Pictures June 3, 2013

the paintings on the outside of the schools are so cute!

This is a grade 4 classroom! I told the kids that my dad was fourth grade teacher and they thought that was funny

 Same classroom, just the back view

 a grade 5 classroom

like a place to eat or something, I don't know really I just thought it was pretty and it showed what the buildings look like 

another view of the buildings. They have a tooth brushing station in the background which I thought was funny

Just some jamming after cleaning

the cleaning group

okay this was funny. the whole time we were cleaning i would pick up pieces of trash and give them as birthday presents to the ward missionaries. Then act all offended when they threw their birthday presents (pieces of trash) back into the trash.  Ha ha anyway it was fun and a good way to build relationships with the ward missionaries. Anyway, one ward missionary finally told me he had a birthday present for me so to close my eyes and hold out my hand. He put a frog in my hand! Ewwww!!!! Fun fact. Frogs are everywhere here. Anyway, I immedieatly dropped it, freaked out, and was disgusted. Then I thought to myself, "no it's just a frog, suck it up and just hold it." So this is me attempting to hold the frog for the sake of a picture and for the sake of having the experience. Also I was hoping to overcome my fear of touching creepy crawly or jumpy things. Ha ha maybe one day I will not freak out at touching nasty things.

Going in for the actual grabbing the frog. And okay this whole time everyone was just laughing and laughing at me while i was freaking out. Ha ha oh well, I'm glad I could provide for a good laugh

 Okay I'm holding it, hurry and take the picture

  look I'm faking like i'm enjoying this... ha ha after the picture i immediately dropped the frog and wiped my hands on the grass attempting to get all the germs off-probably not the most effective way but oh well. 

 Okay we had PIZZA for P-Day!!! SOOO Delicious! Wow I was amazed at how amazing it tasted in my mouth and wow I didn't realize how much I missed pizza! wow it was so so so delicious! 

Okay this was a tender mercy from the Lord moment. Sometimes people are scared to pray so we will just tell them to repeat after us and then fill in what they are greatful for, what they want to ask their Heavenly Father for, etc. This time it was a child who was repeating the prayer so we just said everything and he repeated. But what ended up happening was one child started to repeat. Then it ended up all the kids AND the Nanay started repeating the prayer! It was so cute and adorable to hear all those little voices saying a prayer to their Heavenly Father. We pray they will remember how to pray and pray on their own!

This little kid is adorable! I sent you a picture of him already. His name is Carston, he reminds me of a little Kela and then more energy, his mom is Grace and she is progressing so much! We taught her about the WOW, Law of Chastity, and Repentance and she is so willing to accept! WE are so happy! And we pray so much for her that she continues to progress. She continues to keep commitments, etc. We also pray for her not legally wedded husband to listen in on our lessons. He is simply so shy. Anyway, this little kid is adorable.

It is beginning to be rainy more and more! I love it! the rain comes down SO hard. I'm telling you. If Utah had one storm like here, we would be in so much trouble from all the water. Sure we can handle snow and ice, but this much rain-no way. So much damage. I love it. And it just makes me laugh and laugh when we're walking in all the rain and trying without success to stay dry.

Okay that's about it! But real quick, I've been thinking about Grandma June, Tony, Sierra, and Jessica Jill this week-how are they doing? That's cool that you gave your Jackson condo to Tony and Jana to them! Are they all 3 going up? Sad you're not going up this year I LOVE Jackson Hole! So much!

But I love being a missionary even more! I love spending all my time serving the Lord and helping to move His work forward. It is so great. It is great and a blessing to see how much the gospel is blessing these people's lives. It is a testimony to me that this gospel isn't just for some, but for all the people throughout the world! This church is true. The Lord is kind and so incredibly loving.

Mahal ko kayo!

-Sister Davidson

p.s. FATHERS DAY!

Thank you Ryan and Dad for the info. And okay I was going to schedule to skype you Fathers Day 5pm... but I found out today that because most everybody is not calling on Fathers Day we may have a schedule Zone Activity that day that I would call. So my question to you is this... is it okay with you if I call you on Monday night? The day after Father's Day? ah man it makes me so sad b/c I want to call you on Father's Day. And at the same time, it is important to Sister Frejas and our Zone if we attend this Zone activity. So is it okay wth you if I call you on Monday after Father's Day about 5pm your time? ah man I'm so sorry! And at the same time I'm just still stoked to skype you! I love you! And let me know if that works for you! If not, I can probably skype you Father's Day Father's Day. Mahal ko kayo!

