Sister Marie Davidson: July 29, 2013

Family!

Wow Savanna thank you so much for sending me pictures and your blog! Wow thank you so much! With printing I definitely can, so go ahead and send them! Thank you for being considerate of my time, it's definitely hard b/c I want to read every detail but I also want to write everything in my head so it's a balance. Ha ha I haven't had the chance to write anyone else this past 2 weeks b/c I'm so focused on reading and writing to you all!

Okay Jr is okay! Ahhh what an amazing sigh of relief! And at the same time he is not completely out of the woods so obviously you all will continue to be in my prayers. Sister Martino told me the other day that Jr would be having the surgery this week, than that he was in surgery, then that he was okay. She also mentioned that you were having a family fast so don't worry-because we're family I decided I should probably fast too. Ha ha thank you so much for letting Sister Martino know you were holding a fast so I could join you. I'll be honest b/c of time differences I'm pretty sure I was a day late in fasting for you so... sorry! But at least Heavenly Father is perfect, all knowing, so I'm not worried that my one day late fasting wasn't with you exactly for the same hours. :)

I'm amazed at how amazing technology is, but more amazing is the power of Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father is aware of each one of us, each one of our needs, each of our concerns, stresses, joys, etc. He knows us perfectly inside and out. Si Jesus Christ knows how to help each of us because of His perfect Atonement for us. How grateful I am for Him and His willingness to love us so perfectly. Each of us is an amazing and important child of our Heavenly Father! I read this week in the Bible Dictionary about prayer and it mentions that sometimes we forget to pray, etc because simply we forget about our relationship with Heavenly Father which is He is our father, and we are His children. Isn't this amazing. Savanna and Ryan you are now parents to a child and you love Lincoln more than you ever thought you could right? And Dad and Darla, you love your kids more than you can describe? It is the same yet more than we comprehend with our Heavenly Father. He literally is our Father in Heaven!!! He is perfect in every way and His love for us, each of His individual children is perfect. WOW. I am so blessed. We are so blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father and even more so blessed that we have a knowledge of our relationship with Him! He answers our prayers. He gives us blessings when we ask Him for them. He gave His Son si Jesus Christ to us so that we through Him, can return to Heavenly Father. Christ knows how to help and comfort us, always. Wow. We are blessed. I love you so much family! Ah man we're awesome and this Gospel that binds and brings families together is awesome!

Okay so I know your lives are centered around Lincoln, as they should be, but b/c I am here not there... my week has been a little different than yours ha ha. So here goes...

Tatay Amadore was baptized and confirmed this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are THRILLED!!!! And ahhh man it was so great! We had a stake baptism which was amazing. All those who were being baptized from our stake were baptized on Saturday night at the Stake Center. It was a special experience and something to remember. Also funny. The baptism started at 5pm but because of the rain it didn't start until about 5:15 (which I'm really impressed it wasn't later). Many people (including those who were supposed to be baptized) got stranded because the rain was SOO hard! It seriously was the BIGGEST storm I've witnessed. Not necessarily big but just so much rain for such a long time. The church garden started flooding (first time that's happened they said) and the roads were all in water. Water was coming up to the rims of the tires of all the Jeepnys which was causing trouble (obviously) and traffic was bad (obviously also.) But no worries. With God all things are possible from the small to the big! So Tatay and all the investigators were able to get there and all were baptized. It was great. Tatay was excited and when he got to the stake center he said it was like he was already baptized because he was sopping from head to toe. Ha ha Tay is funny.

So along with that. Ya I didn't understand what rainy season was until about now. Ha ha it rains HARD often and it's fun! Except it's inconvenient sometimes b/c it takes a lot longer to walk ha ha when the rain and wind are coming at you and you're trying to keep all your things in your bag dry. Ha ha at the same time it's convenient because it makes a GREAT way for you to get into doors you normally wouldn't. When people see two girls walking and standing in the rain soaping wet with big smiles they tend to let you in more easily. Then we get to teach lessons to new people! It's great!

What else happened this week.... Oh ya I GOT YOUR PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH ya that was great!!! thank you hank you thank you!!! I LOVE IT! We are eating all the goodies as slowly as we can to make them last. The Oreos (AMAZING!!!!! THANK YOU!!!) were delicious. We made them last 3 days. But by day 3 they had sadly lost the ultimate goodness. Due to the fact that once we opened them we had to put them in the ref otherwise ants would enjoy the oreos and not us. But AHH MAN they were the BEST ever!!!! Thank you times a million! Also thanks sa mga roommate ours! Also the Newsletter and the thank you cards! I love love love it! also everything you sent me! Thank you thank you hank you!!!

Okay well that's about it folks. I hope you enjoy your life living at the hospital and then at home with Baby Lincoln! Ah man he's adorable! Everybody I show a picture to says "wow he's so big!" Babies here are maybe 5-6lbs and 7lbs+ is ginormous to them. But everybody loves him and I love showing him off to everybody so it's a win win situation. Also a great way to start off teaching the Plan of Salvation ;) Thanks ha ha.

I love you so much! I will continue to pray for you always! You're the best family in the world and I'm so blessed to have you in my life! Thank you for everything! I love and miss you and I'm so happy we can communicate via email every week! You're the greatest! The Church is true. God answers our prayers. Don't forget who we are-sons and daughters of a loving God.

Love you!

-your favorite missionary (naturally) Sister Davidson :)

Pictures!

Sister Bongolto and I at the stake center waiting for Tatay and all the Investigators to get there

lots of rain... actually let me re-say that.... LOTS of rain

Sister Bonglto, Brother Joey (he baptized Tatay and is our ward mission leader) , Tatay, ako!

Si Tatay Amadore!

Those who got baptized on Saturday from our stake!

We're adorable. Actually Sister Bongolto is seriously the BEST ever! Wow I'm so blessed to have her as my anak! She trains me everyday more than I train her and I am so blessed to have her! I don't know why I don't talk about her more. Seriously she is the BEST!

Tatay got confirmmed! And this is one of our ward missionaries. People love to join in pictures ha ha doesn't matter who's camera it is.

Okay I got your package and saw that it read "cookies" on it and got super excited. Then I got even MORE excited when I saw a Samao box. Ha ha Oreos was a pretty good substitute fr Samaoes. But needless to say my american kabahay and I were stoked when we thought there were Samoa's inside.