No Entiendo Nada :)

Yo vivo!!!

 (I Live!!!) 

Im still weirded out that Im actually living in Argentin right now. What the what?

All-Nighter in The Airport

There were about 21 of us missionaries traveling from the MTC to Argentina. Lets just say we got to know each other reeeaaal well because our flight got delayed by like 10 freaking hours. 

10

horas.

Because a handle broke on the plane

10 hours because of a handle

...

Pero, esta bien. 

By the time we had our new tickets and everything sorted out, it was pretty late and our flight was early in the morning so the majority of us decided to stay awake the entire time so that we could sleep almost the entire flight there.

A few fun things happend:

Numero uno: Since we were traveling with so many other missionaries, Hermana Ahlmer and I werent always together. Our companionship was almost over and our time teaching together was over... BUT.

Something genial happened.

Makeup and the Restored Gospel

We were sitting down with the other missionaries in the terminal just talking when out of nowhere Hermana Ahlmer and I looked at each other and she said, "Wanna go get something to eat" and of course I said yes because duh, food. Before we left, I had a feeling that I needed to take my passport with me for safety reasons I guess.

So we looked around at the different places to eat in the airport but nothing really sounded good. But then I saw a makeup store and of course without even blinking an eye I walked straight inside. 

We were the only ones in the store except for this lady who worked there and like two other customers. Pretty soon those people left and we were alone with the lady who worked there. Obviously our missionary appearance caught her attention and I had hardly glanced at the foundation before she started talking to us about religion. 

She talked to us a lot about catholisim and her religious background and Jehovah Witnesses... We asked her what she knew about Mormons and we cleared up the fact that we are NOT pilgyamists... And pretty soon she asked, "So, how did your religion get started?" and Hermana Ahlmer and I looked at each other and said "wellllll we can tell you all about that."

And then it came to pass, that Hermana Davidson and her companion, who was her companion in the MTC, Hermana Ahlmer, taught the first lesson of the restoration of the gospel  in the middle of a makeup store to a woman who was born in Costa Rica.

But we didnt teach in Spanish

It felt weird to be bearing my testimony in English haha.

The moment I started talking about the Book of Mormon I literally felt like a wall went up and she was just DONE listening and she wanted to close the shop for the night.

But I remembered that I had brought my passport in an envelope which had a pass along card in it which we gave to her. 

She seemed super interested in what our church is about though.

I really hope she takes a look at it.

I was super grateful to have taught the restoration one final time with Hermana Ahlmer. 

She is seriously the best!

Kids???

So after a couple of hours of sitting Hermana Ahlmer and I plus two other sisters got up and walked around. We came across a cute couple and barely said two words before I saw Hermana Ahlmer running away??? But then I realized that the cutest little girl had grabbed her hand and was showing her the chandlier in the airport (the georgian airport is the largest airport in the world)

And then her little brother who was like a year and half popped out of nowhere and started hugging me and smiling at me and I panicked for like 2.3 seconds.

I felt like a dear in the headlights because Im not supposed to hug kids.

But what was I going to do? 

Push him away and tell him to get lost???

Noooo

So yeah I hugged a kid and it made my heart happy

A little while later while I was talking on the phone with my parents, the same little girl was looking through my things and of course, found my passport and ran off with it. It didnt even register in my mind that I had my identity stolen by a 4 year old because I was talking on the phone when Elder Schiess (who was sitting across from me and watched all of this happen) said, "Ummmm you probably shouldnt let kids play with your passport" 

And then I realized he was right and so I got up and ran her down.

Luckily her parents were nearby and the were coming to give my passport back anyway haha.

Duck Dynasty

So by the time we were standing in line to scan our passports I was so tired I thought I was going to die. Ive only pulled 2 all nighters in my lifetime but this one counts as the third and I wasnt sure if I was happy about it.

I act like Im on laughing gas when Im extremely tired

So I was happy because idk

But I also wanted to cry because idk

The room was spinning and whenever I walked I was afraid I was going to pass out and or throw up.

It was a fun experience I swear.

But they were serving these chick-fil-a (gag) breakfast sandwiches at the front desk and I was so hungry I didnt care.

At least it wasnt MTC food ahem

So I went with Hermana Timm to get a sandwich and as we were passing the people still standing in line this red-neck guy stopped to us and immediately passive aggresively started bashing on Mormons. We cleared up again that no, we are not pylgamists, and no our families dont usually have 10 kids.

And then he kept rambling about some guy who was a Mormon who was his idol because he made guns to shoot birds and what not and judged us hardcore for being Mormons and not having a single clue who he was...

Hermana Timm was so nice and friendly about everything. I literally just sat back and ate my chick-fil-a sandwich and pretended that I was interested in the conversation.

His son and his friend looked so sorry for us. They all looked like they could be from Duck Dynasty and they were headed to Argentina for bird hunting.

Apparently thats a thing

And then I learned later from the Mission President that a lot of the birds here are endangered and I nearly fainted

"Is Your Hair Real?"

So Hermana Ahlmers hair gets a lot of attention haha. She was standing in line at Chick-fil-a to get something for dinner and she was talking on the phone with her parents when this cute african american girl with the deepest southern accent reached over and starterd touch Hermana Ahlmers hair. 