The Lord Answers Prayers June 3, 2013

KUMUSTA PAMILYA!?!?

Thank you so much for your letters!! I loved loved loved them, thank you so much! I love hearing every little thing you are doing, no joke I soak it all in ha ha. Also Grandma Heywood sent some pictures from the Condo-Savanna you're the cutest pregnant person ever! I'm shocked at how big you tummy is! Ha ha I'm sups excited to see you via Skype soon! Also HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DAD AND DARLA!!!! Wow one year flew by! So many things have happened to us in just one year, crazy! I'm so glad you're part of our family Darla! Happy anniversary to you! 

This week was great. We have this one investigator, Sister Jacquiline, who is progressing so great. We are only able to visit her once a week because she lives so far away but our visits with her are fantastic. Okay so background on her. She is super religious. We met her at church where she came with a member (MEMBER MISSIONARIES ARE SOOO CRITICAL AND MAKE SUCH A DIFFERENCE!!! - this is a subtle hint to help the missionaries and their work as much as you can:) Okay so we met her at church, then she gave us her address and we went and visited her. She is super religious. She has been a member of many churches, and has been searching for the right one. She has an incredible faith in God and her testimony of God answering prayers is awesome. So anyway, this last week we were teaching her, and we prepared to give her a BGD. The lesson was great, and we were inviting her to be baptized if she knew for herself what we were saying was true, if she knew the church was true. She accepted to be baptized! As we were opening our mouths to give her the goal date of June 29, in the exact moment some people came to the door, entered the lesson, and the moment was gone. We were happy to teach the other people as well but were so sad that at the exact moment for her BGD was interrupted. It was evidence to us that Satan is real. But oh well, the Lord works in mysterious ways and is more powerful than Satan. So then Sunday, she came to church! After Sacrament, with tears in her eyes she said to us, "when can I be baptized?" Ohhh yaaa!! We are stoked! So so so stoked! Now we pray she will continue in building her testimony that this is the only true church on earth today, Joseph Smith was the instrument for the Restoration, and the Book of Mormon is the most true book ever. But ya, we are so excited! 

We went on splits yesterday with our ward missionaries and it was great. We've been on splits before but I've always been paired up with someone with more missionary experience than me, so I've been able to rely on them. But then yesterday I was paired up with 2 ward missionaries who both haven't been on missions, meaning I didn't have anyone to turn to if I got stuck in the middle of my teaching. oh man I was scared. Ha ha I prayed pretty hard. Our first lesson was good. The beginning was so frustrating for me b/c of the language barrier, but then i prayed and ah man the Lord answers prayers. With the guidance of the Spirit it turned out to be a great lesson and check it out-they actually understood me! I was thrilled! then for the rest of our lessons the day they were all fantastic and I felt so good and so incredibly thankful for the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. Now I need to remain humble so that I can continue to learn and remember what I've learned. Ha ha I've learned that once I get a little overconfident, I am quickly reminded how dependent I am on the Lord. Which is good, ha ha but it would probably be better to just stay humble always and remember that it is never me but rather always the Lord. :)

Okay for pictures as I forget what I do without documentation. :)

We had a Zone CSP cleaning the ground of a school. It made me appreciate lawn mowers. What took us 3 hours would have taken one riding lawn mower maybe 1 hour ha ha. 

We had a District CSP (we have been having so many CSP's lately it is great, and sometimes so time consuming but oh well it's fun. ) Okay but this CSP was over in a different area cleaning a school to get ready. Today was actually the first day of school for everybody. It made me laugh cleaning the school b/c we were cleaning the school to start and you are just ending. And b/c I told you I would take pictures of the schools here you go. :) This is a room for special reading help.

Cute eh? Just another room for special reading help. 

The outside of the school hallway. I could be wrong, but it seems like every building is for the same grade.

Family May 20, 2013

Family!!! I just love you love you love you so much! Thanks for your emails!!! I love hearing everything that you're doing! Love love love love love it! Thank you for keeping me updated on life! There are many missionaries who don't have communication with their families and so I realize I am so very blessed, thank you! 

This week was as great as ever. I love where I am at. I love the people I am with, I just love everything here! Okay actually that is kind of a lie. I love almost everything here. Ha ha there are still some cultural things I have yet to fall in love with but I'm sure with time I will fall in love with those also. Except maybe not... ha ha ha oh well. It's all good.

