Ynez' Homecoming Announcement

Last letter home

HEY FAM BAM!!!!!!
You are so cute I love you all! thank you so much for writing me letters, Trent i forgive you for not writing me because you wrote me a really great letter recently. I love all your letters.  i was cracking up the whole time, but what`s with all the Nacho Libre references?? lol You do all know that SHANE (I mean Elder Davis) is the one in Mexico right?? but i loved it and it made me laugh.

So this week was another contacting week, but we also saw some AWESOME miracles!  Lately it has been really hard for us to find new investigators even though we have been working really hard to do so, BUT this week we did find a new investigator named Lorena, and she is AWESOME!  She was so so prepared when we found her, she confessed to us after the first lesson we had with her that she had been anxiously awaiting our visit ALL week! hahaha

Diana wasn't able to get baptized this week because she got sick and therefore could receive us to get her lessons and couldn't have her interview either.  BUT this week she is going to get baptized, either Saturday or Sunday we aren't sure yet because there is a talent show on Saturday and the Bishop doesn`t want the reverence of the baptism to be tainted by preparations for the talent show, etc. AND the other miracle is that TANIA decided that she wants to get baptized this week as well! It was so so cool! because up to now when we would ask her, she would always say that she knows she is going to get baptized but that she didn't feel ready, but on Sunday when we invited her to be baptized for this weekend she said yes, with out any doubts or hesitation!  It was a miracle! and she is SOOOO awesome!  We are so excited for her. Now we are just waiting for her to ask her parents permission and for them to sign the paper, then she needs her interview and she`s ready to go! :) It`s going to be a busy, AWESOME week!
 

For my last email I wanted to share part of a hymn that i dont believe exists in the english hymn book, so bear with me dad, you`re going to have to translate. It`s a hymn that i love and that I`ve had in my mind and heart these last couple days, and that has defined my mission.

Himno #88  "Placentero nos es trabajar"

1. Placentero nos (me) es trabajar
   en la viña del gran Rey Jesús,
   y honroso nos (me) es predicar
   a Su pueblo Su ley y Su lluz.
   Por Su luz, por Su luz,
   placentero nos es trabajar.
   Por Su luz, por Su luz,
   moriremos en El sin pesar.
2. La palabra de Dios escuchad
   con ahínco, lealtad y fervor.
   Para siempre jamás recordad
   Su pureza, verdad y amor.
   Con amor, con amor,
   la palabra de Dios escuchad.
   Con amor, con amor,
   la bandera de Dios empuñad.
3. ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues, adiós!
   El momento de ir vino ya.
   Si guardamos la fe en el gran Dios,
   nos veremos aún más allá.
   Más allá, más allá.
   ¡Oh hermanos, adiós, pues, adiós!
   Más allá, más allá,
   moraremos con Dios en amor.

It is pleasant for us (me) to work
In the vineyard of the great God Jesus
And honorable for us (me) to to preach
To His people, His law and His light.
By His light, by His light,
It is pleasant for us (me) to work.
By His light, by His light,
We will die in Him without regrets.

Listen to the Word of God
With eagerness, loyalty and fervor.
Forever and always remember
His purity, truth, and love.
With love, with love,
Hear the Word of God.
With love, with love,
Bear the flag of God.

Oh, brothers and sisters! Good-by, then Good-bye!
The time to go has come.
If we keep the faith in the great God,
We will see each other again far Beyond.
Far Beyond, far Beyond,
O, brothers! Good-by, then Good-by!
Far Beyond, far Beyond,
We will dwell with God in love.

I really do love working as a missionary in the Lord's vineyard. It IS pleasing and pleasant to me. I love serving the Lord and serving His children here in Chile, I love being His representative. I love preaching His law and His light to His children. There is nothing better or more fulfilling. Placentero me es ... 

I love you all so much! Take good care! we`ll be seeing eachother soon.

