Well on Monday, just a few hours after the phone call, myself and elder Moore went to President house to do the changes. We assigned new areas to elders and decided who should leave and where to send them. It was my third and last time doing the changes and as always was a very spiritual experience. I got to see my new area, position and companion. I cannot tell you with who or where I am going but i will next week. I will however tell you that i am very excited, and that you will be surprised. It will be my last area and last companion.

Well im gonna go for right now, i might use some more internet time this week,

love you all

Race

2011-05-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Dog bite!

May 6, 2011

2011-05-07T07:07:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Well another week flew by. This is my second to last week in the office. And boy what a week it was. Let me justt ell you some of the things that happened:

The first of mention is that, once again, i have fleas. I dont really know how because we have a pretty sweet house, but have them i do. I think part of it might have to do with the fact that we go on divisons and are always sleeping in the houses of other elders. We probably get them from them. Either way it is very annoying when they bite me.

Speaking of divisons, this week I went withthe Zone Leaders in Villa Hermosa, Elder Park and Elder Lowry. I also went with Elder Toledo and Elder Hansen in Panajachel. Good times.

I have a quick question mom. What is that story about grandma telling grandpa not to give money to someone and then in the end she ended up giving him a bunch of money? I vaguely remeber it and shared it this week in church. Those stories seem to be a big hit here.

Other news is that we had a fireside type thing in the house of a member this week. As we were finishing up and blessing the refeshments (atol with pan dulce...my favorite!) a bunch of gunshots went off right in front of the house. It was during the prayer and kind of eerie. After the prayer the lady whose house we were in said "did you hear that elders? you cant leave this hosue for another hour!" they really love and take care of the elders here. I kept making the joke that i wnated to step outside and buy some tortillas and the whole house freaked out. it was pretty funny. But in the end it all calmed down and we left the house 10 minutes later.

Speaking of Guatemalan danger, soemthing else REALLY EPIC happened this week. Like Pinocchio i can now say "I´m a real missionary!"

I got bit by a dog.

This is how it happened: we had contacted a family we saw walking down the street a few days earlier and monday night we went to find the addres they had given us. We eventually found the house number. We knocked on the tin door and a little brown face popped out. We asked them to call Alvaro, their dad. So the little face disappeared. About 10 seconds later another little face appeared. We sent him to call Alvaro as well. The first little brown face soon popped back out and said he was coming. Then more and more little brown faces were popping out of the door, the window and looking down at us from the unfinished second story of thie house, some cleaner than others. Finally Alvaro showed up and let us. We walked into his humble home full of children and chickens. He motioned at the back seat of a car that they had taken into their house to use as a couch, and asked us to take a seat.

As i started to do so, another little face appeared out of nowhere. But this was not the face of an adorable litte guatemalan. It was the angry face of a crazed guatmalan chucho! I have seen some mad dogs in my time, we missionaries and the k9s have a long history, (see philippians 3:2 to see what Paul had to say on the subject to other missionaries). But of all the angry dogs i have seen this one was the one that wanted to bite me the most. Becuase he did! He came at me with his teeth bared and snapping at my legs. I started kicking at that perro with all my might! But alas he dodged on of the kicks and bit me right on the akle.

Of course i will attach photos.

The question is, then, what did i do after that. The answer? I sat down and taught them the restored gospel of Jesus Christ thats what i did. Maybe we can convert the dog too and get some pure love of Christ in him.

Actually the lesson went quite well. I could feel the blood running down into my shoe as i shard the scriptures with them. They liked our message and wanted to know why there are so many churches in the world today. Ka-ching! I will be excited to be invited back into their humble home. That is just the kind of family i love. But not the dog, it is very annoying when they bite me.

I have been foaming at the mouth a little recently. But i dont think its related.... :)

And to respond to your questions about "2 truths and a lie" i have only this statement: Those were the nicest men with machine guns i have ever been pulled over by.

In other news, i heard about Ossama dying. How epic is that? Sister Baldwin called us monday morning and told us about it. We instantly called all the zone leaders and let them know. I told them all to wear red white and blue ties if they had them. People here in Guatemala didint really seem to care. I hope you can save me a newspaper about it for my colleciton. I did a tap-dance in celebration.

As far as the mothers day call, i will answer whenever you call. I dont know the time changes though. I think you should call at 2:00 guatemala time. We have stake conference that starts at 10 and ends at 1 and so at 2 i should be done with conference and have eatn lunch already.

Well some elders are planning a trip back down here in august and want to know if i would come down too. I was thinking maybe in august as a senior present for the busicut we could come back together or something. I just dont want the tickets to cost alot. How much are tickets for august? I have connections here so we could do everything really cheap except the plane ticket. Its just an idea.One of the elders is coming down with his brother that is thinking about going on a mission. It would be to inspire him a little. I think it owuld be fun but maybe better to wait until another month. My fear is that once school start life will get too crazy to come back here.

I have to go if i am gonna be able to attach the photos so i will talk to you all on sunday afternoon.

Love race

p.s. the photos are of my bites and the adventurous times on divisons in panajachel.

2011-04-28T13:26:00.001-07:00

Dear Everyone,

Well time is sure going by fast, it seems like I just wrote a few days ago. But here I am in week 4 of my last change in the office. We had a good last few days, we went to Antigua and had a good time there like a i mentioned in the last email. This week we have had some meetings in the office and have gone on divisions and have more scheduled. It has been a good old fashioned week.

Good to hear that the passports came in. Elder Deering says he is coming back down in December with his little brother so maybe we could cross paths or something. Also i think i have mentioned this before but Ashlee has connections with the Deering family. Elder Deering told me that he heard from his sister that Ash and Colin adopted a baby. So if anyone speaks to the deerings, tell them that Elder Deerings best friend in the mission says hi.

Well the news from home sounds good. The pictures from the Easter egg hunt look like it was hit with the niños. Looking at those pictures i dont even recognize lots of those little things. I thought the picture of Davis was of someone else´s baby. Layne is completely different, and Peyton is so big! They all probably have their drivers licences by now.

So driving in the van is a common thing in my life now and so all of the office staff has to make up ways to keep ourselves entertained. The most recent "back-seat phenomenan" has been the game 2 truths and 1 lie. You tell 2 truths about yourself and 1 lie. Then everyone has to guess which is the lie of the 3. On long trips to conferences in Chimaltenango this is quite the fun game. I´ll give you an example.

1) Someone hit me with an egg while i was tracting in my 3rd area,

2) As i was driving I got pulled over (sirens and all) by police carrying machine guns about 1 month ago.

3) I ran over a goat in the van while driving to divisions in Escuintla last week.

Which one is a lie? isn't that fun! Its a great time killer and you learn alot about the other elders in the van.

And i know i told you all about the "secret mission" we did last week. In the zone conferences we gave a workshop about finding new investigators. i´ll share part of it with you:

As an example we put up a picture of Jesus walking on water. I´ll attach the photo we used for the conference. We asked them to think a little about that moment. Jesus came unto the Apostles, walking upon the water. Peter then asked if he could do the same. He got permission and, briefly, walked on the water as the master did. Think about that moment. How could it have been different? How would it have been if Jesus had been in the boat and had asked Peter to step out and talk off walking? Would that have been easier or harder for Peter? Obviously it would have been much harder.

Peter knew the sea. He had worked on it his whole life and the scriptures show us that he was a strong swimmer. He knew the sea. He knew how it was, what it did, how it behaved. That was his life and his work. He knew perfectly well that men did not walk upon the sea. That was impossible.

That is why the Master came to them walking on the water. It was in the moment that Peter´s mind changed about the ocean. He knew that water, through the power of the Savior, could be walked upon. THAT is where he got the faith and the courage to step out of the boat and walk on the water.

We then connected the Bible story and finding investigators. Most people would say "i know my area, i have been here a long time. You can find 5 families. That is almost impossible." Sort of like "men cant walk on the sea". But the missionaries, like Peter, needed someone to show them that, ¡YES! it can be done.

It was then that we asked the companionship's that participated in the secret misison to come up. We proceeded to explain that you CAN find 5 famlies. It was a highly effective meeting.

I will also attach the "gift" we gave to all the companionships that completed their misison.

Other than that it has been a normal week. A while back Elder Moore and myself found a great new family and we are excited to continue teaching them. They know a little about the church but we left them with Books of Mormon and they have read all the we left and they really like it. We are really hoping that they continue to progress and so add the Ramirez family to your prayers por favor.

I gotta get going but you all have a great week and we will talk later,

Love Elder Davis

P.S. when you call for mothers day you can call the number along with whatever codes are required. That is my number. I am not sure what day you want to call. You all can decide and then give me a jingle whenever. We have a rule that our cell phones are never allowed to be turned off...so i am sure i will answer.

April 2011

2011-04-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

300 year old catholic church ruins!

300 year old Catholic Church Ruins

2011-04-23T12:55:00.001-07:00

P Day ins Antigua (sp)

April 23, 2011

2011-04-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

hey everyone,

Well thanks for the news from home, always good to hear about stuff like that. I had a great week.

As far as the "secret project" went it was a huge success. A companionship in every zone of the mission succeeded. We had many companionships that passed the goal we set and found more that 5 families this week. Elder Kauhuenele and his trainee Elder Tanner (snowflake az) found 5 families. The elders in Solola found 6 families and the sisters in Antigua found 7 families. The sisters deserve honorable mention because Antigua is super catholic and they were doing this project the week before easter. The passion week in Antigua is a crazy house. You should google photos of Antigua at "semana santa". They do big processions and make carpets of sawdust in the streets. And despite all of that they found 7 families. Elder Jacobs and his trainee Elder Tays (safford az) found 8 families.

We made the secret mission public this week at zone conference. We called the missionaries up and told them to tell the misison what they had done. I was very inspirational and we are using the example they set to have higher goals as far as finding families.

As far as Brother Rolando and his family, we met with him this Sunday but his family was not home (they were out looking at the processions that i mentioned above) . We hope to find them this Sunday. And no, canchitos does not mean piglets. "Canche" or "canchitos" is Guatemala means white skinned. So little white babies are called "niños canchitos". However, that is just a Guatemalan style word and so Mexicans or someone from another Spanish speaking country would not probably know that word. If you want to call them little pigs in Guatemala you can call them "cochitos". Almost the same as "canchitos" so i can see where the confusion would come from.

As far as reporting the sunday i get back, i`m fine with that. I dont really want to think about it, but im fine with it,

Wow graduation is coming up! That is just insane. Well give the biscuit my congratulations for not failing high school.

I hope that ezra is now past ugly fetus stage so that I can see some cute photos. I still havent seen any, but that is exciting that he is going to be blessed soon.

As far as roommates go, i still dont know what i want to do. Keep giving me LOTS of names about who all are going so that i can decide if i want to live with any of them. We need to decide pretty soon though and the thing that will probably end up happening is that we just randomly sign me up for a room in "The Towers" dorm complex and we see who i get. Email me this week and let me know any other info and i will let you know my final decision.

Well i know how my final week in the mission will be, in relation to President Baldwin. He is going to alter the schedule a little so that he will be able to give my group our last interviews on Saturday. Then he will leave on tuesday and President Brough will take over that day. My final transfer meeting will be presided by Presdient Brough. President and sister baldwin plan on going to the Tikal ruins that week and then after they finish their vacation here in Guatemala they will fly home. So i will actually get to AZ before they do. We can all go and hear their homecoming talks. Oh, and mom you said you wanted to meet President Baldwin. Just go watch a Dallin H. Oaks talk and you will pretty much have the idea. hahah

Well this week, as i mentioned, we had zone conferences in the mission and that means lots of traveling. I am pretty beat but still happy. This week that is coming should be fun as well. For P-Day this week we went to Antigua to hopefully see some of the famous Semana Santa festivities. We went on a Tuesday and so nothing much was happening until later in the week but we did go sight seeing and got to visit the ruins of a 300 year old catholic church. I will attach photos.

Gotta run, have a great week,

PS oh ya i will be calling home soon for mothers day. I will give you all the number to my cell phone later on and you can call me and we`ll chat a bit.

Gotta run for real,

Elder Davis

April 14, 2011

2011-04-14T17:16:00.000-07:00

hey family,

Well this week has been great! We had the new missionary meeting and i got to see how the new elders are progressing. We got a great group this time and i am excited to see how my 2 favorite elders take to life in the feild.

Something else cool that happened this week was s "secret mision" that Elder Moore and I came up with. We called a companionship in each zone in the misison (9in total) and gave them the secret goal of finding 5 families in one week. The mission standard of excellence is 3 families a week. We, however, chose Elders that we knew could accomplish the task and we are currently waiting for results. It is an exciting thing because it is happening in the whole mission but it is a great big secret and so we just refer to it as "the project" and are always calling the chosen elder to encourage them. From the looks of things so far it looks as if all of them may find 5 families.

The purpose of the activity is to show the misison that we are capable of finding many more people than we are currently fiding and that we just have to change our minds and our attitudes. We are asking these missionaries to do it so that we can call apon "2 or 3 (or 9) witnesses" to testify of the possibility of finding 5 families. i am happy with the project and think that it should yeild results.

Another occurance of interest happened this sunday. We are currently meeting with a man who is a less active member of the church. He got baptized about 5 years ago but because of some problems with some missionaries he stopped atending. We found him knocking doors and are now meeting with him every sunday.He is nice enough, but has a bit of a grudge against th church and the elders. We have slowly re-gained his trust. His family on the other hand, seemed to be beyond help. They became very bitter about what happened with the old missionaries and didnt even want to say good afternoon to us (which here is kind of really extreme). Well any way this sunday we were with Brother Rolando and his family was in the house but completely ignoring us. We asked Rolando what we could do to talk to his family and get them to listen to us (they were never baptized). He said that is was a lost cause and that it would take a long time to get them back to the table with Elders.

As the mom and daughters bustled hurridly around the room i had a stroke of genius. I know the Guatemalan people, and i know what they like. And they ALL seem to like 2 things: pictures and white babies. And it just so happens that i have a picture of white babies in my spanish scriptures! So i pulled out the family photo that i have in my Bible. On the back i have written "Mi Familia Eterna". My eternal family. I called out to the mom and said "Hey i heard you like pictures!" She just sort of stared at me. I pulled out the photo and said "Look this is my family." In about 3 seconds everyone in the house was gathered around the picture. All guatemalans say the same thing when they see my photos. "Mirá! Allí está él! Y que chulos los canchitos! O tan lindos que son!"

They all begin talking about how cute the little white children are and trying to find me in the picture. And they all think the flower on Lowee´s head is adorable and make comments about it. I have the family picture we took out at the golf course way back when. It seemed to get their attention and as Preach my Gospel says, teaching the importance of the family is a major factor in finding new investigators. So i pointed out to them who all of the people in the picture are and made some jokes to get them laughing (another thing that the Guatemalans love) like ¨"and look at the most handsome one on the right!" or "Now you have to pay me 5 quetzales each for letting you look at such a great picture.

They ate it up and now have agreed to listen to us. I hope to see miracles in that house very soon. And it all started because of our family picture. And so contrary to the philosophy of Grandpa Sherwood we are NOT the ugliest bunch on the planet and we ARE indeed good for something. hahaha

But it was good to get all of your emails Mom it sounds like you are gonna have lots of fun with that bike of yours. I would maybe like to use a bike at college: it will keep me in mission shape and help me save money. I bet you and mr. Fritz will have a great time riding together. Also, President Baldwin was a marathon runner and ran for lots of years but has now cut down on the running alot becuase it is high impact on the knees. he says that biking is better for your knees. So there ya go, he would know.

Also this week was zone leader council. We got to have our meeting here in the office. We then went to the mission home for delicious turkey and mashed potatoes (from sister b) and play the famous animal game. Those videos of me dancing like a chicken are from that game. And then this morning we all went to the temple together. It was a geat expirice to be in the temple for the last time with President Baldwin as a misisonary, seeing that this will be my last temple trip with him. I took advantage of the time we had together inside to ask him lots of questions. Those meetings are always great. Zone leader council is one of the favorite meetings becuase it is such a great group of elders that we have serving as zone leaders.

Other than that i dont have a lot of news. President Baldwin told me this week about their schedule for the last week in the mission. I will indeed get to have my final interview with him. He will give me my exit interview on saturday and then on tuesday he leaves. I will spend my last day in the mision with the new President but that is alright by me. Just so long as i get my final interview from Presdient Baldwin. The up side is that he lives in Arizona so i will get to see him more often than most.

Well i dont think i have anything else to say. Just keep the news coming from home, i always look forward to the emails from family and friends. And even though i may not respond to the friend emails (cause i cant) from people like Jon etc. i love to get them and always read them. I also always mean to write a hand written letter but that still hasent happened yet. Life is pretty busy. Well i gotta go so have a safe week. Pray for me and for the Elders and Sisters in my mission (especially the ones with the "secret mission") this week.

Gotta go

Love Elder Davis

April 8, 2011

2011-04-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

hey family,

Well i had a wonderful conference weekend and april fools day. My April fools day was so good because we got almost all of the zone leaders in the mission. We called, for example, elder Jacobs in Villa Nueva and we said "Hey Elder Jacobs one of the missionaries in your zone just ran away. His companion called us and we called President. We don´t have any ideas, what is your suggestion?". Hahaha it was classic. We did it to almost all of the Zone Leaders in the mission. However, one zone leader companionship thought they could pull a joke on ME.

Elders Park and Lowry called and told me that one of their Elders was missing. Ya right. So I hung up on them and then called back about 2 minutes later. When i called back i said "Don´t worry Elder Park i told President Baldwin all about the missing Elder". He started freaking out "NO it was a joke it was a joke! Why did you call President it was a joke! he is going to kill me!" Hahha i turned the mesas on him. You cant fool me.

And just so you know family, you also narrowly escaped a great april fools joke. I was going to have the secretaries call the house and tell you some stuff but none of them had the nerve. So you escaped that one.

But General Conference was also excellent. I enjoyed all of the talks especially Elder Christoferson´s and Elder Bednar´s. I also find it interesting that President Monson called for donations to the missionary fund. I hope that all of you that hear that are planning on donating to the fund. If he asked for it we must do it.