Pictures speak louder than words, and they help my memory so here goes.. :) 

 Last Monday we had FHE at a less active member's house. They were so fun! We always play the simplest games and if you mess up you have punishment. This time it was lipstick on your face. Man that lipstick was strong stuff it did NOT come off. And thanks to my white skin it was very noticeable. It is always so fun to have FHE at less active's homes because it gives them a chance to see how much fun they can simply have as a family. All these people are who ended up joining FHE. 

This is the actual family that we are teaching. I love how here if there is something going on, everyone is invited. Nobody is excluded. It is great!

The elections were last Monday and so on Tuesday our ward cleaned up the area where the elections were held. Man it was dirty! Because it rained the night before all the flyers and trash were stuck to the ground. I find it funny how I know how to clean, and yet I know no techniques to cleaning in different cultures. Ha ha they know how to clean their place the best and they have a technique and a way that works for everything. I don't know why I am always so surprised. 

Members from our ward who helped clean. It is so fun to be with them working!

 

This is Tatay Bernardo. When I first met him he had just suffered from a stroke and  was completely unable to move one half of his body. Whenever we would see him he would make more and more small progresses. Our first few lessons to him were all about faith that he can be healed through his faith. I took this picture because he was so happy to show us how he walked from his bed outside, to the door inside, and back! We were so happy! He is making progress and he continues to work and not give up working! He is a great example. Watching his progress makes me wonder sometimes if I would want to go into the field of Occupational Therapy one day. Jana Heywood once told me she thought I would be good at that, and ever since then I've always been curious if maybe I could work in that line of work. Ha ha I actually don't know. And I don't really want to think about it now ha ha. 

I don't know if I told you before, but they love kareoke here. Ha ha it is so funny to me. And passing the mic off to each other is no big deal. It's like passing water across the table. You just do it. It is hilarious. Also I find the song choices hilarious. Ha ha one person sang to the song of the Carpenters the one that goes "i'm sittin' top of the world looking down on creation...." ha ha it just made me laugh and laugh and laugh. They also love Shina Twain and Celion Deon.

 another picture of kareoke. We went to a member's house for a dinner appointment and because it was one of their birthday's, naturally everyone was invited and it was a party. They have so many party's here for everyone's birthdays I'm amazed. and I love  it!

We had a CSP with our Zone leaders, and District leaders and this is us on our way. CSP with other missionaries are the best.

Band pose. I had to have one. :)

p.s. do you like the pictures? or not really? B/c i send a lot. and i don't know if it inconveniences you or if you like it or not... what is your opinion on the way I send my emails to you? Be honest. :)

So basically for our CSP we helped build a house. By our helping build a house we started with moving dirt into the house to make the floor. Okay seriously the whole time I kept laughing to myself as I thought of Brian Regan's skit of logs on a truck on a highway going one way, and logs on a truck going the other way, passing by each other at the same time. You remember? Ha ha okay i don't know if you can tell, but the pile of dirt on the left, we moved and shoveled into the house behind us. We were literally moving dirt from one place to another. And I guess smoothing it out so it was better and making a difference. But I just kept laughing and laughing at how hysterical the whole thing was about Brian Regan. 

Just another picture. I love physical labor. And shoveling the whole time made me sore the next day but I loved it!

CSP's are always associated with food after. So this was our food. It also happened to be one missionary's birthday and so b/c it was a birthday, it was a party! Also check it out. I got a chaco tan line from the service project! I was so happy! And I can still see it :)

Okay this is a funny story. So this little kid (Matt Matt) is adorable. His family is less active when it comes to church, but they have family scripture study, prayer, etc. we just want to see them at church! Anyway. When we started saying the prayer, he is always so good to fold his hands, etc. I was curious if he did that the whole prayer. So I peeked in the middle of the prayer and he was making this face at the person next to him. It was sooo funny! After the prayer I had to get him to repeat the face without letting anybody know I had peeked through the prayer. Ha ha it was hilarious. 

The other missionaries who live with us had a lunch appointment with a member and we were invited. We showed up and this was lunch! it was awesome! And delicious! And SUPER easy clean up as no dishes, and no placemats. We just folded up the big leaves after and threw them in the trash. That's the way to go!

SUPER delicious!

Remember that $8 umbrella from Walmart? Trashed. Ha ha we get so many laughs when we use it because it is so thrashed. Oh well it still works somewhat. I really need to buy a new one this week though. :)

Okay so that's it for pictures. Really do you like them? too many? What do you like to hear from me?