Love,

HERMANA Davis

Week 76 (Rancagua, Zona Tupahue 1 [Villa el Sol]

Hey fam bam! Have i mentioned how much i freaking love you guys lately??

Today I woke up with what seems to be the stomach flu, or some kind of stomach virus...yum! I'm sitting here writing to you pretty nauseous (resistiendo las ganas de vomitar) [resisting the urge to ...yeah that].  ¡Quiero mi mama! hahaha  But anyway, I know I´ll be fine and in good shape in no time at all. :)   This trio thing has been pretty rocking!  I love being with Hna Arellano and Hna Parker! They are the best! We all get along super well and spend the whole day laughing our heads off, and it´s even worse in the house, because Hna Nappa and Hna Nokes are crazy! I am living with the highest number of gringas that I have in my whole mission!  Which would be 3 and a half (Hna Nokes, Hna Parker, and I, and the half is Hna Nappa, she rocks english!) Now Hna Arellano is learning english (a la fuerza jajaja)! [by force] I am so happy and I feel so blessed to be with all of them! They really are the greatest, and it´s the greatest combination of sisters that I could have ever asked for.  It´s been especially funny because Hna Parker has been saying that Heavenly Father and Pres. Warne are "reeeeally funny" because Hna Parker was in the zone next door, Tupahue 2, and last tranfer when the cambios were coming up she kept telling me I was going to leave and bet me that I was going to leave and I always told her "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! It wouuld be TERRIBLE to change sectors NOW, when I´ve only got three weeks left." and THEN she got put with me and my comp in our sector! HA-HA!!  She was wrong.

This week was kind of a slow one, we spent more time contacting and looking for less actives than teaching lessons, and that´s always tough, but being in a trio really helped because we all keep each other pumped up.

 

This week is Diana´s baptism!!  We have everything planned out and she is going to have her interview on Wednesday. We are all super excited! And we are hoping, fasting, and praying that Tania can get baptized next week, she already has a testimony and knows baptism is important, but she doesn't feel prepared and she is waiting for the answer that she should do it right now, the thing is she is TOTALLY ready, so we have some plans to help her realize that. Once she realizes that, her parents just have to sign the permission form and she´s ready to go!

 

This week on Sunday, Melissa Campos´s son, Fransico (aka Panchito) finally got his baby blessing (after a year and a half), they hadn´t done it before because his dad prohibited it, BUT he has been coming to church for three weeks now, DESPITE the fact that Melissa´s dad has a restraining order on him, I guess they are trying to patch things up because her dad was the one who invited him to church last week, pretty much giving him permission to break the restraining order (Fransico - Panchito´s dad - tried to fight with Melissa's dad one time).  This week Fransisco was able to attend the baby blessing and at the end he stood up and left really fast, and we thought, uh oh he got mad, but then Melissa told us later that that wasn´t that case, that he had actually gotten choked up and started crying! Score! lol Hopefully something good with come out of all of this. :)

Other than that nothing much is going on here, todo esta ¡bien en el vecindario (all is good in the neighborhood).

Love you guys lots and lots! You all are the BEST! I expect EVERYONE (yes, I mean e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e.) in our immediate family to write me next week and to make it GOOD! 

Last chance!

LOVE YOU TONS,

Hna Davis

Week 75 (Rancagua, Zona Tupahue 1 [Villa el Sol]

You are going to be so mad and I am SOOOOO sorry! this letter is going to be really short this week, i was writing a letter to a certain person that listened to the missionaries with you at the house this week and i kind of felt the Spirit and wrote a lot more than I was expecting and I ran out of time, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!

Any way, big changes! I'm going to be in a trio again! Hna Parker (from Redlands) Is coming to our sector to be in a trio with us! She is awesome! it`s going to be a paaaaarty! (haha well, hard working missionary style of course)

This week Pres Warne called to let me know I`ve been released as a coordinating sister, although it`s a relief in some ways, i was kind of nostalgic at the same time, I really loved serving as a coordinator, i learned SOOOO much from the sisters i served with! It has been such a huge blessing!