This week we had changes. Me and Elder Moore are together still of course. We have a new secretary, Elder Francis. Elder Romero finished his mission this week and we got to be with him on his last day. One of the funnest things that we got to do was receive the new Elders. I saw on the arrival sheet that 2 of the newbies were from Arizona. But to my surprise i found out that one is from Snowflake and one is from Safford. The one from Snowflake is named Tarrin Tanner. I introduced myself as Elder Davis from Eagar and he said "Are you Chantz Davis´older brother?" Apparently they played basketball against each other alot and almost went at it a few times. But he is a great kid and you can just tell that he will be a good missionary. In the first 5 minutes with an Elder you can see the potential they have and what kind of missionary they will be. The other Arizona kid is from Safford and his name is Ean Tays. Elder Jacobs finished his time as ZL and is now training him. Another great kid. Which is good because the AZ elders have a great reputation in this mission.

This last week we also got our hand on a new CD (which is always exciting) from the MoTab. It is just the men from the choir singing. They do a version of "He´s got the whole world in his hand". That song is a little silly and so it has now become a make-up-your-own-words sing along in the office. Such as: "He´s got an Asian baby in his hands, He´s got the 1890´s in his hands, He´s got European Socialism in his hands. He´s got Tom Hanks in his hands." It is quite entertaining and very easy to do. I recommend it as a family home evening activity. Hahaha

Also, i think i may have passed a tape worm this week. But there is no way of knowing for sure. So....ya.

Well i gotta go, i would love to see photos from Chantz´s prom.

Elder Davis

P.S. "He´s got crunch peanut butter in his hands, He´s got Jackie Onasis in his hands, He´s got the Oakland Raiders in his hands, He´s got scuba diving in his hands."

March 30, 2011

2011-03-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Well the ides of March have passed...i think. Either way Ceaser is already dead.

Wow time is going by so fast! March is already gone basically. Tommorow it will be April Fools Day.... just kidding.

Well i am finally writing you at the normal time of the week, which is a miracle in and of itself. This has been the most hectic change of my life, lots of things going on. We had another tour of the mission, which means lots of travel. As i think i mentioned i also went out to eat for my birthday and i will try and attach pictures of me at lunch with the Elders. Other than that not a lot has happened. I feel like i have less to write about now a days. Maybe there is just less i am permitted to write about seeing as i cant write on the blog about some stuff that goes on in the office.

So the birthday package was great. We are going to color eggs in between sessions of conference. This week i also spoke in church. It was only the 4th time or so in my mission that i have spoken in church. I also realized that it could very well be the last time that i get to speak in church in my mission and so when i picked a topic i was very careful and thought about what would be the thing that would most help the guatemalans that i love so much.

I spoke about tithing.

Elder Moore says it was a "Fire and Brimstone" talk. Or as we say in Guatemala "Fuego y Azufre". I just shared my most fervent feelings with the ward about the importance of paying the tithe. If you want to progres and have an economic guarentee from the Lord just pay your tithing. I got pretty fired up, considering the fact that not paying your tithing is not only putting a giant cork in the blessing bottle, its also the quickest way i can think of to engender the anger of God. So i let them know that if they wanted to not burn at the last day, they should pay their tithes.

It was a good one.

So we are all really excited here in the mission for General Conference. It is really a treat, Also, i usually convince the secretaries here in the office to give me a massage while i´m sitting at the desk. Right now, elder Lydiksen is rubbing my shoulders. I hope he doesnt stop cause i have big knots.

This week we also did changes. It was an interesting chage, and as always, doing change with President in his office is always a very special expirience. Elder Lydiksen stopped rubbing my shoulders.

As i mentioned in my last letter i have the hope of training my last change in the mision. We will see if that comes to fruition.

This week we also had an Elder fall ill and needed to be hospitalized. He may have to go home which would be a big shame, and we are still waiting to see how it all turns out. Elder Lydiksen is rubbing my shoulders again. Oh ya.

Well it was good to hear in the email about home, i am sure the new baby is exciting. that would be great if Reece and Rylee would move back close to home. I am really anxious to see how Ryder is following in my footsteps and becoming like me. I am sure that will be the biggest shock about going home, seeing how all the family has changed.

So this week i got to spend a little more time in my area. It is frustrating to have office duties and field duties, becuase i dont feel like i am completely focused on my area. I have to be away from the area so much it sometimes makes me feel like a slacker. Obviously i am not but thats how it feels. It would be great to have just a field assignment againm and it looks like that is how my last chage will be. Not that i dont like being in the office, its just that i would like to be able to give all of myself in my area. Elder Lydiksen stopped rubbing m shoulders again.

Well i had better go so that i can attach some photos. Thanks for all of the letters!

Elder Davis

2011-03-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

Out with the 'gang' for 21st birthday lunch!

March 30, 2011

2011-03-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

Elder Moore and Elder David enjoying a 21st birthday lunch!

March 26th 2011

2011-03-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

dear family

well this week was another dewsie (is that how you spell that?) for me and my companion. We had to (surprise surprise) travel alot and we are just finally having time to write home. I had a great birthday and a big thank you for the package and the birthday emails.

The morning of my birthday i was in the coast on divisions and i was lucky enough to get a pancake breakfast from the zone leaders in santa lucia. Not that it was for my birhtday, i was just in the right place at the right time. Then we went home through antigua and i ate lunch at a restaurant called mono loco. It was yummy.

Other that that it was a pretty normal week. I have canker sores. So....ya.

Oh ya, on division in Santa Lucia i went with the elder to teach a family that i contacted my last week in Santa. The dad remembered me. I dont remember them because i contacted dozens of families in santa.

Almost every night in Santa Lucia, we would be done with our last appointment and be close to the house. Usually it would be about 8:50. I would always try and use those last ten minutes to work before we went home for the night. We would make one last loop around the block looking for a family walking in the street to contact. I tried to do that because those 10 minutes are never coming back and maybe there is someone who needs to be contacted out there at the last minute.

It is important to use every minute of the mission because it all goes so fast. And this family that is now listening to the lesson was one of the ones i contacted at the last minute instead of going to the house a tad early. I am very grateful to the leaders i have had in the mission that established in me a habit of diligence, using every second of the mission and especially for the habit of contacting families. If they had not instilled all of the in me then i would have probably just said "oh its close enough" at 8:50 and headed off to my house. Had i done that, the families would have gone uncontacted, i would have lost opportunities to learn and teach and i would not have the satisfaction of knowing i went the extra mile to help these Guatemalans have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It just goes to show how big your circle of influence can be. Thanks elders.

But life has been good here in GuateGuate so far. Me and elder Moore are both doing just ducky and we are currently preparing for changes. We will have one more change together and then i will leave the office for one more change in the field.

Good to hear that Chantz will be at the airport. I thought he was trying to escape on us.

Its good to hear the stories about the niños. The one about ryder and the french vanilla ice cream is precious. I mean he is a hadlock davis combo, what do we expect.I do want to see some pics of the new addition to the family. Even if he is still in ugly red swollen alien baby stage.

I got to be in the car a lot with President Baldwin this week. We usually dont have so much time with just him in the car and so it was nice to ask him questions and learn from him. He is an extremely wise person. He like gets Isaiah and stuff. Haha. When we go to the temple with him i always ask him questions. Its great.

Other than that not a lot is going on. I have to speak in sacrament meeting this week and i am going to talk about tithing. that seems to be a hard commandment for lots of people, no matter in what country they live in.

Oh and also my companions and i have been taking advantage of the mission "rumor mill" to spread/allow rumors about ourselves to spread in the whole mission. For instance, a large part of the mission right now believes that Elder Montoya and i got along so well we used the same toothbrush. True? No. Funny? You bet your bippy. The one we are getting going now is that myself and elder Moore are writing a book. Its a doctrinal commentary on the pearl of great price. Hahah lots of people give Elder Moore the label of "deep doctrine guy" so we are taking advantage of it and letting them jump to crazy conclusions. Its great. Ill let you know how fast the rumors spread.

Well gotta go thanks for everything

Elder Davis

2011-03-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

Elder and SisterFalabellas from the Seventy, Elder Davis, Elder Moore and Sister and President Baldwin

March 19, 2011

2011-03-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

This has been the most tiring week of my entire mission, hands down! I had a great time and loved every second of it but i am beat to a pulp. Starting tuesday, i have gotten up at around 4:30-5:30 every day this week. I`ll spill the beans on it later and tell you everything that happened.

But starting with your letters, first of all i had NO IDEA that bryan and karen were expecting a baby, let alone twins!! Tell them congratulations for me. Also i am glad that ezra got here safely, i think it is so wierd to think about a new human being just "showing up" but im glad he did. That is another niño on the list that i havent met.

Ya the elders in the mission are all pretty much supporting my BYU decision, but i have no idea what i will study at this point. Maybe it will be an english major. Hmmm....

Speaking of that, i had plans to return and go to EAC and live with Tanner Gililand and Bryan Fleming, you met them a few times. But now i have gotten letters indicating that maybe they arent going to EAC. Mom, becuase i can`t email those elders, would you see if you can get a hold of their parents and see what their plans are? Because if we are going to live together then we need to put wheels into motion to get an apartment set apart for us. (That last phrase is wittier in spanish.) The only dificult part is i have NO IDEA how you can get a hold of tanner`s parents. The only thing i could think of would be looking in a phone book or on line and finding all the gililands that live in flagstaff az. The last name is either Gililand, gilliland, or gililland. If you could find them and call them and ask them to ask tanner if he and bryan are planning to go to eac after all. Let me know if you have any luck.

But now i will tell you about why i have been so busy and just what it is that has made me so tired that i fell asleep sitting up (serioulsy, i did. so did elder moore). this week we had zone conferences with Elder Enrique R. Falabella of the Seventy. He is the one that spoke a few years back and talked about how his toe stuck out of his shoe and so his dad shined his toe. He came and visited our mission and we had a conference tuesday, wednesday, thursday and friday. We had to travel and set up everything in various parts of the mission. This was elder moore`s first time setting up a zone conference and only my second, and on top of that we had a general authority with us. Stressfull. But we did it all, i got ti sit down with Elder Falabella and his wife and have a discussion. They are very nice and i was glad to get to meet him and learn from him. Maybe he will speak this april in conferecne.

But we have had a rough week, never getting back to the house until night time. But thats the job and it was actually a very edifying expiriecne. I`ll attach pictures.

Other than that i was thinking about the fast sunday thing we used to do with grandpa where we all went to his house to be with him. Do you still do that?

And also today we were in the car for about 6 hours straight, moving some missionaries out of their areas into new ones. I am just ready to go and take a nap! But of course there isnt really time. The funny thing is that next week we have to go out and drive all over the mission AGAIN, wednesday, thursday and friday. Good times. I am learning to hate the infamous van.

Well i gotta get going so that i can attach photos. Love you all and will talk to you later.

Elder Davis

March 10, 2011

2011-03-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

Whew, another stressful week has passed. Thanks for asking the question to grandpa, i think i will ask him one every week from now on if i remember. I feel like it is a good way to perserve history.

Ya the other Elders in the office wont quit talking about the BYU basketball team and all that. I still think most people forget that its a game, like freeze tag or chineese checkers. But go team go.

I am pretty sure i will apply to BYU after the mission and after i get good grades for a couple semesters at EAC to erase that unsightly number called a "high school GPA" that is following me like Tommy Lee Jones´ character from the Fugitive. I think it would be a good expierince, we´ll see. I havent really decided what i want to study exactly but i have a much better idea than before the mission.

Speaking of that, one of the big things i have realized out here is that I do not plan on working in Brother Burnham´s line of work for the rest of my life. I might have a job in it during college or something but that will not be my career. Narowing the options, narrowing narrowing.

So this week Elder Moore and I have realized even more things that we have in common. I think Elder Montoya and I were friends becase of the things we didn´t have in common. Elder Moore and i have the same snoody taste in books etc. Its probably the hate of Sons and Lovers as a book and JD Salinger as a human that unite us. If you dont understand the preceeding paragraph, now you know how the other office Elders feel like.

This week we also had the awesome opportunity to go to Santiago Atitlan, the crazy cool area where they speak tzutujil. Elder moore was there and he learned the language and we got to go back on divisions. One of the main reasons we went was to see how the new elder was learning the dialect. I, of course, could offer no opinion on that since it just sounds like jiberish to me. But Elder Moore said that the new missionary is learning well. During the lesson i just pulled out my ensign and went to reading. Hahaha i felt like a new missionary, not knowing what anyone was saying and not being able to contribute. I sent dad a photo of the men in the native wear of the village and i took some pictures of me in the shorts ¨scoff¨ as its called.

The culture up there in the mountains is so interesting. One of the coolest "book of mormon" things has to do with the language. tzutjil is an ancient languge, but it is being influneced with spanish. I dont understand it but when i hear it spoken i hear spanh words thrown in every once and a while. Many words have been lost and are replaced with spanish words. For example there is no word in their languag for pineapple. At one point there was, but it has been lost and no longer exists. So most modern things have spanish names.

However, there is an original anicent tzutujil word, "tish". It means elephant.

Now, if the word exists in original tzutuil, that means that it existed BEFORE the spanish came.

That means that this little isolated tribe of people had contact, or had seen or knew about elephants before the spanish even arrived. that is very intersting, considering the fact that the Book of Mormon mentions elphants as one of the common animals found in the land, something which is often criticized by people attacking the BOM, claiming that the ancient people of the americas didnt have elephants.

According to the tzutujil language, i guess they are wrong.

But good to hear about the boys in the stake getting their calls, too bad no body is coming down here, to the best country in all the land.

On a scale of 1 to 10, i really love Guatemala. Elder Moore and i have already planned a trip back. We are going to write down mayan myths and legends and take photos and put it together in a book about the BOM here in the Guatemala. it will sell like mad in deseret book. hehe

So the question for Grandpa this week is where was he when Pearl Harbor got attacked and how did it affect his mission?

Well family i got to go, love you all and write soon

Love Elder Davis

March 2, 2011

2011-03-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Family

Its March. What the heck is that all about. I turn 21 in 3 weeks. This is just a cruel joke.

Well good to hear from the family. Snow always sounds fun especially in March. That should mean lots of water in the reservoirs.

It was also really good to hear from Elder Jenson and Elder Douglas. The mission still talks about both of them.

I am also really excited for Chantz and his BYU plans. I am sure he will do great there. It was never an intention of mine to go there but now that i think about it it is a definite posibility that i will go to BYU after the mish. The first year back i will have to go to EAC to get the old GPA up to par, but then i could definitely go there. The only obstacle right now is the fact that i dont know what i want to study or major in. We´ll see how the tortilla crumbles but BYU is now definitely an option i am thinking about. Oh the times they are a changing.

Its also good to get an update about the niños. When i left nash couldnt even walk let alone talk, i only saw peyton once for about 5 minutes and Davis didnt even exist yet. Its gonna be weird to come home because i still imagine Ryder all tiny and Mary Kate too. Now i will come home and they will be finishing their Masters Degrees.

So i am now with my new companion Elder Moore. I get along very well with him, just like with Elder Montoya, but the are both very different. I am compatible with both of them in different ways. Elder Moore is kind of a scriptorian genius and super well read. We talk about literature and the scriptures and stuff like that. Very interesting. He has had some difficult things happen in his life and it makes him a very solid type of person. His third area was a place called Santiago Atitlan, a village in the mountains that is famous in our mission. In that village they speak the Mayan dialect of Tzutujil. Ya. So he learned to speak the dialect there. It sounds like a mix of German, Navajo and elvish. He speaks that and Spanish and english. Trilingual. Kind of a genius.

We get along really great. And actually him and i get to go on divisions back to Santiago. I wont understand a thing those people are saying. It will be like going to Egypt. And also in that area the women still use the corte i have talked so much about, but the cool thing is that there the men still use a native dress. its like white striped shorts that is called ´scoff´. The missionaries there used to wear it up until about 3 months ago and the area presidency put the nix on that. But i will be sure to take alot of photos there in Santiago. it is on the other side of the lake i always take pictures of. The water of Mormon lake. its gonna be sweet.

Speaking of the Area presidency, this month we will have conferences with Elder Falabella, and me and my companion will have to be the hosts for him on his trip here. I think i will get to eat dinner with him and all kinds of stuff like that. I am really excited.

Well i dont have a lot left to write to you all but i have decided to do something new in my emails. Mom i am going to write down questions from now on for Grandpa Sherwood and i would like you to ask him them and then type his answers word for word for me. It wont take too long but i will ask a question a week until i come home and can do the interviews with him i want to do. So my question this week is:

¨Grandpa, who is the first Prophet you can remember as a child and what do you remember about him?¨

so mom please ask him that and then type his response to me this week.

Well not much else going on, i gotta run now.

Love elder davis

February 24, 2011

2011-02-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Family

Well today i officially hit the 20 month mark. Wow.

This week was very exciting, I got a new companion, the mission had changes and myself and elder Montoya had a baptism. I´ll start from the beginning. Like i said elder Montoya left. I will miss him alot, he was a great comp. He taught me alot (including a love for SPAM, he opened my eyes) and will do great i his new assignment in Chimaltenango.

But my new companion is now Elder Moore. He is from Virginia and i figured it would be him He is a really good guy and i am glad to have him. We have only been together for a few days but i am sure we will get along fine. We have a lot of similar tastes and so we get along just ducky.

On his first day as assistant he went with me to pick up the new elders from the CCM. We picked up the 6 newbies and started a day of training with them. At one point during the day we had to take the new guys to a crowded bus stop here by the office and let them contact people. we gave them each a Book of Mormon, some pamphlets and a stack of pass-along cards. We told them they had 1 hour and that they had to come back with a stack of references for us. And then i did something that happened to Dad on his first day in the mission. I told them all ¨if you come back with the BOM in your hand then you don't get to eat dinner with us¨. I was mostly kidding of course but i think it got to them because they all gave away their books.

Also this week we took the old elders for their last day in the mission. We always take them after the change meeting to a super fancy mall and let them relax and eat there. While we were at the mall Elder Moore and i went walking about the mall waiting for the elder to finish up. We found some ties for sale in this mall (it seriously is the nicest mall i have ever seen) that cost 700 quets! That is getting close to 100 dollars! It was silly.