This week I had so many tender mercy's from the Lord. Yesterday at church there was a mini primary program for Mother's Day last week. the little kids are so cute! They sang little primary mother's day songs, then the little ones said (yelled more actually:) into the mic little things like "i love you mommy" or "happy mama day" it was adorable. 

Also this week I learned how blessed I am. Man I am blessed to be where I am at in life, blessed to have everything that has happened to me so far in life, and blessed for all the things that will happen to me in my life. There are some culture things here that make me so so sad. It breaks my heart to see some of the things that I see. I do what I can to help, and then I just pray. Only through our Heavenly Father can people find hope in their life. Some things in life seem so so unfair. Many things actually. But when we remember the Lord, He makes all those unfair things seem okay. He helps us see how He touches each of His children in the way that He knows best. He blesses their lives. He blesses their lives through us. "Therefore it is vital that we serve each other." I know the Lord loves me. He has put me in our family for a reason. He knows me perfectly. He knows you perfectly. He has a perfect love for each of us which is hard to comprehend. I'm grateful for my testimony of the Church. I know that through the blessings of being a member of the church I have more hope and faith and trust in my life, which I am so greatful for.

Okay well I love you all so much!!

-Sister Davidson :)

Pictures May 27, 2013

Another picture of us painting the school.

Oh here is a pic of one of the school buildings to give you more of an idea. Each door is one big classroom. 

 This just made me laugh. Sister Frejas wanted a guava from this tree in front of a less active family's house. So Louie just climbed the tree and picked one for her and me as well! NBD. Mmmm masarup! Delicious! 

Okay this little girl was cute. We asked her what her mama's name was and she just kept saying "Mama" then when we would try to ask what her papa's name was she would say "Papa" ha ha she was so talkative. It was hilarious so I took a picture of her. 

Okay this little family was also adorable. They have been taught by the missionaries before, and we hope that this time they are ready to accept the gospel! 

These 7 people are great! We first started to teach the couple on the left, but then slowly all of them started listening in on our lessons and now we are teaching all 7! It is so great! 6 of them have come to church at least one time and we pray for their continued growth! They have trouble following the Word of Wisdom, which we are trying to help them overcome. Which makes me want to ask, do you or someone you know have a personal experience of seeing blessings from following the WOW? I don't really have a personal experience that I can relate with them as I've never tried cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, tea, etc... you know? Do you have a story I guess you could share with me that I could share with them that maybe will help them overcome their addiction?

Okay remember how I told you how BEAUTIFUL the lightening is here!? Okay I tried so hard to capture the lightening but it was so hard! Here are my attempts... enjoy! :) 

Imagine the pitch black sky, then the lightening lightening the sky so bright like this! And you can see the zigzags of the lightening! Sooo beautiful!

This is Sister Grace! And her family and us. She has a BGD of June 15th and we are SO excited for her! She is progressing sooo much and we pray she will continue to progress and her prayers will be answered and she will be baptized on June 15th! We love her and her family so much!

This is the Viado family who we want to return to church sooo badly! They are so kind to us and so great people, we just really want them to come back to church because we know it will bless their lives!

And that's about it for pictures. This email is SUPER long. Ha ha sorry! I forget that you have lives and it takes time to actually read what I write. Sorry! Anyway. I love you all sooo much and you're in my prayers everyday! I hope all is well and you're enjoying the last days of school! Funny school is ending for you, and school is starting here. Their break is March-May. Okay I love you! The Church is true! Keep praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church. The 3 M's to remain happy-magdasal, magbasa, tapos magsimba. :) Love you sooo much!

-Sister Davidson :)

p.s. I'm skyping home (not calling) in only 2 weeks! (meaning 2 times for us to set up our schedule) We need to set up a time! I'm thinking evening time Father's Day? Does that work for you? Or the Monday after Fathers's day is fine too if you're going to Grandma's or something for Father's day which is fine. Just let me know Please! If we do the Monday after Father's day that means I can email you on Monday, and then skype the next day. (As Sunday for you is Monday for me, Monday for you is Tuesday for me) But let me know in your next email PLEASE!! And Dad, I need my skype info please as I can't remember my password and username ha ha. Also who will I be skyping? What is your skype address? Maybe you want to test it first? meaning dad has my skype username and password and maybe call Ryan's skype address or Dad's skype address or whoever from my skype address to see if it works? please please please send me your skype information so we can actually skype! love you!