Tania and Diana came to church again, they both have some doubts but nothing to get scared about, they are great and we are doing our very best to help them out and help them stregthen their testimonies.

Hope youre all doing great! Love you SOOO much! im doing great, working hard! promise to write much make up for the short lettter next week! BYEEE!

Week 74 21st B-day (Rancagua, Zona Tupahue 1 [Villa el Sol]

HEYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! How`s it going???

It`s been a good week, with LOTS of adventures. On Tuesday we had our zone conference in the mission home and it was AWESOOOOOOOOOOME!!!!! I love zone conferences! The best part was that the Wall's had a part in the program talking about family history, so they came down from Buin and I got to see them and talk to them about everyone there. I love them so much!  I was soooooo happy to see them! (They are the senior couple that got to Buin in my last cambio there.)  They told me about Ana and Rene and everyone, and every one is great! And that always makes me so happy! :) :) :) I get to see them again tomorrow BECAUSE tomorrow I`m going to .... drum roll please.... are you feeling the suspense yet? I am! I am SOOOOOOOOO excited? so WHERE am I going??? oh yeah! that`s right!..... THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D POR FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNN!!!!  [FINALLY]  I am so so so so so so so so (times infinity) excited! All our group that is leaving is going to the temple tomorrow, so I am going to go with Hna Sutherlin.  President and Sister Warne are going and we are all going to have lunch with them, and the Walls are going too! It`s going to be AWESOME!  The only not awesome part is that Hna Sutherlin and I have to wake up at like 5:30 because we have to be AT the temple by 9:30 because the session starts at 10. And with taking the bus and the metro and not knowing our way around Santiago, etc, etc, we want to leave the house at like 6:30 to make sure we get there on time (y con calma) [and be relaxed]. BUT I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! I'm dying inside! I think I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight!  I feel like a little kid on Christmas eve, KNOWING that tomorrow is going to be the best day EVEEERRRRRRRRRRR!  EEEEEP!

So this week was my burfday, it was AWESOME!!!  Definitely better than last year! haha My comp planned a little surprise party for me with the Campos family and invited a bunch of members and it was adorable and I love everyone!!!  The members here are the BEST!  Also on my birthday we ate lunch with Hna Angie (yes, of course i remember mom every time I'm with her) that day and she is a pastelera [pastry chef] and she cooks SOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! To DIE for! And on my bday she made me TWO cakes! haha one JUST to bite it, and the other she made me CHEESE CAKE! because I told her it was my fave (they don't make that here, but she is super pro and always looks up gringo recipes on the internet).   So you`re probably wondering what I mean by bite the cake, well for those who don't know, it is tradition here in CHile, and in a lot of Latin-America, that the person who`s birthday it is has to bite their birthday cake after blowing out the candles (el mordisco), and you have to try to do it the fastest and sneakiest you cake, or their shove your face into the cake... well... let`s just say I`m a newbee at this.... I had to two cakes, one for lunch, and one for the surprise party at night, the second time was much worse, I had frosting up to in my EYELASHES! And I couldn't breath through my nose, I had to go straight to the bathroom and blow out the half pound of frosting that I had up my nose haha, ok, maybe it wasn`t a half pound, but it sure FELT like a lot! hahaha  But to be honest it was super fun and I LOVED it! :)

pics: 

1) Hna Angie and I

 

#2) me con Nachi, she is a recent convert and AWESOME!!! love her guts out!

#3) my birthday cake that Nachi made (she is studying gastronomy) it`s pompadeur, which is the BEST cake in the whole world

it was an AWESOME day!

Week 73 (Rancagua, Zona Tupahue 1 [Villa el Sol]

FAM BAMMMMMMMILY! HEY!

You all are SOOOOOO cute! I love it! Thanks to everyone for all the b-day wishes!  You all are the greatest!