We then take them to the Mission home where they have their exit interview with President Baldwin. Then we have a family home evening testimony meeting. After all that is said and done we leave the mission home and go to a nice restaurant to eat. As assistants we get to participate in the whole evening with them and it is very strange. They all have their airline tickets in their pockets and are just hours from going home. We then drop them off at the CCM where they wait until the next morning and their flights. It is a plus to be able to go to dinner with them and get to hear them bear their last testimony.

One of the funnest things about doing things like that is the opportunity you have to be able to talk to President Baldwin. He has lived a very exciting life and has traveled all over. he has gone to the middle east many times, visiting Saudi Arabia, Quatar etc. for business and as a fighter pilot in the air force. He has some crazy stories and we like to hear him tell us about them.

Wow that is so cool about Chantz´s college application stuff. All the office Elder are excited for his BYU acceptance. All of the elders in the office except me went to byu before the mission.

that is so great the Eric is home now. I bet the baby blessing went fine.

Some really exciting news was announced this week, President Baldwin is going home in June and so we are getting a new mission president. His name is Monty Joseph Brough and he is from Utah. I might get to meet him for a few days before i leave. The whole mission is talking about him. He is 47 and supposedly going to bring 2 children with him to the mission. I will be very interesting to see how the mission changes when President Brough arrives. he is the son of the general authority Monty brough. Maybe you remember that name.

Well there isn't a lot of other news. I will write more next week if i have time.

Gotta go,

Elder Davis

February 18, 2011

2011-02-18T15:00:00.001-08:00

Dear Family,

Hey! This was a fun week! Full of excitement and adventure that is for sure. Thanks for the emails and the updates. Well lets get started...

I am glad you got the valentines day card. haha we thought it was pretty funny. I think even President got a kick out of it.

wow that is so great that ashlee and colin are going to be able to adopt!! I am very happy for them and please give them my congratulations.

This week we were on a lot of divisions, we went with Chimaltenango, some elder in Mariscal and in Santa Lucia. The divisons are the thing that tire me out most, we sleep on cots at the elders´ house. A less-than-six foot cot for a six foot 2 inch elder makes for a memorable expiriecne. But divisons are also the most fun.

This week ANOTHER stride was made in the tortilla field of science, i ate a Peanut Butter and Jelly Tortilla. Tortillas are the replacement for whatever substance that is lacking. Bread, napkins, you name it a tortilla will take its place.

This week was also very special because we did changes with President Baldwin. I can describe all of the process in an email but basically we went to president´s house and began with a prayer. In his office we first took down my companions picture from the AP1 slot and put my picture there. Then we replaced the AP2 slot with the picture of my new companion. I cant tell you who it is just yet but you will soon find out. hehehe

Then we began with the zone leaders. We took down the ZL s that are going home and that needed to leave their areas because of a lot of time there. We replaced them with new Zone Leaders. We than did basically the same process for district leaders and senior companions. We chose who would be the trainers etc. It was a very spiritual afternoon and i felt very guided in many of our decisons. For example, this change we will need a new office secretary. President said he hadn´t made a firm decision on who it would be and gave us his list of 6 posible candidates. Of the 6 i know 2 or 3 very well. The others i havent even spoken with more than once. But as he said the names i felt that one of the elders i had never evenspken too should be the one. We had a break without making a decision and as we rested elder montoya told me he had the same feeling about the Elder who should be secretary. As we entered the office President told us that he had made his decison. We had all unanimously chosen the same elder. That happened several times during the process. Very special. I now know all the changes of the whole mission. I´m sure i could see the info for a pretty penny. Heheh

So i was thinking recently that when i get home i really want to interview grandpa sherwood. I will use a taperecorder and ask him about lots of stuff. That is my plan.

Hahah also this week a was speaking with a zone leader. A misison is soemtimes a hot bed for gossip and rumors (both good and bad) and while talking with elder Park he said ¨word on the street is that you got a perfect score on the ACT¨. Is that true?¨ Hehehehe i was NOT going to shut that rumor down and so i just said ¨well what do you think i got elder?¨ and then i walked off. Hehehe that rumor will go far and wide. That is gonna be sweet.

On a related note me and elder montoya want to start rumors about ourselves and tell them to the most gossipy elders and see how long it takes to get around the mission.

Well i am going to attach some pictures we took in santa lucia at more rocks. we were down there for divisions and took some P day time to go see them. ill attach them. the big one has bom stuff on it.

well gotta go thanks for everything and i love you all.

Race Davis, esq.

February 10th 2011

2011-02-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Hey there family,

This week was a good one. We found 3 families in our area (which is the weekyl standard for the misison) and got a lot of work done. It was good feeling to get out and hit the pavement. Other than that not a lot went on. I did get a great p-day activity in.....GOLF!!!!!!! Yes thats right i went and played 9 holes of golf this p-day. It was fantastic.

There were about 12 of us that went. We all bought polo shirts at the locas pacas (guatemalan thrift store things) and wore mission slacks. I got my hands on some golf cleaats and we went to town. I played in a group of 5 with the following: Myself, elder Montoya, Elder Musick, Elder Jacobs, and Elder Park. It was an office elder reunion (they are all former office secretaries.) we had a great time and i got a little sunburnt. I will attach photos.

The course is really super nice. It is in villa nueva guatemala and its called mayan golf club. Im sure you cold google that and see some better photos. It has a great view of lake amatitlan and the course (like the rest of guatemala) is incredibly green. We had a caddy named mynor. He was possible the coolest guatemalan caddy i have ever played 9 holes with. I didnt play terribly and it was really fun. I did have to loosen up a little, i mean i havent swung a club in about 2 years. But it was a good morning of relaxation. President Baldwin fully supported the idea (he is a big golfer).

We are preparing for transfers right now, which is pandemonium in the office. I am trying to learn and remember all i can so that next change i can show my new comp how to do it correctly. Under pressure. ¨do do do dodo do do¨

Another funny thing about being in the office (as i mention in my last letter) are the jokes about how old i am in the mission. The office staff kindly pointed out to me the fact that i only have 4fast sundays left in guate. Thanks for the heads up, guys. Its all in fun and like i say, i dont get homesick or anything. It just makes me want to work harder. But i am the ¨old man´´ so i get picked on a bit. hahah

Along those lines, all of my stuff is starting to fall aprt. Hahah evidence of my time well spent in the field. My favorite pants are starting to rip and most of my shirts are getting pretty thin. My watch band broke last week and my backpack zipper is starting to go south. They arent major problems, and its nothing i cant fix, but its just a reminder that some things dont last 2 years (like a 15 dollar target watch). Like i said its not a problem or anything (dont freak out mom) but i think its funny.

When it comes to the trip down, 800 bones is a lot of money for a roundtrip ticket. And president baldwin will not be here when i end my mission and so it wont be possible for you to see hi as my mission president. its actually possible that he wont even give me my last interview. I will probably be with the new misison president for my last 4 days or so. Thats how it will work. It will be a little unfortunate but its not a big deal at all. We will get to go to his homecoming i imagine.

but we need to be making some decisions pretty qucikly because ticket prices are just gonna go up. I talked to a gringo who is down here (jeremy wright, served in north mission a while back, is down doing humanitarian work) and he said he got round trip tickets for 550. He went to orbits and expedia and all that and looked for deals. We need to be constantly checking and verifying. My preference would be that we all come back together. But i also know that it may end up pretty expensive, especially considering the fact that we are going to the beach right after. Think about it, talk about it and email me. If you have any tidbits or ideas you can email me apart from the big email you send every week becasue i have to check my email every day. So talk about it and let me know. Ifwe have to put the guatmeala trip off until later on that would be ok too. But like i said if it were possible it would be really fun. the expensive part would only be plane tickets. the hotels and food i can talke care of for really cheap.

but other than that, i am glad true grit was good. and good on chantz for keeping the list for me. And i think you are the ones that have changed, not me! The kids are so big and everyone looks different. I am just a little more brown and skinny. and i speak spanish. but i look exacatly the same i think.

i am glad you like the chicken dance. it is designed as a humiliating punishment. And we only play games like that at the zone leader council. all the elders in that room are zone leaders. president is much more relaxed with us. But he is still vry much COLONEL Baldwin if you please. His wife is very nice and low key. They are a very funny couple.

that is great that chantz went with the elders. I know i didnt really like it that much when i went, but i only went once. And now i realize that the elders i went with were not very obedient at all. But chantz needs to go, not only for his sake but because he is an 18 year old male and so the elders can use him to go into a house with only women. that is very useful to us elders.

oh the super bowl...ya. I have totally forgotten about baseball anyway.

good to hear about all the other news you sent me. Its funny to think about convert baptisms in eagar, but that is great that there have been some great things happening. I hope evrything gets better with the coach seymore situation. I will be praying for him,

Well better go and get the pictures attached. Also the office is getting new computers. Whoo hoo!!!!!

Gotta run

love elder davis

Febrary 5, 2011

2011-02-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

Hey Familiy

Well the time is just FLYING by. I am already ending week 4 of the change with Elder Montoya. I am sad that its going by so quickly because we are having a great time together. And the scary part is that in just 2 weeks i will recieve a new companion and i will have to teach him how to do this job. I have only done it for 6 weeks and will have to teach someone else to do it. We'll see how that works out. heheh

But other than that our week was great. We went to PriceSmart, which is the guatemalan PriceClub. Its the exact same store, execpt everything is in spanish. It is where the mission buys all its stuff because it is cheaper. It is also one of the only places around to have american products. The peanut butter is a very demanded item. We went on a run there to buy our personal groceries as well as the things the elders in the mission needed and mission supplies. Its very weird to walk in becuase its kind of like walking out of Guatemala and into the USA: free samples, huge jugs of chocolate syrup, etc.

So there is a very embarasing video of me doing the famous guatemalan ¨chicken dance¨ on the mission blog. I of course do it with my special twist. That was at the zone leader council. Elder Lowry is also in the video. Good times.

Well i feel very lame but i dont have alot of other news to write. I went on divisons this week in Amatitlan, near my second area. I went with elder lewis from oklahoma that came into the mission with me. That was fun. Next week i will go with the elders in Nimajuyu, my old home. That should be really fun.

I sent home a letter the other day for valentines day. you should get it soon, i hope you like it. hahah is the result of me and elder montoya being al little silly. THis week i may or may not but definately am going GOLFING down here. Ya. Its gonna be ridiculous. There are about 12 of us in total that will be going. It should be a good time. It will be this p-day. Luckily President Baldwin loves golf, im sure thats why he gave us permision.

wow, that sounds crazy about the coach semore thing. why did they fire him? I can imagine that was a huge disaster in the school. The kids love him. But at least he got his job back.

i now have the biggest stess attacks about MONEY. I dont think i will be able to spend dollars when i get home. I have gotten very used to using quetzales and buying stuff down here. for example, if you send me to the store to buy some groceries and i see the price at the register as, for example, 25 dollars. I will FREAK OUT! 25 dollars!!!!! do you know how long i could live on 25 dollars down here! Its gonna be a BIG transition. Just thinking about plane tickets and prices etc. makes me sick to my stomach. yikes.

elder douglas and elder hatch both wrote me this week. That was fun. I hope they are doing well, it looks like they are.

Well i gotta run, well talk later

love race

PS respond to all my questions about travel-hotel-schedule stuff please.

2011-01-29T13:02:00.000-08:00

2011-01-29T12:58:00.000-08:00

January 29, 2011

2011-01-29T12:57:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

Well this week was fun. We traveled alot, from the mountains to the coast and back to the capital. Elder Montoya and myself were in the van alot but we had a good time. I´ll try and attach some photos.

Ya heard you were going to be getting a letter from president. I imagine its pretty short. What did it say, just out of curoisity? And on the Elder Ballard conference it was greatI There were lots of missionaries there and because of the time we were not able to shake his hand but he spoke to us (in english) and it was a great fireside. he spoke about the importance of fixing the problems in our branches as wards. ¨Is the branch not having branch council? Fix It!!¨ He used the phrase fix it about 10 times. But i actually ran into Elder Jordan Udall right before the conference. I only got to see him for a few seconds but he looked great.

So you mentioned the beach trip. When were you thinking about going? Icertainly hppe it doesnt conflict with anything.

Also you didnt email the pictures of the wood stove. I would love to see them.

As i mentioned this week we were traveling a lot for zone conference. We had to do 3 seperate conferences, wednesday, thursday and friday. I got to see literally every missionay in the mission. It was pretty fun and Elder Montoya and I did a good job with our presentation.

Other than that life has been good. My new lifestyle is very different but i enjoy it. It is very fast paced and high stress but that keeps me on my toes. We are constantly calling, aranging, verifying, setting up, taking down, picking up, dropping off and planning. But a rolling stone gathers no Guatemalan moss...

I am planning on sending a box home with an elder from Mesa. His name is Elder Zeigler. He knows the family of elder Deering (also from mesa). Elder Deering´s sister is friends with ashlee martin who does in very fact happen to be my realative. Ergo i wish to make the following handoff Elder Davis-----Elder Ziegler-------Elder Deering´s Sister---------Ashlee Martin--------Mom and Dad.

We´ll see how it goes. I will put in some cool stuff for you all and hopefully another nativity set. I will for sure be sending a book about the mayans, some clothes, and a set of brass weights that the people in the mountains use to weigh things that are mentioned in alma 11. Ya, cool stuff.

Mom you mentioned aplications to EAC, you could call them and ask about my scholarship status. I went in and did all that they asked me to do to save my scholarship, so it should be fine. But that is my plan right now, go back for 2 more semesters and get FANTASTIC grades in spanish classes (can you say GPA boost?).

Other than that there is no news. All is well in Zion.

Well gotta run.

Love elder davis

20 january 2011

2011-01-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

Hey Fam,

Its elder Davis. I am just waiting around and have a little bit of time to write you all. I am waiting til lunch becasue afterward we have a meeting with President M. Russel Ballard of the quorm of the Twelve. No big deal right. I{ll write you about that next week,

But this week that went by was great, it was very very busy. The first thing I should probably mention is that i got robbed. Someone broke into our house while we were at a meeting and took all my money. The funny thing is that we live in a really nice closed community, and we still got robbed. They came in and all they took was my money. That is actually a good thing becuase they didnt take my camera or anything. But they stole about 3000 quetz from me. That was my savings from my whole mission. I had planned to give it all back to the mission, but so it goes.

Also i was given the ´chicote´ for my shoes. I have used the same shoes since day 1 in my mission. That means that my shoes have almsot 19 months of walking on them. But this week President Baldwin told me that i needed to have shoes that were more presentable. So i went to the paca and got myself some Rockports for 6 dollars. They are newer and look much nicer. But hey, what do you expect from a 19 month old missionary?

Also this last week the famous Elder Tax went home. It was sad to see him go, especially considering the fact the he was my companion twice, but he is now with his family which is great. I got to be the last to say goodbye to him before he left. Weird.

Oh and also mom (this doesnt need to be blogged) you have mentioned that you want to schedule appointments for me, i need one with the orthodontist. my bottom teeth have gone back to their crooked ways. Ya. 19 months of tortillas will do that i think.

But now to respond to your email. I am glad to hear that you had the prompting to pray for me that night because i was quite literally freaking out that night. Nice timing biscuit.

ya President told me about the shooting spree in tucson. That is a shame and a half. Its stuff like that that happens every day here.

Sounds like Chant´z´s preperation for college and all that is going along well. Tell him to pray alot becasue i didnt have planned to go to EAC until i prayed and then it was like DING! and i knew that was where i needed to go. So ya,

Also this week i went back to Solola (the mountains) and got to hang out with my comp and some other elders at the lake, I´ll attach photos.

But other than that all is great. My new companion is the greatest. He is a great person and we are working together well. he is a really humble guy and he make me want to be better. Good times. Exept for right now he just asked me if the roads were paved in Eagar. ugghhh,

Me and Elder Montoya went to pricemart this week, pricemart is the guatemalan branch of Costco. We bought BOLOGNA!!! we were really excited there because there aare american things. It was very special.

Also this week we burnt all of Elder Montoya´s letters and pictures from his girlfriend (who is now engaged). It was a very healthy expirience because Elder Monty got out his inner fury and aggresion. It was great. I took videos and i will show them too you some time. hahahah

Ok so how did the whole Romania thing turn out? Have you talked to them recently? Keep me updated.

Well i better get running so that i can attach the photos i took up there in Solola.

Love Elder Davis

2011-01-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

Well, excuse my tardiness in writing. I was transfered from Santa Lucia! My new area is called Boca Del Monte, and i have recieved a new assignment along with the new area. In my new assignment i will be working with President Baldwin a little more closely. I now have a larger stewardship to be over and a LOT more responsibility. Im happy with it though. My mission will be changing drastically, but what that means for you all is maybe shorter emails. I also dont know exactly what day i will be writing to you, most likely it will be Friday or Saturday. Other than that, i am still Elder Davis. my new companion is Elder MONTOYA! based on the last name and his brown skin color you might just think he is from down here, but little known fact, he is from Linden Utah. hahaha he has been a great buddy in the mission since my 2nd change and so i am very excited to be with him. I will only be with him for 1 change and then i will recieve another.

But anyways this week was excellent, I was running around packing all my stuff up and preparing myself to go back to the capital. The funny part is that i basically shaved my head, thinking that i would be in the coast for the hottest part of the year. It was not an expected change at all. But i shaved my head two days before i found out i would be headed to the capital again. Talk about bad timing. But by any means, here i am with a shaved head. It is COLD in the capital.

The big news of the week would probably be the fact that i got to play with an ipad. I went to a shoping center on an assignment for President and we got to see one and play with it. That thing is the COOLEST!!!! Its just like an ipod touch but ginormous. It was pretty sweet. Also as part of my new assignment i now am driving a car. ya talk about terror, driving after 18 months is dificult enough but in Guatemala it is even more terrifying and hard. But thats what your prayers are for :)

As for the after mission schooling, i am planning on going back to EAC for one year more. my scholarship was supposedly held over but you could call and check on it i suppose. And i am glad you liked the pictures of the rocks, i will take you to them after the mission when we come down. You will ove it down here there is so much interesting Book of Mormon stuff. One of the rocks down there in Santa has a glyph on it that depicts the birth of the mayan people. The believe that they descended from 7 original fathers. Those have been identified by BOM; scholars as Nephi Laman Lemuel Zoram Ishmael Jacob and Joseph. The BOM talks about 7 tribes that have the names Nephites Zoramites Josephites etc. Very interesting.