Love Makes All the Difference

This week was fantastic! This week I learned a valuable lesson about loving those around you. I have always like those around me, and I've always gotten along with everyone. I consider it a blessing from the Lord that I am able to get along with everyone. But I"ve learned this last week there is a difference between liking everyone, and having a love for them. At our DDM, one of the Elders in my batch taught me through one of his comments, that we need to love our investigators. That really hit me. I have loved working as a missionary this whole time. But I realized I haven't been loving, having a real love, for the people I am serving. I started to pray for a love for all the people are teaching. I'm always amazed at how much the Lord answers our prayers, and especially when we pray for other's well beings. I prayed to have a love for the people we are teaching. It came. Of course I have had to remind myself to love them as it is not yet a habit for me to immediately love each person, but it will become a habit and I'm excited for when that will happen! But when I love a person, I try to look at them as Christ sees them-I'm amazed at how much more vision I have. When I look at a person and think to myself to look at them as if were Christ looking at them, I can see so much more. I look at them and have an immediate desire for their happiness, their well being, for them to not have a hard life, and most importantly I want them to have the true happiness that comes from living the gospel and being able to return to our Heavenly Father. I truly have a desire for them to be baptized because I know it is the first step to returning to our Heavenly Father and I know it will make them happy! And it all comes from looking at them as Christ would, and loving them. I truly am so amazed at how much loving a person makes a difference. Also I'm sorry if what I just said sounded like rambling. I am just so excited for this new realization I'm trying to get it all out at once. I love these people and I desire their well being so so so badly. The vision of Christ will help me work harder, and have more faith in the work. With faith and love, all things are possible. Nothing is impossible to the Lord. He wants so much for all His children to return to Him, meaning H will provide the way for them to get there and I have the great chance to be an instrument in his Hands! Wow our Heavenly Father is so great right!? Man I am blessed!

I had so many great experiences this week! One of which was on Tuesday when we went to the hospital because one of our investigators asked us to visit her there as she was visiting her Nanay there. We went and it was a good experience. We were able to share a message of hope, and by the end of the lesson, because of the Holy Ghost, Nanay was able to smile! She was so sad when we first walked in, and we were so happy to see her smile by the time we left! We also had the chance to say hello and give pass along card to all the people in the room with Nanay. It was great! And it was an evidence later in the week of how the Lord works in mysterious ways. So on Sunday, we got a referral from a member. Then on Tuesday we texted the referral to see if we could visit him on Friday. Then we went to the hospital and met people and gave them pass along cards. Then on Wednesday the referral (Randy) texted us back and we set up a time. Friday we went to visit and meet Randy, and we had met him at the hospital! His girlfriend's (Liberty) family was visiting her Tatay in the hospital for some sickness he had, and we met them all on Tuesday! Then Friday, we met and had an AMAZING lesson with Randy and Liberty! It was so great! They are so prepared to hear the gospel and we pray soooo much they will progress, gain a testimony, be baptized and continue to live the gospel throughout their lives. Ah man we pray they truly are ready to accept the gospel this time in their lives! It was a great experience! 

Okay so the hospital was a great experience-also a great culture shock. I sincerely pray that I will never have to go to the hospital while I am here in the Philippines. Ha ha oh boy. I have no right whatsoever to complain about hospitals in the USA. I've been blessed never to really have to go there before, but if I ever do have to go there, I have no room to complain after visiting the hospital here. It's hard to explain ha ha sorry. As we were in the hospital I kept trying to think of how President Monson would bring so much joy to everyone who saw him if he were to walk the halls of the hospital and I just tried to act like he would. Ha ha President Monson is so great. Speaking of hospitals and what not, I've been sick this last week! Ehh not fun. Just a cold, but yuck, it's nasty still. Also ha ha I made a dumb decision. I took Nyquil the same day I was fasting-bad choice. It was an out of body experience. Ha ha my mind was fine, but my body all morning my body was so weird ha ha it was funny to me. 

Okay this letter is really long-sorry! And now for pictures! 

FHE  last week! 

 The little kids here are ADORABLE! 

We had a Zone CSP last week painting a school. School starts this next week for everyone so we painted the school in preparation for it to begin! School buildings here are similar and yet different. I should have taken more pictures as we are a family of teachers eh? Sorry. Anyway, each room is big with a lot of desks inside, one big chalkboard at the front, and the windows are all open for the light. Um ya, ha ha bad description sorry. I'll try to take a picture of a school in the future for you.