This week has been another awesome one!!!

The Lord has continued showering down blessings and mini miracles in our sector!  This week Diana's baptismal date fell through because she got to church in the second hour and investigators have to assist at least 3 times to Sacrament Meeting before they can get baptized.  So now we will have to put it a week later because even though she got there on sunday, she didn't make it in time for sacrament mtg, so she still technically only has assisted one time. But other than that, she is doing well! and we are just happy that she DID arrive inspite of everything.  Also we had a new investigator arrive this week, her name is Patricia (Patricia #2) lol, and her daughter´s name is Constanza.  We started teaching them pretty recently, we committed both of them to go to church with us but Constanza went out to party on Saturday night to celebrate finishing her semester and didn't get home till late, so she "couldn't" wake up in the morning for church, but I'm sure she´ll go next week! :)  When Patricia went, she absolutely LOVED it and she said she felt at home, welcomed, etc and the members did a really great job to say hi to and welcome her.  She couldn't stay the three hours this week, pero se quedó con las ganas de hacer lo por el proximo Domingo! [but was left with the desire to do it next week] haha :)  That same night we visitted Patricia with Hna Ruth and Nachi (2 people from the  ward whom I love with all my heart!) and we had a mini FHE with her and invited her to be baptized, we set a goal with her for the 9th of August!  I really see her getting baptized, but she smokes, so we are praying that she will be able to quit.  Also Tania went to church again!  She is doing awesome!  I don't remember if I told you last week, but we set a date with her as well, and now the only thing she lacks is the rest of the lessons and written permission from her parents (because she´s only 17) and she is good to go for the 26th! We are praying and hoping that her parents will support her in this decision and let her go through with it. 

This Wednesday was my companions birthday and we had lots of fun! We planned like 4 different surprises for her, not even joking! One in the morning witht he whole zone after district mtg, one right after that for lunch, one at the end of the day when we were going to go do "service" for Melissa Campos at her house, and then one right after that when we got to our house. The one when we got to the house was the best! But they were all fun and cute and my companion had a great day, we ended up not having enough room in the fridge to put so much cake in! We had to ask our land lady to store one of the cakes in her fridge until we made room in ours! hahaha At night before going to sleep my comp told me it was the best birthday she´s ever had! (YES!!!! mission accomplished!) But don't worry!  We stilled worked hard that day too! No somos chuecas. :) [We aren't slackers]  Now this week we have Hna Gutierrez´s b-day on Wednesday and the next day is MINE! should be interesting trying to plan all that, and undercover! hahaha

What else? It´s cold and rainy!  I´m shivering while I type! haha I got a little wet coming back from our zone activity today. But all is well!  We are happy and working hard!!! I love it! I love it! I love it! :)))) Hope all is well at home and that you guys finally get a chance to slow down and catch your breath after all the crazy non-stop things you´ve been doing.  Take care of yourselves! Love you all SOOOOOOO MUCH! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO be good!

Hna Davis

ps. DAVIS DYNASTY!!!!

Week 72 (Rancagua, Zona Tupahue 1 [Villa el Sol])

Too crazy adventurous family,

Hey guys! Thanks so much for sending pics and everything! Looks like you had an amazing, UNFORGETTABLE, and adventurous week! That is so fun! You guys are all rock stars! On my side of the world this week was an awesome one as well, it was a week full of tender mercies and mini-miracles from the Lord. 

