Family picture with JD

Sept 23, 2013 Email

September 23,2013 This week has been CRAZY!!!!! So I get to Mexico and some security guards (because I had to take another flight from Mexico city to Oaxaca) threw away all the weights in the weight vest, because they said I could use them as weapons.. hahaha and then at that moment I went from thinking I was pretty good at Spanish to realizing I knew nothing, and that Mexicans talk so fast!!!!!! hahaha I bet you guys just imagine me standing there holding these weights as some Mexicans start yelling at me in Spanish.. I felt pretty stupid hahaha oh well it was probably for the better and hey I got them all the way to Mexico haha. Anyways my first day I get here I realize I had no idea what Mexico is like haha.  I and the other 22 missionaries get shoved into this run down hotel.. after this night I realized just how spoiled I was in the United States haha. So I get there, and we get thirsty, and go to turn on the sink wáter, and (I kid you not) straight yellow piss wáter comes out, and then we get notified that we all need to shower in this stuff, and that there is no hot wáter haha. Anyways so we start filtering wáter so we can drink wáter and since none of us have towels we shower in this stuff and then used one rag between the all of us haha. Yeah it sucked haha. Anyways the next day I meet my companion, and he knows almost no English which sucks haha. I really like him though he seems really cool! and he can teach lessons really well!!  Anyways since my área is 3 hours away, and my zone was going to the Oaxaca temple the next day, we sleep on these nasty mats on the floor of a companionship's house, and all I get to use is my single towell because they didn't tell me I needed sleeping stuff haha. Anyways I and my companion share this mat and we layed on our towells because the mats were so gross anyways we froze, got bit alive, and didn't even sleep. It was the worst night of my life hahaha, but anyways the next day I travelled to Huajuapan (Wahpen) which was three hours away, and I get there and I realize that what they said about Oaxaca being the poorest state in Mexico is true. There are people packed everywhere, and everyone is poor. It is really sad, and they are also all Catholic, and aren't very receptive to the góspel.. but we do still find people, and we already have two dates for baptism :) I am pumped!!! my dorm isnt too bad, and I'm starting to like it!! The only problems I have are the filthness because the walls have mold that you can't get rid of and the bugs... I hate them haha I didn't use to mind them, but now I hate them haha. I have killed so many stupid cockroaches the size of a small child I could die (that's a joke- they aren't that big but they are the biggest bug I have ever seen) I also hate the spiders, well actually only the ones that cause me to wake up with giant bites.. haha. The other 100 or so spiders that are in every corner of the ceiling that are all the biggest spiders I have ever seen!!!! but they leave us alone so we leave them alone too. Hmm I think thats all about my new life haha. I love it here, and I love serving the people and teaching the gospeL PS oh and I'm proud of Landon, and i love you all :) I only get 45 minutes to email...

Happy P-Day - August 14, 2013

HEY FAMILY, I have had an amazing first week! I love it here. The first three days were really hard. I had to to preach to someone in Spanish that first Friday I was here - so my third day! It was way beneficial because my companion didn't help at all so I was forced to teach with the little Spanish I knew, and I actually did ok . I was understanding what my pretend investigator was saying, even though my Spanish was mucho greengo, and he understood me. The next time I taught (Saturday) I had studied alot so when we talked to him again (my companion didn't talk again, kind of too scared to embarrass himself. I taught the whole lesson and got him to go to church!! It was so awesome! Being here at the MTC is sooo fun!! I feel the spirit, and am challenged almost everyday!!! It is insane to think about how the Lord's rules he puts in place are so important here as a missionary and in life. The rules make you happy. They don't restrict you. When I was forced to stay up late past the scheduled 10:30pm lights out my first night, I didn't sleep as long as I needed to. It made feeling the spirit hard, and well staying awake in class hard as well, haha. Now that I am following the rules and getting to bed by 10:30 pm I have so much more energy and enjoy my days so much more. The spirit is a wonderful thing. I have always looked at it as a language that just has to be learned and I can honestly say that I am beginning to learn it. and I love it! before now I didn't realize how much happier and successful the spirit makes you feel then any other feeling in life. We had Elder Richard G Scott come and speak to us with all the authority from God, and he told us some spiritual insight that only someone who almost has the spirit with them at all times could have. Yo se que el evangelio es verdad. En el nombre de Jesucristo Amen. I love you guys and if you have any specific questions email me and I will email you individually :) My best friend here who happens to live in the same apartment. He likes to workout in the mornings with me, and played highschool pointguard. He is a straight up g from Idaho . He is in rodeos and stuff, and is a cowboy. Acts exactly like me haha. He is one of my best Mormon friends. I love you all and hope to hear from you all soon! (I suggest dear elder.com ) Love, Elder Davenport