Well i am very excited about my new companion. He is a very humble guy and we have always got along. We will be getting into lots of adventures in the next little while. He is really nice and i will send pics as soon as possible. In other news, elder Tax went home this week along with several other friends of mine. It is weird to see the old guys headed home and then realize that i am one of the old guys too. But i have lots of time left, dont you worry about that.

So all the people love the pics of the girls in the corte and of Davis in his snow suit. I printed them off recently, I show them to lots of people. The kids are getting so big that i cant belive it. Weird.

Well i had better go because i want to attach some photos. But i love you and i will write you again maybe next saturday.

gotta run (literally)

Elder Davis

Where's my urim and thumim when I need it?

2011-01-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Indiana DAVIS?????

2011-01-04T05:20:00.000-08:00

January 3rd 2011

2011-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

Wow! Its already 2011! Holy Shnikies

Well this week was great. We had success misionary-wise and i did some fun things. The first cool thing i gotta tell you about is finding ruins on p-day.

So as i mentioned on the phone, the coast is alot more ¨Guatemala-like¨ than the other parts of the country. Here in the coast the mental picture you all have of guatmeala is a reality. There is jungle, lizards, rivers, fields, volcanos, etc. There are also mayan ruins.

THis p-day we went ruin hunting in a sugar cane field. The field is constantly being plowed and run over by tractors and so me mostly find broken pottery and stuff. But i found the handle of what was once a relly big pot. I also found part of an arrow head. SOme of the other elders have found little mayan dolls in that field. THey are made of clay and look like something straight out of Indiana Jones. This week they got their hands on doll that is a tigers head. It has teeth and all. It is really interesting stuff and i will go look for more later on. I will attach pics of some of the stuff we saw.

This week we also walked a whole lot. I got a fatty blister. I´ll attach photos.

Hahah so my comp walks really slow some times and so i have devised a plan to help him put a little more skip in his step. He loves music and singing. He is always tapping his toes or humming something. So my plan (which works really well) is sing a song that will make him walk faster. If i sing a slow song he walks slow. And so when we are late to an appointment and he doesnt have his hustle on i start singing ¨The ants go marching one by one hurrah hurrah¨ and he starts marching in beat with my song. I dont think he has realized yet that i do it to make him hurry up. But it works every time.

Also, tommorow i get to go to the TEMPLE!!!!! Whoo hooo i am really excited for that. We have a meeting with President Baldwin and we are going to go to the temple. I am very happy about that.
Other big news is that i get to meet another Apostle. President D. Todd Christofferson will be in my chapel Jan 18th. Its gonna be awesome. President Ballard will be going to the near by area of Escuintla. I am really excited and hopefully i get to see him up close.

I was thinking the other day that Time magazine comes out with an issue that covers a year when that year ends right? For example, in the grocery store right now there are 2010 magazines for sale right? If there are would you be so kind as to buy me one? I would like to sue it after the mission to be able to refresh my memory and study up on the stuff i missed. Isnt that cool? Every second of every hour of every day of 2010 i was a missionary. Oh ya. BUt now the ¨black year¨ has ended and i must look forward to 2011 and what she brings to me.

But mom dont you worry, im not focused on coming home. I think about, i have to be honest. But every time i think about it motivates me to work harder. I will NEVER be able to come back and live these minutes again. 5 minutes i waste today will never come back, no matter how much i want it to. I only have 6 months left. That means i only have 6 months to be able to say ¨as i representative of Jesus Chtist....¨. I will not be allowed to say that soon. I am using my time as well as i can. THere isnt much left! So dont you worry about it, im focused.

But other than that i am doing fine. Please tell anyone that asks about me that i am doing fine. Tell them it is hot here and that i killed an anaconda yesterday on the way to sacrament meeting.

Love you all, im gonna now attach pictures

Love race davis, misionary man.

A cockroach so big it had to be caged, Christmas messages from the coast.

2010-12-27T12:56:00.000-08:00

Decenber 27, 2010

2010-12-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

ooooooiiii!!!!

hey there fam

well it is now past christmas time and headed for the new year of 2011. Who knows where that time went.

It was good to talk to you all , although i do not think that i sound hispanic at all. I think YOU all sound like a bunch of Gringos. But i sent a bunch of photos today. I dont have photos from the christmas party that we put on yet but maybe next week. But no mom sister baldwin wont put photos of that up on the blog. She wasnt there. It was just us misionaries here in Santa Lucia.

But hey before anything else mom did you invite Elder Weiler to the blog? I sent you the address last time. Invite him and also send him the following from me:
Hey elder weiler gracias por dispedirse de mi antes de ir a su casa. Yo pense que por lo menos me iba a llamar o algo asi pero nooooo....de todos modos no estoy tan enojado. Yo vi photos de usted y su familia en el blog. Calidad. Bueno, esta invitado a mi blog para que sepa como es la mision ya que usted no esta aca. Pero no tenga pena, yo seguire bautizando a los chapines en su ausencia.

Gracis por todo hermano y que sus sueños vuelen tan alto como las aguilas, es mi humilde suplica

atte Elder davis

ok that is all for elder weiler.

Other than that i had a good christmas. We had a huge ¨super p day¨as a mission and i got to see lots of old friends. We met up in ¨las colinas¨ in the mountains and watched a movie, played sports and hung aroud with president. it was great. then here in santa we just ate lots of tamales for christmas and had our zone activity with the pancakes and all that i mentioned on the phone, it was a great christmas.

In other news there is a BAT in my house. He came in our window and is there every night. When we come home and turn on the light the thing goes nuts and flies around like crazy. It comes back every night and my comp is TERRIFIED that its going to bite his neck and suck his blood. I keep telling him that its not really like that but he claims that the movies dont lie and so when the bat is in the house he ties a sheet around his neck so that it doesnt ¨chupar su sangre¨ hahahah

speaking of crazy animals, on christmas night we ate dinner with our branch president. I had just finished eating my tamales (2). I cleared my plate and just then a gecko fell from the tin roof right onto w here my food was moments earlier. i got lucky.

also this week we were on our way to anther city and we got off of a bus second before it fell into a ditch. It was really funny cause the right weels fell ito a 3 foot ditch and the whole bus was stuck. Once again, i got lucky.

Also i saw in the newspaper this morning that as of this week (including the murders that happened on christmas) there have been over 6000 murders in guatemala in 2010. I have been in this country all of 2010. How did i not become one of those 6000? I guess i got lucky.

In church this week we talked a bit about new years resolutions. I began to think about things i would like to accieve in 2011 and set new years resolutuions. I thought¨i want to do this with my companion and do that with the zone and find x number of new investigators¨ etc, and then it occured to me that ALSO for my 2011 goals i have to include ¨real life¨ goals like ¨get a job, get a cell phone, go to college, etc.¨ That blew my mind. THis week we officially end my ¨black year¨ of 2010. All of which was spent in the mission field. Best year of my life up til now. I had a lot of great expieriences this year. How? I guess i got lucky.

austin gregory is serving in the same mission as the sister of an elder in my zone. Tell elder gregory to keep an eye out for sister porter from mesa az. Her brother is the one that answered the phone and said i got bit by a dog. She is speaking spanish.

from the pictures it looks like you had a merry christmas. im glad to see it and the kids are HUGE!!! I didint even recognize some of the kids they are so different from when i left.

And yes mom chantz could go to any place in the whole world. If he learns spanish i would really happy and if he speaks english he will be lucky (teaching the gospel in your native language is a whole different expirience) and if he speaks another language i will study that language while he is in the field. It will be awesome. Wel i gotta go now but have a happy new year and we will talk next monday. Thanks for the picture and i hope you liked minde!

Elder Davis

December 20th 2010

2010-12-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

JO JO JO MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Well hi there! ITs Chrtistmas time down here in Guatemala and sadly it will be the last Christmas i spend here. The time goes by quickly but...onward and upward.

So all this Katie business sounds lame. She has gross seepage in her abdominal cavity i imagine then. nasty. Well katie get better! I will be praying for you and we´ll chat about it on Christmas.

My phone number is 55233459. I will be able to talk for 40 minutes and i will be waiting in the house at 1 guatemala time. You figure out what time you need to call to make it work but ill answer for sure.

Felicidades for Reece on getting a job offer in Vegas. All that study time paid off it looks like. But that would be sweet if you could come to Az, the land of plenty. And the school situation in Eagar sounds pretty bad. But the brightside (and there always is one) is that at least its not a Guatemalan school. A typical guatemalan school has a tin roof and not enough chairs and desks. It isnt common but i have seen schools that are just made out of tin and dont have cement walls or anything. So count your blessings.

As for my weight i dont know how much i weigh exactly but lets put it this way...less. Speaking of that i took the set of pills they call ´the bomb´ to clean out the worms and paracites. I actually do feel much more energetic, i dont know if its just my imagination but i think it helped. Now i dont have to provide food for my little buddies down there. We´ll see if that helps me gain more weight.

The true grit reamake sounds worth a shot. No one can fill John Waynes boots but then again we must remeber that many people didnt want them to make the original movie, thinking that it wouldnt match up to the book. so cross your cogburns and hope for the best. Just PLEASE tell me that glen cambell is not in this one. PLEASE!!!

Other than that we had a good week. I went to the beach to not swim. That was fun and i will send photos. The beach is surprisingly close to my house and i think ill go back soon. ON the way to the beach i heard the song ¨Achey Breakey Heart¨ in spanish. What is this country coming to?!

OH and in other news the mision famous ¨Davis Part¨ is now gone. I shaved the head on account of the heat and lack of time to comb my hair in the morning. SHe will be missed. But im sure she will come back soon.

Haha also i may or may not but definately did accidentaly brake the word of wisdom the other day. Haha a lady opened a box of cookies and gave me one. I took a bite out of it and then asked to see the box. It was written in Enlgish so she didnt know but i had a 40 percent coffee filling. Ha ooops. But i did not do it on purpose so i think im good. Its sort of like when a bum splashes beer on my face. Not my fault.

I am working hard to get adjusted to my new area and new branch. I was in my last area for so long that everyone (even the drunks and the homeless people) knew me. Here no one knows me and i dont know them . So i am working to establish the relationship of trust with them all but it is hard and im not used to doing it. But little by little they are liking me. The problem is i havent visited them all. WHy? Because i dont know where they live and neither does my comp. But were getting there.

But i am doing good down here for my last Christmas away from Arizona ever. I think i feel a little more nostalgic this Christmas than last, but i will see you all in 6 months. THe time goes by way too fast, im both excioted and horrified to end the mission. I just gotta make the most of my 6 months i have left.

But Christmas time is so special, and it is a wonderful time to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He is my savior.

I testfiy to each and every one of you that the Mesiah all of Israel was waiting for was him, Jesus. He CHOSE to be born in the most humble of circumstances, showing to all of us that even if we live in humnble conditions, unnoitced by the world, we can be great in the eyes of God.

I know that he loves me. I can feel it every time i talk about huim and when i think about what he did for me. I know that he suffered some pretty terrible things so that you and i can repent. And he did it because he loves us.

I know that he loved the poeple that nailed him to the cross jsut as much as me and you. He is our perfect example in all things.

I have never seen Jesus Christ, but i testify to you as one of his true messengers here on the earth that one day WE WILL ALL stand face to face with him.

We will see the marks in his hands and side and feet and know that is our savior. Our duty is to prepare ourselves and our families for that day, so that we may be ready.

This christmas Jesus doesnt want gold or frankensnce anyhting else we could buy him. THis Christmas he just wants us to follow him. Do what he did.

This CHristmas please do something nice for someone else. THat is what he wants. And you will feel his aproval in your soul as you do it.

I know that the baby born in bethlehem is the Son of God and that we are members of his true church. Share that with the family.

I lvoe you all and we will see eachother real soon.

Love Elder Davis

2010-12-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

Dear Family

Well here we are in the coast still. Right now i am in La Gomera, Guatemala writing to you. Good times.

This week was good, full of activities and craziness but we got it all done. But the first order of business is the Christmas Calls. You all should call me. I think the 25th would be better. Next week i will read your response and you just tell me the hour and the day and i will wait for your call. My number is 55233459. Do all the code business and all that. Respond back and let me know what day and what hour will be best and i will be in the house to answer.

I dont think i mentioned this but now that i am in Santa Lucia i am no longer in a stake, but rather a district. So long wards hello branches. Not that i mind, but a branch is much different from a ward. For example this week i led the music, my comp blessed the Sacrament and we both taught the Priesthood class. It always works like that. Inorder to progress a branch needs MEN! So that is always the goal, baptize men.

Also just a quick note that i thought would be interesting for you all. What do you think the number one cause of argument in a companionship is? I con only speak for myself (and no i dont argue with my comps, but sometimes these things come up) but from what i have seen we Elders bicker most about ¨which way is faster¨. For example ¨Its quicker to cut through the corn field to get to Julios house.¨ ¨No it isnt elder its the same distance either way¨ ¨No its quicker to go through the corn field.¨ ¨The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line Elder¨ ¨I understand that but i{ve been here in the area longer and im telling you it doesnt matter which way we go.¨ Haha like i said its not a big deal, but that comes up alot.

I have been a little sick like i said and i still havent figured out why. I know that the heat has a lot to do with my feeling weak all the time. I try to drink lots of water but i dont feel like i am well hydrated. And to be honest i am underweight. I have ALWAYS been a little underweight but now im aproaching toothpick stage. I eat a ton but a work a ton too so i am now making a plan to get fat. What foods are really fatty and will help me not dissapear out here in the coast? Because it looks like i will be here in february and march, right when the heat starts and so i need some reserves to work off of.

So as i mentioned we are in the sugar cane harvest and that means that semitrucks are always passing full of sugar cane stalks. But apparently we are at risk becasue we always walk along the highway and sometimes those big ol stalks fall off and WHAP! busted face. It hasent happned to me yet but....its possible.

I still havent recieved the christmas package but ims sure it has already arrived in the office.This tuesday 21 of december we are going to have a ¨super p-day¨ with the whole mission and they will give it to me there. We are going to have games, a barbeque, recieve packages, get to be with president, and there is mention of a water baloon fight. We will see how she turns out. We have never had an activity like this and its really funny to me that president is putting it on. It goes to show his ¨air force colonel¨ shell is just a cover to his inner child.........OK that is not true at all. Undreneath the shell of RIchard Baldwin is another shell. I imagine this is all the doing of Sister Baldwin. hahahaha

Good to hear that biscuit got all state. And good to hear that Bauer is home safe and sound. I imagine that Lot and the others will be home soon too.

Well gotta run. I love you all and let me know what day will be best for the Christmas call.

Love Elder Davis

December 8th

2010-12-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

i am in a whole new world......

and i dont mean that in the sweet disney sing-along way.

I am (as predicted) in Santa Lucia. It is all so different and after being in nimajuyu for 7 and a half months it feels weird to be anywhere else. But im slowly adjusting. My new comp (as i said it would be) is elder Aguilar, lovingly dubbed ´crazy pants¨ by the others in the mision. he is a bit nutty. New comp means new accent .He is from honduras so i am having to get used to the honduras accent again,

Well i am here in the coast area, its rather rural and calm and the buzz here is sugar cane. Miles and miles of sugar cane as far as the eye can see. And how do they harvest it? When it ripens they light the fields on fire and then cut down the burnt stalks of cane and then take it to the factory to get processed. That means that there is black ash falling from the sky all the time. This time of year is called ¨zafra¨. Its hard to find men cause they are all working 24-7 in the zafra. What a fun adventure.

You´ll never guess who my newest investigator is. His name jose ramirez? juan gonzales? pedro juarez? nope Ken Martin. That right i am teaching a white guy down here. He is down here for a list of interesting reasons. The kicker is that he doesnt speak a lick of spanish. I do all the teachig in english,. talk about weird. But hes a great guy.

This week was fast sunday and i got to hear a great testimony. it was obviously my first week here and i man struggled up to the pulpit on crutches. He began his testimony by sharing his gratitud for his new ¨assistants¨ the crutches. he said that before he was using old wooden crutches but he recently got new fancy metal ones. He was so grateful for the new crutches. Sometimes these people make me feel like a terribe person. They are so grateful for everything they have and let the Lord know about their gratitude. We are awfullly spoiled.

Another thing that happened this week was i went to grab my alarm clock and i realized a mouse had climbed on top of it and pooped on it! I put my hand right in the little rodent nuggetd he left for me. There are lots more creatures and adventures down here than in the capital. I was almost feeling a little bored with Guatemala, like i had seen all she had to show. Wrong-o. The coast is alot more how YOU all imagine guatemala. Rivers, all green, snakes, jungles, volcanes etc. I like it. Its so book of mormonish.

For example the other day we ran out of water in the tank on the roof and had to go and get water from the neighbors and carry it in buckets to the house and bathe ourselves by dumping cups at a time. That is adventure. In this house have lived many elder s i know and love. For example my uncle elder cassity, my cousin (and comp) elder romero, elder winters (my fake half cousin in law in real life) elder johnson (my brother) and others. Tell elder winters i finished off the jar of peanu butter he left in the house. Thanks buddy!!

But all in all its going great out here. Aparntly there is a coral snake that hangs out infront of our house. kinda dangerous. We also went to the office for a meeting and i got to wear.....MY NEW SUIT! Ill try and send some pictures.

But i had to say goodbye to nima and hello to santa lucia. Im ok with that. ill miss the people in nima alot but i know i will see them really soon. Speaking of that mom and dad you gotta getmoving on the passport thing!

I got sick this week like a did a few weeks ago wit hthe sweating and the chills and shivering and headache and all that. Who knows why.I think it might be diaharea induced dehydration. Too much info? probably...

Wel i gotta go, i love you all and well talk soon

love race

November 29, 2010

2010-11-29T12:20:00.000-08:00

ooooooiiii!!!

Hello there family. How are you? I am fine. just down here baptizing lamanites.

This week was great. As i mentioned we had a baptism, a man named Marvin that is really cool. His wife is a member and he had heard the elders alot before but never thought it was very important. But something changed and yesterday i baptized him. It was a cool expirience and i think he will be a strong leader in the church.