This week we taught Diana a couple more times, she is progressing well! We also were finally able to set a baptismal date (as a goal) with Tania, the girl who is 17 and has already come to church 3 times.  We set it for the 26th of July. It was really cool when we challenged her to it because she was really nervous about it.  She told us herself that she sees herself getting baptized in t he future but she wasn´t thinking of it being "SO SOON".  She also shared us her testimony of church attendance (with out realizing it herself) because she explained to us how much she likes it and that when she goes she feels at home there; like really a part of a big family and that she feels something special, peace and ... tranquilidad (english ?? lol) and that when she goes her whole week goes better, but when she doesn´t she feels the absence of it in her whole week. YAYYY! :) 

Another mini-miracle/cool experience, was with Patricia. This week we went and visited her and taught her a little more in depth about the Book of Mormon and read the introduction with her. After teaching her about it we were leading up to the commitment to pray to ask if the Book of Mormon is true, so I ask her if she would like to have the conviction that it talks about in the second to last paragraph of the intro. - an answer from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, and she answers and just tells us, frankly, "No... I already felt that, like I told you guys about a while back when I´d read and found that scripture that I needed at the time and that really touched my heart." So then we were like, "Wow that is awesome Patricia! So do you believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God?"  And she tells us, " Yes! I believe it. I know that it´s true."
Inside we were like  YEAH! YEAH ! YEAAAAAH! dance party!!!!! (minus the dancing part lol)

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!!!

We visited Melissa Campos (the blonde less active girl that I sent a picture of) again this week and we read another chapter with her in the Book of Mormon, chapter 10 in first Nephi.  After reading we challenged her to read the next chapter the very same night (because normally it takes 5 million years of reminding her and recommitting her over and over again to read the same chapter for her to actually do it). She committed to do it. The next day we are in the street walking past her house to go to another appointment and we run into her walking out her front door so we stop to talk to her for a second. She tells us that her mom and she had just gotten back from the center and that while she was there, they passed by some clothes stores and went by Lider (read "Chilean Walmart"), and that while they passed by all the clothes, she didn't even bother looking at other stuff, instead, she went straight to where the SKIRTS were, because she wanted to buy a skirt to wear to church (she had been coming in jeans until now). 

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!!!

SO we keep talking with her outside her house and we ask her how it went with her "homework" to read the chapter the night before and she said "good!" So with surprise and curiosity we asked more specifically, "You read the chapter???" And she said "Yep! I READ TWO!" Almost had a heart attack from pure shock and surprise - the good kind!! 

BUT THAT¨S NOT ALL!!!!

So, Sunday comes around. Sacrament meeting starts, we finish singing the first hymn, no Melissa :( ... then 2 mins later in walks her sister and her husband, and they close the door behind them, and I´m thinking, shoot!  She didn´t come. THEN the door opens again, and in walks Meli in a SKIRT, she looked fabulous!  When we got a chance to talk with her after Sacrament mtg she told us how they almost didn't come because her son, Panchito, had had a fever all night and neither of them had slept much and that her mom wasn't going to go either (and her mom is ACTIVE), BUT that she made her mom go (at least that´s her story)! She is rocking it!
I really don´t know how this change happened, I only know that it´s been a huge and amazing miracle! If you only KNEW how many times I had asked myself after having not so successful lessons with her and seeing her lack of progress even her lack of INTEREST for a LONG time, "Should we leave her, or should we keep working with her?" How many times I went back and forth with it in my mind. It seems like for a long time the thought was, Yeah ONE MORE TIME, and if this time isn´t different.... but for one reason or another we always went back, AND NOW LOOK!!!!! :D  The only thing I can make sense of that could have caused such a huge a dramatic change is that last week we left a challenge with her to read a short little chapter in the Book of Mormon, and then PRAY and ask if it was true and if Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God, that day she did it! And she told us that  she got an answer and that she felt it was true. Maybe in that moment, when she went looking/searching on her OWN account, is when the Spirit was really able to get to her and sprout that seed of faith that she had had in her heart. 

Now, that´s still not ALL, but just know that it´s been an awesome week, and that everyday the Lord shows us His hand in mini-miracles and tender mercies. I love my mission and being His servant and representative SOOO much! As He, in His great mercy, allows us to work and be witnesses of these changes and miracles in the lives of others, He works even bigger changes and miracles in OUR lives and in OUR hearts. 

with ALL my love, 
Hna Davis