Sister Marie Davidson: April 7, 2014

Family!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

Thank you so so much for your emails! LOVED them! It sounds like you're all alive! That's really good ha ha. Um but okay take care of yourself dear family. But other than that, it sounds like you're enjoying your days and loving life! I'm glad you enjoyed Conference! We get to watch it this next weekend, I'm excited. This past Saturday we were able to watch the Women's Broadcast and okay... I'm like 95% sure I saw Dannica Davidson!? Am I right?? When I saw her singing the "I am a Child of God" I grabbed my companion and on accident too loudly exclaimed 'what the, that's my cousin!" ha ha I was so suprised it just came out. So hopefully it was Dannica so I'm not a liar. The Philippines was in the song! It was soooo cute! I love watching little kids sing! Go Philippines!

Okay so this week. Was literally amazing in so many ways. Starting out. We had another meeting with the leaders and we learned all about the grace and the enabling power of the Atonement. Sister Ganancial and I were then asked to give a workshop to our zone about what we learned at our meeting, that workshop, I don't know how it happened, but it was a workshop coming directly from the Holy Ghost. It was another sweet experience being able to be an instrument in God's hands for His children. We all learned a lot and it was a great way to start the week.

Then this past Saturday was the biggest highlight ever! Our zone is literally the best zone in the entire mission-it's the best and I love us. Anyway, we have a lot of musical talent in our zone and so we put the talents together and gave a Missionary Musical Fireside with the theme of "Come Unto Christ." We've been working on this fireside for weeks now and it finally came together. The theme could not have been more perfect. "Come Unto Christ and be perfected in Him" (Moroni 10:32) and wow, what a success.We've been inviting EVERYONE to the concert and we had so many attend. First that attended... the Mañalac family!! All 6 of them!! They are our investigators who are such a beautiful family and they are progressing so much I just love them! They all came! During the concert I was watching them and they loved it. THEY ALSO CAME TO CHURCH FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! YAAAA!!!!!!! Except for the dad, he had work. But it's okay, it's a start and he came to the concert which was a big deal!

Also during the concert, we had one foreigner we met who was from Sweeden come! His name was Peter and because whenever I see another white person who is not a missionary it is always odd, so we talked to him! The only English thing I had in my bag was about Family History so we shared a quick message to him about family history and he was super impressed and you could see it clicking in his head how little he knew about his family and how much all of a sudden he wanted to know who they were. He had been through SLC when he was 12 and had put his name in some type of book and he said that 2 months later missionaries came to their door in Sweeden. So anyway, we invited him to come, and he came!! Watching him during the concert, was powerful. He felt the Spirit and had tears in his eyes the whole time. He is one of those big guys, who you would never imagine would cry. It was powerful. He returns to Sweeden soon though, so we will give his address to the missionaries in Sweeden and hopefully he will progress there in his home land!

I just can't explain how Spiritually powerful this week was. Learning so much about the grace and the enabling power of the Atonement, and then topping it off with Come Unto Christ. The Spirit was SO strong. So many people, including ourselves as missionaries, were touched by the Spirit and we all felt the invitation of the Savior to come unto Him.

I know that our Savior is there for us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. Without Him, we are nothing. With Jesus Christ, everything is possible. Jesus Christ and His Atonement is everything. Jesus Christ and His Atonement is the reason for everything. Our Savior invites us to come unto Him. When we will do what we need to do what we must do to come unto Him, He is there for us. He is not only there for us, but He helps us all along the way to get to Him. I love Him. And I KNOW He loves each and every one of us.

"Come Unto Christ, come unto Him, and by His grace be made holy again. He's calling your name, He's waiting for you, with arms opened wide, come unto Christ."

-Sister Davidson

Pictures!

1. Bro Allan and Sister Lea and their daughter Princess! We LOVE them and last P-day went with them to Plaza Leticia... all you can eat mirinda. Sooo delicious

2. Princess riding in the tryke like a stud with her shades

3. Yep she's adorable.

4 Tatay Reltio! Ha ha we gave him this pencil a long time ago and it needed to be sharpened, so we sharpened it and b/c it became so short he exclaimed in English "you're joking me!" "Impossible!" ha ha Tay continues to be hilarious and he just laughs at the greatest things ever.

Catching the laugh! love these type of pictures!

2. Exchanges with Sister Ponitini from Tonga and eating Halo Halo!! mmmm sooo delicious! And Sister Ponitini has changed SO much from the MTC! We are batch and she has become so humble and so mature!

3. We had a situation come up so we needed to go with the Missionary couple to help fix the problem ha ha Elder Hobbs is sooo tall!! They're from... somewhere in Utah and they are great! Side note... the missionary couples should ALWAYS be your best friends. Ha ha they're great.

4. Exchanges with Sister Wheat from Draper Utah! She is great! We are also kabahay and she makes everyone laugh! This is a less active that they visit and she is such a sweet Nanay who makes your heart melt when she talks.