Tonight at 10 they are going to call and announce changes. I am almost positive that i am leaving, so next week i will let you all know how it goes down.

i hope you had a merry thanksgiving. I didnt even remember that it was thanksgiving until the secretaries called to ask me a question about something and said ¨Happy Thanksgiving!¨ and i said ¨Oh yaaaaaaaa¨. I celebrated by eating a turkey sandwich the next day.

Good to hear about Rays reception. I still want to know where in guatemala the wife is from. What part? What zone of the capital? Or from one of the departments? The curiosity is killing me.

Ya im sure that Grandpa is a little slower now. I mean, he is 90. But he is famous in the gospel priciples class here. I usually end up teaching the class because the teacher doesnt show up.
I usualy mention grandpa in some aspect when we takl aboutthe basic principles of the gospel.

Good idea to give the nativity to granny hamblin. i would send others but there isnt time before christmas. I guess you´ll just have to buy them when you come down :)

Haha no i dont expect written mail from the fam. Its easier to go email. If you want i suppose you can but the computer is easier. Only friends do the written letter. I have several people that owe me letters. i am still waiting on that. We´ll see if there is mail for me wednesday at changes.

Haha good to hear that the girls are planning my marriage. In the mission i have begun to learn and dominate the skills of goal setting, priorities, planning and scheduling. I shall put that into practice after the mission with the chicas. I´ll schedule out the dates i want to go on, how many ¨new investigators¨ i want to find that week etc. Hahaha thanks sisters for the help.

And mom i think you are right, the majority of these misionaries i mention are going to go to the homecoming of President Baldwin. So we will see all of them. I assume. I´ll ask hermana baldwin what ward they go to and we´ll be there.

The package hasn´t got here yet but i´ll let you know.

In other news, i am loosing weight. I now use a beltloop smaller than i did a few months ago. I am disapearing! And if i go to the coast onwednesday (and i think i will) i am going to evaporate. Also i have learned to love my morning exercise time and i take avantage of it so that may have something to do with my skininess. But dont worry yourselves, i eat like a guatemalan horse! I just all gets sweated out, walking every day.

So something very interesting happened this week. We passed a man and his wife sitting on the curb talking and so we went up and talked to them. He told us that he liked to read the bible and started talking with us. At one point in the conversation he started talking about israel and the gentiles. and then he said. ¨Pero yo soy gentil¨ But i am a gentile he said.

he mentioned all the blessing promised to the house of israel and made it clear that he was not a member of it. I then started to try and explain that he is VERY MUCH of the house of israel. It is just like Isiah prophesied in 1 nephi 22: 4 to 9 and 2 nephi 21;12. The house of israel was scattered and then forgot that they are the children of Jacob. But what did the Lord do? Send an army of gentiles to go and remind them and carry them home to zion.

Here i am, calling israelites to remeberance that they are actually israelites. Its kind of ironic but that is the main focus of the writings of isiah found in the BOM. Im just gathering scattered Israel down here, no big deal or anything. Dont mind me.

BUt other than that not alot is going on. time is flying and before we knw it i wil be talking with you all on the phone at the 18 month mark. Weird.

I am doing fine and anticipation a transfer to the coast. Maybe i can pay president to send me back to solola. heehheh

Love

Elder Davis

November 22, 2010

2010-11-22T15:45:00.000-08:00

hey

wow i have been a misionary for 17 months. crazy.

Well this was a fun week. Really busy but fun. I actually got sick this week. I ate something that did not sit well with me (i blame some cabbage i ate monday night) and tusday morning i had a stomach ache to beat the guatmalan band. All p'day i was in pain. The zone played soccer and had a hamburger cook out at the chapel but i just sat there and cursed the Familia Rivas and their dirty cabbage. I was so bad that when p day ended we didnt even leave the house. I was sweating and weak and my hands would randomly go numb. I was jacked up. But then i got all better.

Other than that not alot has happened. I got to go back to Guajitos in divisons and see some of my converts. That was fun. I went on divisons with a new elder from arizona named elder durfey. he{s from the valley and his spanish is gonna be top notch. i wish my spanish had been like that my first change. Also there is an elder in my zone that is a bloodthirsty carnivore. he is a mountain man from oregon and couldnt with hold his desire to hunt. he killed a pigeon and ATE IT!!!!! When i found out i freaked out on him. How could you eat a pigeon in AMERICA let alone in guate? I have seen pigeons here eating some terrible things in the street. He fried it and ate it with lemmon peper. Psycho path!

Oh ya and i was just wondering the other day if you ahve put my mission on the plaque that is at grandpa{s house? just curious....

We are going to ahve a baptism this week. We are going to marry this couple and baptize the husband. He is a really cool guy and was actually an investigator of my trainer, elder Jenson. He has been in contact wit the church for some time but has never been able to sit and listen to the lessons becasue of work. He changed jobs and i am going to baptize him this week. He is a cool guy. He decided he wanted to read the whole book of mormon in 2 weeks before his baptism. He did it in 16 days, finishing yesterday. I asked him what his final conclution was after reading the whole thing and he said ¨Moroni says to ask God if its all true. I will dio that tonight¨. Doesnt get much simpler than that.

Other than that not alot has happened. I decided recently to start a notebook of my faviorite talks from Conference liahonas and all that. I make photo copies and then put them in a binder. After about 4 talks i realized that a better name for it would be ¨the collected talks of Jeffery R Holland¨. Hahaha half of the talks i picked out were by elder Holland.

Today we had interviews with President Baldwin. He makes me laugh sometimes. He knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it. Hes an airforce colonel for crying out loud. But once you get to know him he has a good sense of humor. Like recently some elders showed up late to a meeting. Thats a big no no especially when President Baldwin is gonna be there. He was waiting for them in the door of the chapel when they got there. When he saw them approaching he yelled "hurry up we are gonna start! You are making all of us late!!!!!" the poor misionaries ran quickly and took a seat. WHen they had sat down he turned to my friend elder MOntoya who was standing with him in the door and laughed "Did you see their faces?" he said. hahaha he knows how to put fear into people. SIster Baldwin also brought us Pumpkin Pie to the interviews. Wow it has been a loooooooong time since i have eaten pumpklin pie. they also brought mail- i got a letter from Elder Bryan Fleming in kansas, and a letter and a package from caitlyn nashville jeffs. THANKS ALL!!!! i was hoping for a letter from someone else but it didnt show. Oh well...

That is great that it is going to begin snowing soon.I wont be near any snow this year. Like i mentioned last letter, i think i will be going to a new area on Dec. 1st. We{ll see but i could be going to Santa Lucia. Or back to the mountains. We{ll se how she goes.

Mom i need you to send a message to elder jenson. his email is jenson.mp@gmail.com invite him to the blog if you havent already done so and send him the following mesage.

Elder Jenson. Hey! Just two pieces of news to pass along. First of all, do you remeber teaching a man named marvin in cerro grande? He lives with the familia Osoy just down the hill from the house? He is pilas but is always traveling for work. Well he changed jobs and i am gonna baptize him this weekend. Your name is on the teaching record in the house. I have run into a lot of your old investigators here in cerro grande. i have been here 7 and a half months. And the second piece of news is that Byron Montufar ACTUALLY BUILT HIS STUPID WALL: Haha i was there in divisiones this week and i passed by his house. sure enough he finally got the 10 foot brick wall he wanted to protect him from his neighbors. i thought of you when i saw it. crazy old byron.

gotta go love elder davis

Well family i am doing great and i appreciate your love and support. I hope you have a happy thanksgiving and that all is well. I am thankfull for many things. One of the first and foremost is that i have the sacred oportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the people that i serve and the people that pray for me every day. I am grateful that i was born in a land that alows me to worship the Lord how i want and how he requires. I am grateful for the Holy Temple and for the ordinances that bind me all to you for time and eternity. I am grateful for the patience God has for me and the mery Christ showed for me in the Garden of gethsemane. I am grateful that i still have 7 months left of being a misionary and i am grateful thatin 7 months i will see you all again. have fun and be safe!

November 16, 2010

2010-11-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Holy vaca, what happened to the first half of november? That went by quickly. Oh well.

So its President Penrod huh. The stake has a thing for salty ol cowboys as their patriarchs i guess. He will do a great job.

Well the conference with Elder Cook and President Monson sounds cool. They are so busy! THe bretheren have not even one minute of rest it seems like.

Wow the biscuit played his last football game. Thats gotta be weird. And just think, he will graduate soon! Wow, the time goes by quickly.

Hmmm Chantz got a scholarship to NAU. I think i got one too right? I think i am pretty decided about going back to EAC for a semester after the mission to get me out of weird ¨missionary mode¨.

Speaking of that, all of my dreams (which are in spanish by the way) now almost all end the same. I am home, hanging out with friends or swimming or driving the car or something like that and then i realize IM STILL A MISSIONARY!!!!! I have a panic attack in the dream and start searching frantically for my companion and run away to find him and my nametag. That or sometimes in my dreams i just go into a house full of Guatemalans and start to teach a lesson. Just like i do all day. Weird.

Oh ya, i totally forgot to mention this but i met Elder Martino of the 70 last week. He came down and did a tour of the mission. He is the best, wow what enegry! His spanish is beautiful as well. But i got to meet him in one big meeting with 100ish elders and then the next day in a meeting with only 18 of us. It was awesome. When i shook his hand he asked me where i was from and i said Eagar. He said he knows someone from Eagar. Artie Baker i think was the name he said. He would be about 50 or so. I didnt recognize the name but there ya go.

Wow ryder is such a good misionary! Haha how funny. It is going to be so weird seeing these niños all grown up. When i left they were so small and the next thing i know...HUGE! Tell reece congrats for me. And tell rylee to start sharing the gospel with the parents of the kids ryder was singing with. Because we only THINK we are active in the church but until we become involved in sharing the gospel we are not. Thats my opinion anyway.

I think that in 2 weeks i will have a transfer. And tell elder winters that im pretty sure that im going to his old area in santa lucia. And lucky for me right in the middle of SAFRA! Pass that along to him why dont you. Well see how it turns out but that is the coast....i dont really want to go to the coast.

Also i got an email from Caitlyn talking about her misison. But hey Caitlyn if you are reading this you dont report until Dec1st right? Im pretty sure thats the date. Well thanks for the letter and i wrote you a written letter last week i think so it should get there before you get to the MTC. But yon have my email address WRITE IT DOWN so you can email me from your mish if your president gives you permission. Hope you enjoy the letter thats coming. hahaha That is all.

Well all i think that is all she wrote. I am doing fine and being protected miraculously in a very dangerous place because of your prayers. I can feel them and i know that is why im not a dead gringo right now.

Well gotta run

Love race

November 8, 2010

2010-11-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

well hey there

Wow that is so weird that markee has 2 kids. Go figure. When will eric be home? Nash looks completely different by the way. All the niños do. Its weird.

Wow reeece is already done with school. THat went by quickly. But then again my LIFE is going by quickly. Right now in the interet cafe i am in, a song is playing that was my favorite freshman year. That now occurs to me that that was over 5 years ago. Holy Vaca.

Thanks for emailing elder mellvile. I also need you to do the same to elder douglas. Just tell him about the blog so he can keep up. He wrote me this week. his email is lrdouglas05@gmail.com

Im sure those puppies are scared for their life with camdyn and them there with them. Poor little things. Its so weird! Nash couldnt even talk when i left. I´ve never seen davis charlee or peyton. ya. nuts.

no i can´t skype. but there is the technology here of course. As ¨junglish¨ as your mental picture of guatemala is...it isnt like that. You´ll see how it is soon. hehehe

Well this week has been good. It is COLD! It seems weird that its like that here but it is. I have to wear my jacket and it got down to 8 degrees here in the capital. I have no idea what that is in american degrees but....its cold.

Also i should probably explan some of the stuff in the package. The little stone that says utchi is a symbol they found in some site down here and it literally translates ¨and it came to pass¨. Supposedly some of the reasearchers who analyzed the book of mormon were converted purely becasue that phrase ¨and it came to pass¨ appears so many times. i got that stone as a prize from hna. baldwin for reading the bom. its a mission activity.

also the top i sent. mom you have to learn how to spin it. Im sure you can get it but it takes practice. i cant explan how to throw it. i would look online...its REALLY fun. and i sent the biscuit a tie. its a sweet tie to get him pumped for the mish. and it is by far not one of the better ones i have. the best is yet to come chantz.

Also this week i went on divisions with the Assistants. Elder Montoya and i spent the day in his area. Almost exactly 1 year ago him and i went on divisions in amatitlan. we were both junior comps. and now he is assitant. it was really funny and ironic. he is a great kid and sings like an angel. not fair.

Well i think that is all i have to say. I plan on sending a disk of photos soon. there are some good videos on there. alos, my shoes are so ghetto now. i LOVE it. There are holes and stuff. its the best. but no worries, if i need no ones i can get them. also i bought a new suit this week. it should be all tailored and done soon. and if elder douglas is reading this i got almost the same suit as you. luckily we live in diferent states or that would be awkward. hopefully we never run into eachother wearing them. we would have to fight to the death.

oh and mom tell amy reece that her letter got to me and that i will be waiting for her mission addresss from her or julie. she is gonna speak chineese! thats crazy. i recently sent something to julie, you could ask if it got there if you have the chance.

well gotta run

elder davis

2010-11-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

Well good to see you all again. and of course by see you i mean write an email to you. THis week was interesting because it was holiday and party time here in guatemala and so lots of people were not in there houses and so we didnt have a lot of lessons. But the week was good, im happy and we are already iin november. wow.

That sounds like a good sacrament meeting you had with the new returned missionaries. Its amazing how the mission will change your life. I think alot about what i will tell the young men in the wards i am in after the mission to help them get out there and work.

hahaha im sure the complaints of huley have been great. believe it or not i miss him a little. I will be the first to voulenteer to go drive him around when i get back.

ah so you got the box. thats good. good that the nativity got there in one piece. and all the stuff i sent home is for you guys. use whatever you want. the flag is so sweet huh? i bought the flag pin for dad specifically,. mom how much did you pay for the other pin? i paid about 80 cents us money. i will get my hands on more for you all but i might just wait until i go home. or until we come back afterwards.

i loved the pictures of the kids in there costumes that is so cute. that tradicion doesnt exist here. today all the people went to the graveyard and put flowers on the tombs of their relatives and stuff like that.they also fly kites on this day. its called day of the saints. and then at this time of year (the first 3 days of november or so) they eat a dish called fiambre. which is basically any kind of meet you can imagine (ham, sausage, beef etc.) and then they put vinager and a bucnh of other...stuff....on it like cabbage and beets and stuff. i have actually never eaten it but ive heard that it is horrible. but then again some people say it is great. go figure. i love my colon too much to find out.

so infront of our house we have a tiny little patch of ground that is all gated in. it used to be grass supposedly but now it is a jungle. there are lizards that live in there and every time we come back to the house they are chilling out there. the other day one juiimped off the wall and landed on my shoulder. it was weird.

also for an activity this last week my companion and i went to sweep for the members. inorder to be able to enter a house we have to have a man present and in the morning and early afternoon there are NEVER men. so to take up the time we went to the members houses and swept the sidewalk infront of their houses. it was fun i guess,

oh quick note, one thing will will not miss about this country (one of the few things) is the fact that they just burn trash anytime, anywhere. i hate that. right in the street, a bunch of horrible black smoke. grrrrr

well i dont have alot more to say. i will be calling home at the end of december. oh and mom you can follow the instructions from last year about the package. and by the way i did too tell you the blog address for the mission. that was like 8 months ago. mom did you email elder mellvile? he is the best.

also this last sunday was the most violent day in all of 2010 here in guatemala. 25 people died or something like that. in one day. i got my hands on a page of newspaper that talks about it and i want to send it home for you all to see but, alas, it is in spanish. ha it sometimes slips my mind that there are people who dont speak spanish. i just understand it now and so it seems like everyone should. also sometimes i forget i am white. i am jsut walking around down here with all my brown brothers and sisters and i think ´´why are they all looking at me like that´´ thats when i remember that i stick out like a sore thumb.

well i gotta run but take care of yourselves and we will talk later

race davis, misionary.

October 25, 2010

2010-10-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,Well there ya go...october is over. Wow. And for your information i just completed16 months as a missionary. I know right?Well this week was cool we had change meeting......and.........i am in my same area with a new companion. Just like you said mom. Although i think elder winters may have told you that. But i am still in Cerro Grande (this will be a total of 7 and a half months when this change ends) and i am with my new comp Elder Cifuentes. he is cool, hes from here in Guate and i like him good enough. This week i saw some funny things. First of all we were in a members house talking with them and a duck walked through the room. No, that is not the funny part. This is the guatemalan part. The funny part was that the duck SNEEZED!!!! I had to come all the way down here to central america to see a duck sneeze but i am so happy i did cause it was awesome. Have you seen a duck sneeze? I think not Mr.Pantaloons. That made my day. Also mom i would like you to send me a photo of Uncle Den and Uncle Rich. Maybe one of them together if you have one. If not seperate is ok but i want it of just them.
Another funny thing that happened this week was in our zone council. We had changes and so there were a bucnh of new elders and sisters in the zone. In our zone meeting to get to know each other we all told our names, where we are from and a hobby we have. I said ¨im elder davis, im from eagar arizona and i like to read and play the guitar.¨ And then the following happened: ¨IM elder gonzales and i like to play soccer, im elder ixacuy and i like to play soccer, im elder mejia and i like to play soccer, im elder cascares and i like to play soccer, im elder cardona and i like to play soccer,¨ hahaha i tried not to laugh out loud, but it struck me as awful funny.hehehe Thanks alot for the pictures! The last one of the trees is a fantastic photo actually. the sky is perfect and i really like it. Thanks. Also the new baby is.....as cute as she can be. Well put it at that.
Good to hear we beat safford. Nice going biscuit. I attribute your success to the fact that i, as a missionary, am earning blessing for the family and therefor you are now cooler. Im fairly positive that is whats happeing. your welcome. hahaha thats so weird that elder winters talked with sherrod. I feel like im gonna see him at the next meeting in the office. but he is in reality far from here, enjoying the beauties of carpet. hahah thats funnythat his english is struggling. The problem isnt that we ahve forgetten english its just that we mix in spanish. here in the mission the other elders understand but you all dont. if i say to elder winters ¨lets go to the tienda i´ve got hambre.¨ he will nod and follow me. Poor little guy. Hold strong elder winters!!!!! like i said about the christmas package, follow the instructions from last year. I dont want anyhting but if you send stuff...maybe more el pato. but really, dont have a pena. hahaha Well i cant think of much else to tell you. Oh wait, ya i can. Mom, elder melville emailed me and gave me a quick report on his life after 2 days home. I cant write him cause he is no longer a missioanry but i am gonna give you his email address and you can email him and let him know about the blog. He is so great and the funny part is that now, being back in america, he has diarea. hahahaha that is irony. his email is href="mailto:micah.melville@gmail.com">micah.melville@gmail.com i think thats all. O wait here is some news. This will also interest elder meliville: Micah (thats so weird) elder melvile, they killed 8 PEOPLE in the module right across from yours on sunday. can you believe that? pass that on to logan. ha i will never call you two logan and micah, you are elder melville and elder douglas. Well that is all, until next time :)
Race Davis

October 18, 2010

2010-10-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well hi,

So i am writing you today still in Cerro Grande. We will recieve the call about changes tonight and so you all wont find out about my change (or lack thereof) in one week. Thats the new system, changes on wednesday so there ya go.

Good to hear about Disneyland, sure that was fun. Bad to hear about the loss to snowflake, but that is what happens when your quaterback is the least favorite child.

Yay markee had the baby! Thats great im sure she is happy and resting. Mom you didnt attach the pictures of the little thing, but im not all that broken up about it if im honest, newborns are gross. Send me a picture in 2 months.

ya mom i am glad too that i have a testimony of modern prophets. it makes me sad to think about the point of view of other people. That God just....stopped.....talking to us. He loves us like he did then and so therefor we have prophets today. And i loved the part in elder costas talk from conference where he said a prpghet of God can speak authoritatively on any subject without need for exirience or earthly knowledge in that subject.

My great friend Caitlyn (LOVE YA CAITLYN!) is going to the Netherlands on her mission and my great friend wendy (LOVE YA WENDY) is currently in China teaching english to chineese children. No i havent gotten amys letter yet but i wait anxiously.

If i get transfered i doubt i will go to the mountains again. It is possible and ill let you know. BUt i dont want to leave the capital that much. I have the horrible feeling that i am going to the coast, dont want to do that at all but we will see. i think i might go talke elder winters spot in Santa Lucia. well see.

Please send pictures of the turning colors.

So mom why wouldnt you and dad not be able to come down here after the mish? Chantz and i would be cool down here and safer but i want you two to come down too.

I dont need anything for christmas, if you dont want to send a package dont do it. As i missionary i desire 2 things (aside from success in the work and all that) and they are food and ties. Ties are to be bought in the paca and food cant be shipped. So send away if you want but....im good..

If you cant go down to see elder winters its ok im sure the package will get there fine. I only have 1 nativity and i dont think i can get another before...tommorow. But the next time an elder goes home to AZ i will send a package with him.....Oh wait a minute, the next elder from AZ going home is ME!! Holy Vaca.

But im doing fine, eveything here is chill. no problems or anything. im lovin the snickers you sent thank you very much. I would like you to send me a scanned copy of my call letter if you could. Or just make a photo copy and mail it. Not ugent but i would like it please.

So this morning i woke up and realized that i have been a missionary for 16 months, ya what the heck right? I will be home before we know it but that luckily just makes me want to work even harder. Elder Douglas and Melville are headed home wednesday and it is NOT ok with me. Ive considered sending President Baldwin a letter of disaproval. But its all good. Also i think there are pictures of me and tax on the mision blog dressed up like doctors. hahahah we got a little creative at zone conference.

Well gotta go love you all and we will talk next week

Race Davis, Missionary Man

2010-10-11T11:52:00.001-07:00

Hey there,

Hey! Its your favorite missionary serving in Guatemala. Speking of Guatemala, i LOVE this place. Its so great. ON to business....

Well this week was a good one. We did an unusual amount of contacting and knocking doors, which i dont mind all that much beside the fact that it isnt very effective. But knocking doors is fun becuase you meet the WEIRDEST people with some very...interesting....ideas about God. I know i have already made mention of this but the whole concept that EVERY church is true still gets me. Me and ETax come up with an example to demonstrate the silliness of the idea.

Suppose that two men (two churches) claim to be the legitimite father of a child (be the true church). Now, no one in their right mind would say ¨well maybe they are BOTH the father¨ No, if there is more than one option, someone is lying or mistaken. But thats how Satan gets you.

Hahaha speaking of lying or being mistaken, here the rip-off clothing bussiness is HUGE. Its really funny because some of it looks pretty authentic. Only upon close inspection can you tell its fake hollister or american eagle or abercrombie etc. Some of it is so dang obvious that it just makes me laugh. For example the other day we taught a guy with a shirt on that said ¨HOLLISTER AND FITCH¨ haha that tickled my funny bone for sure. And its also really funny when they are selling brand new¨NIKE¨ shoes for 4 dollars. ya thats not convincing.

Oh and remember Brother Cardona? ya well he TOTALLY got up and bore his testimony this sunday. Its was so cool he is the coolest ever. That family is really special. I am gonna be sad to leave them one day.

Ok ok ill give it to you that the jeep is not chantzs....but almost. Im excited to use it when i get home. Me and the biscuit will go out. Sweetness. Come on Markee have the baby already!!Thats gotta be uncomfy. Hmmm...

Wow that is lots of stress for dad about the hospital situation. That kind of reminds me of the mission. Something goes wrong in the district and everyone turns and looks at the District leader. Some thing goes wrong in the zone? everyone turns to the zone leaders. yep but im sure dad is doing ok. And ya i would put my money on disneyland, that will relax you. hahaha thinking about disneyland the first thought that came into my head was ¨it would be so sweet to contact in Disneyland! So many families!¨ Hahah in central misison we have a standard of excellence to talk to every family we see in the street. Families build the church. So disnelyand would be a goldmine.

Wow that was 7 years ago when grandma passed away. Wow that is incredible. I was looking at my drivers licence the other day and elder tax said i looked like a little kid. And then i realized that i got my licence almost 5 years ago. HOLY COW!

AMY REECE IS GOING ON A MISSION???????? Wow when does she report? I had no idea she even was thinking about it! Wow i have friends all over the world. Brazil, Chile, Florida, soon in Holland, and now not one but TWO firends in taiwan. Wow that is so awesome. Ill be waiting for her letter.

Well we are now in week 6 of the change. But the church has changed its policy and now changes will be wednesday instead of monday. That means that this monday i will email you normally and you wont have to wait till wednesday to get my letter. I have a small feeling i will have a change (ive been here for 6 months) but i could very well stay right here. Well see how it goes.

Also a random note to anyone who is NOT my family that may be reading this. Namely Wendy Smith, Caitlyn Jeffs, Ryan Mangum Curtis Gardner etc (the eac peeps) i have a question. How is our great friend tom rose? Is he still...you know...alive? We sang the battle hymn of the republic the other day and even in spanish it makes me think of him. If anyone knows about him please let me know. Just a side note.

Well i gotta go, kiss the niños for me and well talk monday.

con amor

Elder Davis

October 6th 2010

2010-10-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

dear family

greetings from guate. sorry i didn't write yet we had a meeting Monday in the office. But here i am now reporting. Conference weekend was great, loved the British Seventy and the pride talk by elder uchtdorf. I cant believe you all killed the fatted calf and bought the biscuit a ´jeep. But don't worry I'm not bitter.......you didn't even slay a kid goat for me........new testament jokes. gotta love it.

ha anyway good to hear all the news from home. I dont think i knew the woman who passed away but thats a shame. Ive come to realize drunk drivers arent good for anything. I also liked the comment from uncle Lincolns funeral. I belive i have just the right amount of sherwood in me: i get the job done and keep the vocabulary during the work interesting. Our mission could use some more sherwwod i think.

Really that jeep is sweet im gonna have to use it when i get back, just like how chantz has used my stuff while ive been gone. hahaha that will be awesome.

So sister eager sends me postcards with pictures on them and i saw a picture of the dome. Is it white???? what is that about? weird. Also i was talking to a new elder about the changes in the world and he told me rock band beatles came out. wow. what strides in technology.

Also this week i did something i thought you would like to hear about. As much traveling in buses as we do we at times contact entire buses. I did that this week. On a crowded hot bus i went to the front with a big picture of the first vision and held it over my head. and then speaking as loud as possible i told all the people on the bus that the heavens had been open again and as incredible as it might sound God visited a 14 year old boy, just like he did in biblical times. Its a cool experience. You feel kinda like Dan Jones or Parley Pratt pr something.

Also in conference President Nelson described my feelings exactly about peoples indifference to the message. He lent someone a book of Mormon and they brought it back and said thank you. he said that is not an acceptable reaction to something this important. You didnt read it did you? hahah thats how we feel every day.

Also this week elder Melville (hero) made me something really funny. we went to his house for something and as a snack he gave us PBHTs. What is that you ask? A peanut butter and honey tortilla. And let me tell you it was a delicious slice of innovation. Yummy.

Wow time is flying, we are already one week into october. I imagine the same guidelines apply mom for the package thing this year. But christmas is pretty far off right?

THis change is going to be the hardest one yet. In 2 weeks elder winters, melville, douglas and all of them go home. I am gonna be a wreck without those guys. Its gonna be real sad. Speaking of elder winters i have that package ready for him and so mom if you dont go to his homecoming im sure it will get back to you soon. I put in some cool stuff including the biggest guatmalan flag i could find. hahha so that should be arriving soon.

also a missionary it is my duty to verify: how is dad doing with the soda thing? and YES sonic counts. hahaha

its so weird to think markee will have her baby soon. I hope she gets here quick casue i remeber how HUGE she was with nash so i bet this is bad. haha

well better go

race

September 27, 2010

2010-09-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well hola,

So remember that time i have been a missionary for 15 months? Ya me too. Whats that all about. In Latin America there is a celebration for a girls 15th bithday that is really a big deal. The familia godoy that i have told you about threw me a 15 month party. And by party i mean that they gave me a piece of cake. Happy 15 months!

Thats cool to hear about the donaldson family. Pregnant and on missions. That is so weird that duskin is old enough to go on a mission. Whats weirder? That cassidi is old enough to be PREGNANT! Ya go figure on that one.

Thats exciting that markees baby will be coming soon. Im sure she is ready to get it over with and im sure nash is pumped to be a big brother. A REALLY big brother. hehe

Sister Eagar sent me a card with pictures on it of the fall colors and the elk which was nice. Its my favorite time of year dont you know it. It is surprisingly a little big chilly here this week as well. Supposedly there is a hurricane or a tropical depression or a tropical something going through right now. All i know is that its cold and rainey. But thats ok, i have a jacket and itll go away soon. Im sure when i get back to a place that is actually really cold i will miss the ¨coldness¨ of Guatemala but as for now i do actually feel a bit chilly.

Ya passports might me a good idea becasue im coming back here and if ya´ll want to come with me that would be great. And yes ill introduce you to these people dont you worry.

No i never de-quilled a calfs face before. That is still on the ¨to do list¨. And that is too bad about chelsee and dan with the skunk, Tell them there is a lizard in my patio area that hangs out, if that makes them feel any better.

Ray is engaged to a girl from Guatemala?! What are the odds! Ask where she is from and then tell me. She is probably from the capital but could be from one of the departments too. I assume she speaks both languages. How awesome i already have a chapina friend for after the mission. Check.

Also has chantz used the hippie looking shirt i sent? just wondering. Also i plan on sending another package up with elder winters so if you go to his homecoming you can pick it up. I always take advantage of the az missionaries. Also remeber how we used to call MK nuka? That means ¨nape of the neck¨. Ya go figure.

I finally got my package and i am very gratefull. The snickers are a hit and i have to fight for my life to defend them. Also luckily my comp doesnt like spicy food so my el pato is safe. And just a quick question. Did you send all the ties or just some? it seems like i had more.

oh also this week we were teaching a lady and were explaining the original church that Jesus Christ established. Then we explained the apostasy from that church and the effects thereof. My comp then asked the question ¨Sister, acording to what i just explained, why did people start forming other churches?¨ Her answer? ¨Because everone wouldnt fit in just one church¨ I laughed pretty hard at that after the lesson. Speaking of that, the thing i cant stand down here is a very strange and illogical doctirne that is SOOOOOOOO common. It is the following ¨todas las cosas de Dios son buenos. Todas las iglesias son verdaderas.¨ Or that is ¨All religous things are good. All the chirches are true because they all talk about God. Ya that makes no sense. People say it all the time too. I dont understand. Hmmmmm....

well not alot else going on here. This week i am going to a sweet market place on the other side of the capital and so maybe i will buy something to stick in the package im sending with elder winters. There is already a guatemalan nativity for you mom and some brand new Hollister jeans (dont ask me how i got them but im sure they will fit markee.) and some other stuff. So we´ll see. And of course the thing i am most excited about. GENERAL GONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im sure President Holland will blow us away again. Im gonna attach pictures of the baptism of the familia cardona. they are the favorite familiy here in Guate, for sure.

Gotta run

love race

September 20, 2010.... The Lord really does have a plan....

2010-09-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hola there,

So its elder davis. Again. This week was SILLY in its events and sundry happenings.

The biscuit got a concusion? Thats so awesome! Now we can make stuff up about his childhood and when he doesnt remember it we can blame it on his concussion. Oh ya....

And on the upside for him is the Dairy Queen. Speaking of ice cream, its not that common here becasue its so hot and most people dont have freezers. You can buy it of course it just isnt common. The best place to get it is in a shop like DQ basically. My friend elder Douglas and i always go get icecreamn cones when we eat as a zone or someting like that. ANd i tauught all my zone the classic rule: there is always room for icecream, it just runs in the cracks.

Haha those pictures of Ryder are the coolest ever. And luckily he was doing it in the correct attire: white skivies. And that is so cool that Aunt Tonna got to meet elder scott. I dont know if i have told you that but he is my mission president grandpa. How you may ask? well i will tell you. He was a mission president in Argentina many years ago. His financial secretary missionary was a young elder named Richard Baldwin. Thats right my mission president had Richard G. Scott for his mission president. If i ever meet him ill bring that up. Cool right?

Mom you asked me if i took calculus. My answer to you will come in the form another question; would you use an earthworm as dental floss?

ANd also i would like to know Chantzs ACT score so that i can feel proud or ashamed depending on the score.

So i could never do justice to the expirience i had this week in an email. When i get home i will regail you with the full story and all the details it deserves. But it sifficeth me to say that the Familia Cardona that i wrote home about last week is amazing and that i had THE BEST expirience i have had up to this point on my mission on wednesday this week. The got married on saturday and the wife and children got baptized on sunday. Because of what happened on wednesday i know that i came to this country to find Manuel Alfonzo Cardona and his family. Wow. The Lord know what he is doing and he had this all plaaned out long ago, Hahaha a funny note, in their house they only call me ''el canche'' or that is ''the whitey'' or something to that nature. hahah

Also this week, as impossible as it may sound, my mortician assistant skills came in handy this week. Once again, the lord organizes his things very well. I was on divisions in Guajitos (irronically where i started my mision) with elder hansen this week, Maybe once a month would i be his area, it doesnt happen alot. But for some reason on THIS day i was there. A man in the ward had passed away and they needed to dress him and do preparation for the burial. No one wanted to, nor really knew how to do the things we needed to do. And who did the Lord have in that area that day? Me. So i helped the family dress the father in his temple clothes and do someother preparatory things. Small world. i wont go into details but i will say 2 things: 1.. it was good that i was there and 2. the mortuarty bussiness here is not nearly at the level of technology, sanitation or quality as that in the USof A. ya......

Also i dont know if i had made the comment earlier but i translated my Pat. blessing into spanish. possibly on of the coolest things ever. It actually sounds bettter in spanish. more....steezy. haha

well fami i must run.

have fun

race davis,

September 13, 2010

2010-09-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Sean Bast has his call? I knew alec did but....wow. Laos. Cool beans. Yes mom the package got here but i dont have it yet. The secretaries called and told me it was there so ill probably get it this week. Wow the florence game sounds pretty sweet. The biscuit got interviewed by the Arizona Republic huh? i imagine he said ¨i owe it all to my more attractive older brother, who is WAY cooler than me.¨ Ya i bet thats how it went.

Wow markee will have the baby so soon! I only saw peyton a little before, i have never met davis, and i will get home right after the new hadlock shows up. Thats alot of babies.

So i know this isnt important or anything but WE GOT NEW COUCHES!!! i saw them in the pictures. and also you all finally fulfilled my idea of the pictures of the house before and after on the piano wood. You are welcome.

Thank you VERY much for the pictures of the girls in corte. I loved them. Chelsee, you were wearing that thing wrong, just so you know. But wow those pictures made my day. And elder tax liked them too. Mary kate had on the skirt perfectly! she looked just like a little guatemalteca. So cute.

Ok so i want to tell you all about a family we are teaching. It is the cardona family. We found them through a strange series of events that i wont mention, for time. But after much effort we finally found the address. We began to teach and from day 1 it has been like a dream. When we teach they accept what we teach without a second thought. One of their only forms of income is a little store they have in their house. We explained the sabath day and they said that from then on the store was closed sunday. The gave up coffee without thinking and are pretty amazing. The dad is named Manuel, the mom is named Flor, the daughter is named michelle and the son is named juan. The dad was actually baptized along time ago but he didnt really grow up in the chuirch because his grandparents wouldnt let him go to church.

They are a very humble family in every sense, and i love them. dad hurt his leg a while back and has been on crutches since then. He hasent been working in his normal job which hasent helped their already dificult financial situation. This week he got his cast off. He explained to me that he just got his cast off and so he only needed one crutch insted of two. He told me he had seen a man a few blocks from his house that also used cruches, only that his were broken and so insted of a flat bar to put in his armpit for support, he had to the pointy broken stick that was sticking up. Brother Cardona told me that the poor guy had to have been uncomfoartable, and so he took his extra crutch that day and gave it to this other man. Wow.

He also explained to me that a while back other missionaries wanted to teach them, but he didnt like to have them visit the house. His reason? ¨We didnt have any chairs in the house at that time and i was ashamed to ask the missionaries to sit on the ground and teach me.¨ They are an incredible family. The parents are getting married this saturday and the mom and children wil be baptized this sunday. The Lord puts people in our path that need this gospel. Its pretty amazing to see the way he prepares people.

Speaking of people we teach, i have noticed something. We always ask the investigators to say the prayers when we are in their homes and i know that a person is progressing and that the spirit is working in them when, in their prayers, they pray for the missionaries. Usually they end up using a phrase like this ¨Please bless all the elderes, in all the countires, in all the world, that they can be safe and that the people can listen to them.¨ I love those prayers.

But this week was really......interesting. Our area was divided and so now 2 elders are covering half of our area, which leaves us with half the terrain and half the people we had last week. We are happy about that but lots of our investigators now belong to those elders. So this week we worked like DOGS to find new investigators. We talked to all the families in the street we saw and we tried so hard. And this week we found on the lowest number of new investigators in a long tome. Its actually funny but we dont really get it. Other weeks when we havent searched for new investigators so hard we have found a bunch but this week....almost none. But the BOM teaches us that sometimes its just our luck to fall in with people who dont want to accept the message. oh well.

i am healthy, i am happy, i am excited for the package and time is flying. Im excited to baptize the familia cardona and im working hard. As a friend of mine once put it ¨if you aren´t working hard you are an atheist¨ Well said Gilespie, well said.

I think thats all for now, i appreciate the prayers and the pictures. Well talk soon.

Love elder davis

2010-09-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

Elder Moya from Tucson. Headed back
to Arizona.
Elder Beck headed home too!

September 8, 2010

2010-09-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hey family

So mom to start off answering your questions, yes those mud slides happened in our mission. Lots of people died up near my old area in the mountains. It has been pretty bad apparently, but i dont really know alot about it. The rain has been really hard lately and because of that there have been mudslides.

Wow that is intense about the sj game. Good to hear that we won. How weird about their field and all that. Why was it like that? Thats cool we played in BR but ya i can imagine you got home really late.

Tell brett crosby that Elder Rivas is from El Salvador and i think he was a mission president in Peru. Not sure but i would bet that he is the same guy. We was really excited and really funny.

So Bucky is tall and skinny huh? Thats good to hear. We would hate an cases of childhood obesity now wouldnt we. You should sent pictures of them all. They change so much i cant tell some of them apart. Speaking of changes this week we had transfer meeting and...........I´m staying with elder Tax! Im fine with that. And we had elder mellville come to my zone. ELder mellville is one of the finest misisonaries in this mission and i am glad to have him here in the zone. I think i told you about the time him and i went on divisions, about the guy who we gave shoes to? IM pretty sure i told you the story. Well thats the elder that came here. Im happy. We also received newbies in the zone, fresh from the CCM. One of them was companions with a friend of mine, taylor raines from thatcher, in the MTC. Small world.

Wor rachel is already going to college, that is weird. Whats weird too is that this change we will have general conference. That came so fast! Time flies when you are preaching the gospel in central america. Thats the phrase right?

Hahaha good to hear about you all going to see elder winters homecoming. He is a great kid. I saw him this week again at change meeting. He has had some....challenges......with companions lately. Sad story. But that will be fun. And just think, after i get home we can all go together to the home coming of president baldwin in mesa. He comes home a few weeks after me. I believe.

So as i was thinking this week about what to write, i decided to share some spanish with you all. As you may or may not know in spanish there are different ways to say the word ¨YOU¨. There is

USTED- this is more formal, used when speaking to people you respect or don´t know. as missionaries we are always supposed to speak in usted with everyone.

TU- tu is a more intimate form of the word ´you¨. In other countries it is used with anyone with whom you dont use ¨usted¨. But in guatemala it is not as common. It is typically used in a lovish (romantic) sense, with children or with close family members.

VOS- Vos is super slangish and is generally used between people who know each other really well. ¨como estas vos?¨ would be like saying ¨whats up bro?¨. It is the style of kids and teenagers and between brothers. Usually men use it between eachother as well.

I thought that might be interesting for you, considering the fact that nothing similar is found in English. So for example i would speak to Bishop Hamblin in USTED. I would speak to my girlfriend and my sisters in TU and i would speak to Levi Brown in VOS.

As missionaries only USTED is allowed. Lots of missionaries dont follow that, but its a way to demonstrate profesionality. Its funny too, the difference is very small if you think about it. If i say ¨Venga por aqui¨ i am being obedient, if i say ¨Veni por aqui¨ i am being disobedient. And they both mean ¨come over here¨. If i say ¨Hable con mi companñero¨ i am being obedient. If i say ¨Habla con mi compañero¨ I am being disobident by using a form of the word ¨YOU¨ that is incorrect for a missionary. And they both mean ¨talk with my companion. I thought you might find that interesting. I think its sweet.

Oh ya, mom or chantz or someone could you please get kevin reece´s address for me? I think julie is gonna send it in a letter soon but if you could call his mom and then send it to me through email that would be super. I wanna write the kid and see how hes doing.

Also one other thing. There is a talk by Alvin R Dyer (?) that is called ¨a challenging missionary¨or a ¨missionary who challenges¨ or something like that. IM not 100 percent sure the name of the guy or the talk but if someone could throw out a quick search on the church web site and see if you find it i would like you to email me a copy. My stake president here told me to look for it and i want to read it.

So a bunch of my good friends ended their missions this week. It sad to see them go and its only gonna get sadder from here on out. Now is when the elders im really attached to have to go home. Its lame but thats why facebook exists after the mission. Elder Jason Beck, Elder Jordan Lee, Elder Moya (from arizona, lives in tucson and i cant remember his first name) and a bunch of others. They all left. So sad. I took pictures with all of them though....

Well fam i gotta go but you keep it classy and dont take any wooden centavos.

Elder Davis

August 30th 2010

2010-08-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

dear family

greeting from guatemala-land. This was a good week i guess. Before i forget mom, this last week in antigua i bought you a guatemalan nativity. its made out of the bright cloth stuff and its pretty sweet. a bunch of little guatmelatecos around baby jesus. ill send that....some day.

speaking of that do the girls play with that little corte i sent? the skirt and blouse and all that are for them. i figured mary kate would love the skirt to play dress up. just wrap it like a towl and use the purple belt. the white shirt is probably small for anyone but layne or so. anyway i was just wondering...

also this week my shoe kinda broke. it has a big hole in the toe and water comes in. hahaha it really doesn't matter because it rains so much that water is gonna come in anyway. but an elder here gave me a tube of shoe goo that i am using to repair the damage. i am PRAYING these shoes fight the fight for the next year so that i can wear them home.

oh and we found a really amazing family down here named the familia cardona. the dad is a member that got baptized when he was like 13 but never went back because his parent wouldnt let him. his family is non member and they are the coolest. they are super poor and we really love them. we plan on a baptism for the family in September. we´ll see.

so last week we went to some sweet pacas (used clothes places) and i may or may not have bought an inordinate amount of ties. 16 to be exact. ya. i kinda went over board but they are the coolest ties ever. Chantz is gonna be prepared for his mission with these classic beauties. they are so fat and ugly. oh ya baby.

hahaha also this week we were walking down the street and this guy shouted hola and some other random stuff at us. we went up to him and started to talk to him. He has a concept of the church that is really common down here: that its a gringo church and that all members are rich. that has to do with the fact that the chapel is one of the nicest buildings in any neighborhood and so people think we have money. We asked him how work was going he said good and said ¨if we dont work there isnt any money for the beans¨ which is a common saying here. i agreed and said ya gotta have those beans. then he said ¨oh but you never eat beans, you just eat caviar every day¨ haha i couldnt help but laugh. First of all because i eat beans and eggs every single day for lunch with very few exceptions, and the fact that i have never even been in a room with caviar, let alone eaten it. It was funny but that is the point of view of alot of people. and lots of people think its a gringo church because.....well it probably has something to do with the 6´2´ arizona kid walking around in their neighborhood knocking on their doors. i would bet that has something to do with it.

This week was also stake conference. President Rivas, an area 70, president Baldwin and his wife, and president Don R: Clark (president of the centro america area, his face can be found in this months liahona) came to speak to us. It was a pretty sweet conference. the frustrating part was we had 6 people that said that they would be at the conference for sure and only 1 showed. An entire family and another lady didnt show. we were pretty bumbed but that agency for ya.

this next week i wont write until wednesday becasue its changes. im thinking elder tax will leave and ill get a new comp but well see. Also my swift and mighty is all better now and ya im pretty sure i have worms. but that is about as average as the daily paper here. if they get bigger im gonna name them.

gotta go

love elder race

2010-08-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

2010-08-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

Godd to hear from you. This week was pretty sweet. The highlight would be my conquering the swift and mightys. Myself and elder Douglas (hero from Utah) were the 2 suffering. Well i am almost all back to normal now and we are rejoicing because of that. I figured out that i had accidental consumed some rotten milk this week as well which could NOT have helped my stomach situation. But I'm sure the worms down in there were all content to eat rotten milk. oh well.

Good to hear the biscuit is doing good in football and that he is getting calls from all over. That's really funny that they are calling like crazy. My question would be who is keeping this kid humble? That was my job and now that im not there im wondering if his head is getting big. HURRY!! SOMEONE MOCK HIM!!! There we go all better.

wow thats crazy about the murder couple captured at baldy. we should implement the form of social justice they practice in the mountains here. we put them in the center of town, the people gather around and slap them and then we light them on fire and everyone cheers. It works here. people are scared to DEATH to commit crime in solola. also that practice is TOTALLY a tradition from the BOM. see abinadi for further questions.

the rattlesnake is cool. elder Douglas killed a mouse in his house the other day and they recorded it. they were screaming like girls it was really funny. And about the package just send all the ties some el pato and mini snickers if you'd like. oh and some pictures!!!! but please don't worry too much about it, that stuff is expensive.

so this week we went to antigua guatemala as a zone. it was pretty sweet to see the sites and be a tourist basically for a day. ill try and attach a photo.

also this week we were having companionship study when a knock came at the door. we went to answer it and who could it be? It was the Jehovah's witnesses. It was really funny and ironic and we all just kinda laughed about it. he gave us a pamphlet and then left. nice guy.

also this week a lady named suzy we have been teaching had a cool experience. she has been praying to know if the BOM is true and if Joseph Smith is a prophet. this Sunday when we went to her house for a lesson to ask her about if she had received an answer she said ¨oh i think i got more than that¨ and proceeded to tell us the following: (and it should be noted that this kind of thing isnt TOO uncommon down here. these people are children of Jospeh sold into egypt and Father Lehi, two dreamers.)

she said ¨in my dream i arrived at the temple that i have seen in pictures. the one here in guatemala. i´ve only ever seen the temple in photos but in my dream i arrived there and sat down on a bench in a garden outside the doors. the temple was big and white and beautiful and i felt the most amazing peace ever. when i woke up i was very happy¨.

and this week our ward went on a temple trip and she went to see the temple and found a bench and a garden just like what she saw in her dream. she felt a great peace both outside and inside the visitors lounge.

it was a pretty sweet experience. shes a cool lady and she says she is sure that God sent the dream to answer her prayers. wow.

but other than that not alot going on. two elders in my zone are finsihing there missions this week to get home early for school. its very stragne to see people leaving and knowing that one day that will happen to me. i dont want it to but it will. speaking of that tomorow is my 14 month mark. where the curse word did that time go? oh well....

well i think thats all thanks for the prayers and the letters. well talk later.

elder davis

August 16th 2010... the return of Swift and Mighty

2010-08-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

dear family,

so maybe im not reading the emails closely enough or something but you sent me some info in the last email that blew my mind. first of all you told me tami had her baby. my reaction: TAMI WAS PREGNANT???????

then you told me that rulon and the biscuit are being made the assistants to the bishop. my reaction: RULON LIVES IN OUR WARD??????

i was pretty lost about all that. but other than that it was good to hear about the birthday of nashy. thats great that eric got to watch. crazy that jessie got married. that blows my mind, and wow ray is engaged. that didnt take long. by the time i get home there could be baby rays. imagine that why dont you.

so mom last week you said you thought you knew why president went out with me to teach. what was your reason? im curious like a cat. spaeking of president this week i was in another 4 day training meeting with him. it was the same meeting as the last 4 day training, only this time more people came. so i got to expirience it double, but we ate lunch there at the meeting every day. a member of the church who owns a ¨catering¨ business came and provided lunch. By the end of the meetings on friday, almost everyone had the swift and mighty´s. yes thats right we all had the runs like no ones business. President was sick, im sick, elder tax doesnt feel good, elder romero was doing bad. in short we all have the bad news. its really not pleasant, and ive had several very close calls. we have had to take taxis at warp speed back to the house because an.....erruption.....was on the way. ya. not fun. im still afflicted and am currently working on how to rid myself of it. i have take a bunch of medicine but its not working too well. im sure you were all dying to hear a report about the state of my colon. well there it is.

also i have been thinking of things i want to share with you all about the work. one thing that shocks me most is the lack of attention people pay. for example a few days back i was in divisons with elder hatch, assistant to president baldwin. He is a great missionary and i have lots of respect for him. One thing he does is no mattter where he goes when he is proselyting he carries a big laminated poster of the first vision. its about twice the size of the computer screen you are looking at. we use it to contact the people in the street. i held it infront of a family and told them ¨The heavens are opened again. God has reached out in his love and called a prophet in our days. God isnt sleeping, he isnt dead. He is spekaing right now through a prophet, just like he did with moses, noah or abraham. We want to share with your family a message about how God has called a prophet and how it will change your life.¨ Now, i understant people rejecting our message. that i can accept. but how can that not call your attention????? I want to say to them ¨DID YOU HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID? A PROHET LIKE MOSES. MOOOOOOOOOSEEEEES. THE GUY WITH THE BEARD AND THE MIRACLES AND THE BURNING BUSH!!¨ And the people dont even listen to what i said. it would be one thing if they listented and said ¨hes lying, or hes crazy or i dont believe in God anyway¨ but no these people are supposedly super religous and then i come and tell them that god isnt just some beadered man that did cool things 2000 years ago but that he is speaking right now and they dont even pay attention!

its not that im mad or resentful or anything like that but....man......LIKE MOSES!!!! i often ask people ¨brother, if noah was here with us right now, would you like to speak with him?¨ and they always say ¨of course that would be so cool!¨ and then i say. ¨there is a prophet just like him that lives today, right now, this very second. when can we pass by and tell you about him?¨ and they say ¨oh its just that we are really busy and im never in the house and we go to a church already anyways¨

like i said im not mad, i just dont get it at all. it actually makes me sad. just listen to me people!!!!! a prophet! LIKE MOSES!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahaha but it is the greatest thing ever when someone accepts it. for instance i was on the way home in a bus from one of these meetings and i struck up a conversation with the woman next to me. i began to explain to her basicaly what ive already written here and i could just see in here eyes and her face that she was thinking ¨this makes so much sense!" And it does!!! i asked her if the elders could pass by her house and she (just like a rational human being that LISTENS) said of course they can. as soon as possible.

it really is a totally unique expirience being a missionary. go figure.

but ya im doing good, i feel like i may have to run to the bathroom real soon but all is well other than that. i love you and i appreciate your prayers.

kiss the niños for me,

love race

Elder Jensen comes to visit! Happy day!

2010-08-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

me and poppy jenson last night here in guate. notice that i have a tag and he does not. and ironically enough, in this photo, i am wearing the tie he gave me. i love that old bald dude.

well hey there!

lucky ducks at the beach. or should i say lucky gulls? jajajajaj

good to hear you went to elder j´s homecoming. hope he wasnt creeped out. ha but that was good you met my brother. and my zone leader. and my buddy. hes agood kid and one of the only missionaries that speaks a native dailect really well. he speaks ¨tzu tuil¨ as well as i speak spanish. cool.

school is already starting? that is insane!! and cool to hear that alec is going to farmington. hell love the people and ya the work is the same everywhere. hell get rained on and get the dooor slammed in his face.

good that you got the paxckage. the jacket is for the biscut and you mom and the hippie shirt is for chantz and yes you can wash it. the rest of the stuff is hand woven stuff the ladies use here all the time. look at the pictures i have sent to know how to put it on. you could probably squeez payton in the white shirt and purple skirt with the purple belt.

the bag is for whoever wants to use it. and its all legit trust me. and expensive. thats cool that you heard the dialect elder johnston speaks. it is actually alot like a mix of navajo and hebrew. not even kidding. and i will get on a guatmealan nativity. those are cool and easy to find.

as for me im doing good. we have been getting a TON of rain but its all good. this week i have a 4 day training thing in monte maria that we have to supervise. it will be hectic but fun. me and taxito are still tearing it up. the best thing that happened this week was a surprise visit from ex-Elder JENSON!!!!!

yes thats right mi pappi jenson came down and swung threw my area. it probably doesnt mean alot to you all but it was so strange seeing my trainer here again. and especiall not as a missionary. he is at byu and doing good and maybe will be engaged soon. when he left i didnt even speak spanish and now im here and im sure it was a big shock for him to see me funcioning normally as a missioanry. but we hugged and laughed and he invited me to come to byu to be with him if he doesnt get married. his dad was there and it was just generally a very happy moment.

i was thinkning how cool it will be to do this with all of you guys in a little while. mom and dad you all can come down with me and well go to all the tourist places and visit my areas and you can meet my converts and maybe we can come down with elder deering or elder johnston and his parents. it would be so much fun. but it was good to see daddy jenson and talk with him.

but other than that my week has been pretty normal...... i have been eating alot of eggs lately...... im sure thats not the news you want but its all i got. haha

the pictures from the beach look fun and happy. the babies are so huge!! i thought nash was ryder. and davis is getting all big and bulky and peyton is adorable!! reece will have to break his no gun vow inorder to protect her when she gets old. sound like you had fun.

speaking of the picures of the beach elder miller (texas) and i think that you did not find a rat you found a possum. and hes from texas so he would know.

so we found a sweet paca (ghetto thrift store) over by trebol (grand central station of guate) that is FULL of sweet ties. so today (we are using today as pday) we are going there. myself, elder tax elder douglas and elder lontine. its gonna be sweet and i am slowly but surely building a tie collection for the biscuit that will never be rivaled. they are fatties and so durable. and then watch the kid will get called to paris and hell never use them.

gotta run (to the paca) haha

love elder race

August 4, 2010

2010-08-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

hey fam

oh rough life there at the beach. Funny that you say that here has been clouds and all that there because here as well we have had a lot of rain lately and it appears that more is on its way today. Sorry i didn't write on Monday like normal but i had a meeting in the office with president. It was good, i saw elder winters and all was fun.

This week was really cool, i got to go out into the field with President Baldwin. He called and told us he would be coming out with us the next afternoon. I nearly fainted from fear and shock (I've never heard of president Baldwin going out with elders) and i was nervous. But the day came and it actually all turned out well. He didn't teach he just observed our teaching and contacting skills. Talk about pressure. A retired air force pilot, successful aeronautics businessman, mission president is just sitting there in your lesson listening to how well you teach the gospel is a genius in. He probably learned alot of that gospel knowledge from his misson president in Argentina who was RICHARD G SCOTT by the way. SO ya was sweating bullets but he complimented us at the end of the afternoon and said we did a great job. I was happy with that but man was it scary.

So here is just a random note that i wanted to include, so that you know a little about the beliefs of the people i am teaching, We go into there houses and talk with them a little bit about the love of God and all that and then we begin to discuss prophets. In many lessons we get this comment. ¨Well we think that you guys are prophets. I mean you are out teaching the word of God. So you are prophets.¨ That is a hard belief to deal with, lots of people believe that ¨we are all prophets¨. I have no idea where they get that idea but its hard to teach through that. Just thought you'd find that interesting.

So like i said last time that me and elder Tax are back together. Its pretty fun i really like it because we dont have to go through the first week of awkwardness that comes with a new companion. I already know him and he knows me and so we are comfortable. I have the confidence to eat food off his plate when he isn't looking so that basically means were good. I really feel like we are together again in part for me to teach the .little guy more English. When we were together he first time i taught him alot and he is REALLY good now at English but i think with me it will improve alot more because i love helping him. Our goal is to have him fluent but the end of his mission. Hes getting there. And down here speaking englsih is a huge blessing. He can get a much better job and education with the ability to speak English. I also feel like we are together again so that he can teach me how to be a better missionary. This first week together we found more new investigators in a week than i ever have in my whole mission i think. so well see.

Ya i bet elder johnston did call while you all were gone. But we´ll get it all figured out. Also another missionaries mom came down to pick him up at the end of his mission and they came to sacramrnet meeting in my ward. I got to talking with the mom and she asked for the house number and wants to call you mom and tell you that i am still alive etc. So that may be another call that comes soon.

But other than that life is normal, im just here working. One of my mission heroes elder douglas is now in my zone (he just finished his time as assistant to the president and is now in the zone training for his last change. So i am really excited to be with him. RIght now i have a meeting with the distric leaders so i gotta run. OH! also an elder udall from meas arizona just entered the mission. I havent met him yet but i will soon and ill report back.

love you all and i will write monday

kiss the niños for me

elder davis

A few pictures

2010-07-28T12:14:00.001-07:00

Elder Davis and Elder Winters (doesn't he look as nice as his sweet sister Sarah?)

Elder Davis and Elder Romero (the new assistant to the president and Race's favorite companion.)

Cleaning roaches out of the sisters apartment!

Back again with Elder Tax

2010-07-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey family,

Well its elder davis here. As you know this week we had changes and................my companion elder romero left and now i am with ELDER TAX!!!!!!!!!! Yep thats right i am now with my second companion ONE MORE TIME! We are pretty confused why we are together again but it should be pretty sweet. If you dont remember elder tax is the miniature guatemalan that i had about a year ago. Cool beans.

So what did chantz get on the act? It couldnt have been better than my score becasue if it had been he would have emailed as soon as possible rubbing it in. Hmmm.....well thats good that he is taking it again. Ya i was gonna send some sand home but i didnt. I havent seen Jordan in about 10 months but now that i am in the capital again it is more likely.

I sent a box home with elder johnston on monday. He has it and it has our phone number on it. He should be getting home in about a week cause i think he is touring guatemala with his family. But the box has our number so he will call and you can figure all that out. No there is no el pato but if you are gonna send some that would be cool. In that package you could send some of the ties that are in my room if you want. Let me know when you sendthe next package. (no hurry)

Thats neat that eric got to quatar. Crazy to think that we are scattered all over the world. Hoopefully he stays alive and faithful. Good to hear that all those boys are heading out on misions. They have no idea what they are in for. A new elder just got to my zone that went to EAC last semester named Elder Richards. cool beans. Spooner....thats a classic. Im sure it exists on DVD already. try ebay.

Well the big news this week would be that i finally was able to withdraw money from my personal card!!!! whoo hoo. I dont know what changed but i did it. i am also currently on a quest to get a tie collection chantz can be proud of on his mission. I have a bunch of the big wide ugly ones. oh ya. you gotta use those ones cause they survive rain, sweat, blood or whatever else.

This is a weird request mom but could you get on the internet and email me the best picture of john wayne you can find? just attach it to an email one of these days. That would great. Ill explain later.

Also who knew that there are FIREFLIES in guatemala??? I discovered that this week. who knew. Also i bought some of those little middle school handwriting books and i am practicing my cursive becasue my handwriting (as we all know) is not so hot. But ya i feel pretty accomplished i finished the level 1 book in 3 days. No big deal. jajajaja actually my writing is improving a little.

well better run kiss the niños for me.

love race

"Almost" robbed

2010-07-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Family

Good to hear from you all. Wow biscuit was quaterback number 3 on the list huh? Thats pretty impressive. The only problem is that he is still number two on the most important list ¨handsomest davis brothers¨. Better luck next time on that one. Glad to hear the cd got there in one piece. That was fast.Ya that video we were in a place called cunen and it was basically a guide leading us to the house of a member.

I did get your packgage thank you very much. The shirts will come in handy on pday. Just so you know for the next package that you might send....the el pato was a big hit. so.....ya......

This week elder johnston ends his mission and he has agreed to take a box of things home for me so ill give it to him with your phone number and when they get back to gringolandia they will give you a call. Its got some native skirts and stuff in it.

Wow that sounds really cool about the pictures and navy uniform. Ill definately have to see that when i get home.
So this week we were coming back from a meeting and we were at Trebol, the grand central station of Guatemala and we almost got robbed. My comp and i were standing there (still in our suits by the way...not good) when i saw a group of 3 men coming up to us. I instantly felt something not right about the situation and i took a few steps in the other direction. They passed by us but when i turned around a few moments later i saw that they had a kid about 15 years old pinned up against the wall and were pulling everything out of his pocets. Cell phone, ipod, cash etc. I looked at him and he look SO scared and thats when i knew it was real. As i made eye contact with him one of the guys looked over his shoulder at me and we made eye contact. I grabbed my comp by the sleeve and we took off. It was kinda freaky. There were alot of people around but what they do is make a circle around the person so noeone can see whats happeing. But i think my stature and the fact im a gringo kinda scares them off actually. I am a good foot taller than your average guatemalteco and so they seem to pass me by. Havent been robbed yet and i dont plan on it.

SO the other day we went over to visit our bishop (who lives 2 blocks away) and en route i realized i didnt have my nametag on. I felt as NAKED AS THE DAY I WAS BORN. But we were already at the bishops house so there was nothing i could do. As soon as me got back to the house i put it back on. Whew....

Also we taught a first lesson with a man named Kevin Rosales. He seems really cool and at the end of the lesson he pulled out a box of 20 ferro rocher chocolates. He said he appreciated what we do and wanted to give them to us as a token of gratitud. We tried to deny them but you just cant do that and so he gave that and a can of chashews to us. Wow it was like heaven eating those. But thats a pretty genuine desire he has. And hes got money it seems. Hahahah

Well this is the last week of the change so as you know next week i will email on wednesday. I have some predictions about what will happen with me but who knows. I may have a transfer i may not. Ill let you know next week.

Well better go, kiss the niños for me

Love elder davis

Looking official in the office

2010-07-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Elder Davis, Elder Johnson and Elder Johnston (Snowflake Lobo)

TINKLE HERE!

Welll hey all you out there in gringo-landia. How are we? good? that's good. I am doing good. ya the world cup ended. I am mad Spain won but at least its over and now the world is back to normal. Haha crime went down during the world cup cause everyone (including the gangsters) was busy. I'm sure it will be back to a normal zone 21 level soon again.

So i was thinking the other day; abra cadabra. A magical spell? perhaps....it also happens to mean ¨open the corpse¨ in Spanish. Weird....

Also this week i went on divisions with elder murphey from Montana. During divisions we visited a blind guy named Antonio. He is really cool and loves to hear the missionaries. When we went he started to tell us a story. He kinda reminds me of huley when he gets to telling stories. Looooooooooong and boooooooooooring. So when he stated to ramble i (exhibiting the key sign of a hard working elder) started to fall asleep. As missionaries we can fall asleep anywhere, eat anything and knock any door. But normally in a lesson you cant drift off to sleep cause people are watching you. With Antonio however, he cant see you so we both zonked out his little bench thing. I was fully asleep and when i woke up he was still talking and elder murphey was sleeping too. But Antonio was just still telling us about his career as a bus driver. He didn't even notice. And then we started the lesson and taught him about the word of wisdom. He liked it and all that but then at the end of the lesson he said ¨im gonna bring you some platanos (like big bananas) and coffee¨. We both looked at each other and asked ¨Hermano is it coffee, like real coffee?¨ and he said ¨no you fools of course its hot chocolate, you just got done teaching me coffee is a sin, what kind of idiot do you think i am?¨ He is super funny and does whatever we tell him (no coffee, come to church etc.). He brought me a plate of fried platanos and i didn't want to eat them cause they are nasty. Normally i would eat them with a smile but with a blind man...i stuck them in elder murheys bowl and no one was offended. Also in my bowl with my food he put 3 spoons. Hahahaha the coolest Guatemalan blind guy EVER. He also said something else i´ll share in the ¨dont blog¨ section of another letter. hehehehe

They put in a new system of buses down here that are really sweet. The buses are all new and work with rechargeable cards so there is no money on the bus like in the normal ones. Ergo no one can get on the bus with a gun and demand the money, cause the driver doesn't have any. it seems safer but who knows. the buses are nice though. my only worry is the old buss workers may end up out of work and it wouldn't surprise me if a grenade or 25 were accidentally thrown into the new buses. more on that as it happens.

also i mailed a DVD of videos and photos home about a week ago so it should get there in about a weekish. not alot else going on...changes are coming soon, so who knows if ill stay in this area or if ill leave. but thats still 2 weeks away. ill get to see elder winters and Johnston this Wednesday at a meeting in the office. so thats cool.

gonna attach a photo gotta go

love race

DUN DUN DUN!

2010-07-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Family.

HAPPY 4th of July!!!!! I celebrated by enjoying the most american food at my disposal....hot dogs, and the american beverage of my choice found at an import store. it was pretty sweet. It was very different from the last 4th. i really didnt even realize it was the 4th. I was going to wake up at midnight and sing the national anthem at the top of my lungs to wake my comp´s honduran toosh out of bed but i decided not too.

But there were some ¨fireworks¨ so to speak. As i was getting ready for church in the morning Pres. Baldwin called and told me he would be coming to our sacrament meeting. That NEVER happens, as a metter for fact i think i may be one of the only elders in the mission that has had this happen. But he showed up and luckily all went well. We had 4 confirmations and he and my bishop were in the circle as i confirmed one of the little girls i baptized. It was very cool. Luckily investigators showed up and he got meet them it was an all around good time. I think he might have come just to make me sweat as payback for the ¨locking him in the church for half an hour¨ thing. But it all went well and in his weekly email he said he wasnt mad about the encarcelation incident.

Other than that not much. Oh ya someone threw a grenade in a bus 4 blocks from our house! Isnt that awesome! I dont think anyone died or at least not very many but they re protesting the new urban transport system they are putting in. I think thats why. Either way when it happened i was locked in the chapel with presdient. If i hadn´t been amybe i would have been on that bus. dun dun dun.

Well it sounds like you all had a fun 4th. The pictures are great thanks alot. just one question....is that lowee next to marykate in that one photo? it doenst look like her but maybe she grew up and changed or something. But ya im with grandpa on the nash hair situation.

Also i am considering buying a grey suit. A tailored suit is really cheap here and i want to get one made. But i was thinking that if i am in a grey suit with a part in my hair (now a staple of the mission-famous davis ¨look¨) i will look exactly like grandpa on sundays. Oh well.

That is so weird that biscuit was with elder winters little sister. what are the odds of that. im sure he knows already and it will be the topic of discusssion at our next meeting in the mission home. freaky.

ryder sounds good glad to hear about his good decison to follow in the footsteps of his most handsome uncle.

wow that is nuts that jessie is engaged. give her my congratualtions.

other than that not alot is going on. Tomorow for p day we are going to the guatemala city zoo. I asked president permission and he said we could go as a zone. that was right before i locked him in the parking lot for half an hour. luckily he didnt redact his permission. But i will take pictures and send them home. i image the exibits will be animals that are rare in guatemala such as: Look a helathy dog! hahaha the mange is a big problem here amoung dogs. if you dont know what the mange is count your blessings. its like k9 leprosy. in spanish its ¨jeote¨ which is also a nickname given by lazy bum elders to obedient elders. But ill take pictures of the hippos and all that good stuff.

gotta go

love elder davis

UH OOOH

2010-06-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Family,

10 minutes ago something really funny happened. Probably the dumbest move ive made in a while. We just finished interviews with president baldwin. elder romero and i were in the chapel getting ready to leave as he finished his last interview. As we were walking out with president i closed the door to the church, locking it. I cant explain the whole situation but by locking the door as i did i had inadvertently trapped us 3 (including the car of president) in the gated compund of the church. The chapel here has a 10 foot metal gate for protection and it can only be opened by a switch inside the chapel. So there we were locked in. We were there for about 25 minues before soemone came with a key and we were able to escape. It was a 25 minute awkward silence broken very little. I said ¨President im sorry, this was totally my fault¨ did he accept the appology or give me words of comfort you ask. He simply said ¨There are 24 elders waiting for me in Monte Maria right now elder davis¨ and then turned back around and just sat there. I was TEMPTED but definately did not say the following ¨well president at least there arent 25¨ but i think his air force instincts would have come back and he would have slammed my head in his car door.

It was really funny and my comp was sweating bullets.

Also as im sure you all know its the world cup right now. LIfe is crazy down here because of that. Everyone is watching the games all day and no one will answer there doors. Its really funny. Our numbers have actually taken a hit becasue of the cup.As azone we had far fewer lessons these few weeks than the last few.

And mom dont ever refer to it as the ¨downhill part¨ of my mission. You are more baggy than i am.

That is so sad to hear about president bosen passing away. Dad is right a new pres. bosen wont come around any time soon. How sad.

Thats good that chantz is back all in one piece. Sounds like the trek went well. And as for the eagle scout thing....do you want a list of people who were not eagle scouts?

here goes:
Joseph Smith
Brigham Young
Moses
Abraham
Nephi
Abinadi
Moroni
Mormon
Peter
James
(i wont say John because if i had 2000 years maybe i could get it too...)

Point proven.

That is really funny that ryder is cursing. Im not really sure how we should react either. Because like you said he probaly learned it from us. I think we should give him a certificate welcoming him to the sherwood club.

NOt alot else going on. we had some baptisms ill try and send photos.

love race

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

2010-06-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hello family

Good week here in the land of milk and tortillas. All is well and this week i hit ONE WHOOOOOOOOLE year in the mission field.

But i really dont want to hit the year mark because that will mean that i have less time left than i have in the field. I have to start counting backwards. I dont like that at all. Elder romero and i have plans for my 1 year celebration. hahahah

in other news mom, to answer your question elder hatch is from utah. and we havent gone back to eat with that lady since then.

So the people that live below us have like 5 bulldogs that are always making noise. the worst part is the sirens. I'm sure you´ve all seen how dogs howl when they hear sirens. Well as i{ve explained to you Zona 21 here in the capital is not the most tranquil place to live and so there are always sirens blaring. and so those dumb dogs are always howling. I hate it to be honest with you and my comp and i have a plan involving poisoned meat. I wont go into details.

Also just yesterday we were walking down the street when we stopped to talk to some members we met. We were standing there when a drunk came up and said ¨Hey brothers!!¨ i left the group to talk to him so he wouldn't bother the members. He tried to hug me but then fell down he was so drunk. He kept saying he had something important to tell me but finally just kinda wandered off. I went back to the conversation with the members and then we said goodbye. As we were leaving we passed the drunk leaned against a car and my comp just said to him ¨hey, don't drink¨

I don't know where the aggression came from, nor the sudden agility and coordination, but in a flash he had all 3 and began to chase us down the street. It was so funny we were dying laughing cause he couldn't run hardly at all but he was determined to catch us and we were just jogging in front of him laughing and laughing. He eventually dropped and we stopped running. But it was pretty dang funny. Apparently he didn't want advice from the Mormons.

Then we talked to a dude that was the equivalent of a surfer bum. He was using the weirdest funniest slang and was just real ¨mellow man¨. He said the following: ¨actually ya some dudes were coming by here to talk to me and stuff. It was pretty groovy man, there was 2 of them all dressed in white like you guys. Missionaries man. Ya bro they were totally teaching me about Jesus and awesome jazz like that but then they haven't come in a while....so i guess.......they stopped coming huh? WOOOOOOOOW!.¨

He was so cool i learned so many sweet new slang words from him.

Hahaha that is so funny ryder is using bad expressions. When i get home ill teach them to him is spanish and then no one will be mad. hahahaha but seriously we cant really fault the child he has the same blood as larry, richard, dennis ,dewayne and charlie in his little veins. Thats a strong cocktail my friends. You throw in the hadlock bussiness and forget about it. Hahaha tell him uncle race said to stop.

Titan and skye are getting married?! Thats crazy who would´ve thought. Thats too bad Ana had to come home. At least she gets to go back out. And ya im sad to see mobley gone too. My only black friend i ever had and then he gets shaipped to the other side of the country. Dang it.

Well not alot else is happening. We have some baptisms this weekend which is exciting. Well gotta go talk to you later.,

Love race

2010-06-16T12:29:00.001-07:00

washing the dog, waters of mormon and some pitiful homeless guatemalan.

2010-06-16T12:26:00.000-07:00