"Im sorry but is your hair real. Can touch it?" 

haha she was so loud that she was basically yelling into the phone. I wonder what Hermana Ahlmers family thought about that ha!

And then she saw our name tags in spanish and she said "I dont mean to sound ingnorant but yall from a America?"

haha I died!

¡Bienvenidos a Argentina!

So thankfully I slept almost the entire flight to Argentina. When we arrived to Buenos Aires, we stayed the night in a hotel. It was my last sleepover with Hermana Timm and Ahlmer :( But we stayed up almost the entire night laughing and talking and the next morning we went back to the airport and flew to Bahia Blanca.

There we met our cute Mission President and Wife, Presidente y Hermana Cifuentes. 

And I got my new trainer!

Her name is Hermana Nomellini and I love her! Shes from California and goes to school and BYU-I which Im stoked about! 

Also Josh guess what!

She has a brother named Josh too!

And her brother is serving in the Rome Italy mission!

Hermana Nomellini and I are basically the same person haha!

My first are is Miramar which is very close to Mar del Plata. 

Later today we get to go to the beach!

First Impressions of Argentina

1. DOGS. Dogs are every where. In the streets, in yards, on the roofs, you name it. A dog is there. Bahia Blanca is population 2,563,233. Of dogs. 

I am in dog heaven except I dont want to touch the icky ones

But seriously, Argentina loves their dogs.

Like there is a place to buy dog food on every corner and the people feed dogs off their porch like my Mom feeds birds.

So a lot of them are actually kind of fat

No dog goes hungry here haha

2. The birds sound evil here like the evil flying monkeys in the wizard of oz

3. Flowers bloom year round :)

4. The bread is waaaay good pray for me

5. The cookies are even better sos

6. Complete strangers will kiss you. (Watch out for the cute grandmas! They can give slobery ones or sometimes I walk away rubbing lipstick off my cheek haha)

7. Jaywalking is perfectly legal and its weird if you use the cross walks

8. People have really nice cars and tvs here but their houses are run down.. I dont get it haha

9. The either look Italian, German, or what you would expect a South American to look like. The ones who look Italian literally sound like they are speaking Spanish in an Italian accent and for some reason they are the easiest for me to understand

10. But I understand close to nothing haha

11. Everone has a motorcycle

12. Miramar reminds me a lot of Kona, Hawaii. Except its freaking cold here and people decorate their driveways with trash

13. Thankfully, the bus ride to Miramar was pretty first world, didnt smell indigineous, or have a single crate of chickens like I feared

14. Buenos Aires looked like Rome and Sacramento combined, South American style.

15. The bathrooms have budaes here

16. If people dont want to talk to you, they wont. You can be in the same car as them or look them straight in the eye and say hi and they will ignore you

17. But if they love you, they really love you. We are not allowed to eat with members and so we are sent home with all kinds of stuff. Store bought cookies, bags of flour, etc. They are super givey and they LOOOVE to talk. And the older they are, the more they have to say hah.

18. Some people live in houses that are really nice like what you and I have

19. Some people literally live in houses with dirt floors

20. Its perfectly normal to see tractors driving in the street, I feel like Im back in Lake Point

21. The most exoctic animal you can see are horses, pigs, and goats. Still feel like Im in Lake Point.

22. They put their trash in cages that are on a post like a mailbox

23. Or you can put your trash in the street in a dirt pile. Thats just as fine too

24. Mate looks like grass in a cup of water. No thank you please.

25. But even though Im still getting used to everything here... I LOVE ARGENTINA!!!!

Thats all I have time for this week...

LES AMO!!!

VOY A SERVIR EN ARGENTINA!

Guys, guys, guys, guys! I have two pieces of the greatest news!

1. This morning I pet a dog!!! On our way to the temple there was this lady walking her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (yes I want one) and I about DIED. I felt bad for the other Hermanas watching me as I made my baby voice and got down on the ground and petted this dog. Guys he was so cute! (Mom and dad... he was soooooo cute, and friendly and wanted to climb in my lap and cute. hint hint wink wink) I haven't even seen a dog since I left for the MTC. I'm dog deprived. I miss my Rusty cuddles.

I feel like it's mean joke that I'm going to a country where there are going to be dogs everywhere but they're all going to be strays and gross and I'm not allowed to to touch them.

sigh

esta bien estoy bien

anyways

2. I got my travel plans!!! We are all so stoked! I feel lucky because we leave at 8:50 in the morning on Monday and everyone else leaving the MTC leave at 3:50... blegh. I feel blessed. 

Heads up Mom and Dad + Fam if you all want to get together on Monday because I get to call you guys yay!

(I'll try not to cry)

We leave from SLC airport to Georgia, then straight from Georgia all the way to Buenos Aires, Argentina. That's about 18 hours I think. Then from there we get to take a sketchy six hour bus ride to Bahia Blanca... Pray for me that it won't be as sketchy as I'm imagining in my head.

God bless America

I'll miss it here (especially the English... ha)

Massages Strike Again!

So if we are late to class we have to do a "door approach" and knock on the classroom door like we're legit knocking on doors in the field. Our teachers act like investigators and we have to try and get them interested about the gospel and set up an appointment with them.

Well on Monday, Elder Schiess and Hamblin were late so they had to do the door approach with Hermana Skidmmore! Ha!

And so they knock on the door and Hermana Skidmore barely cracked open the door and very timidly said, "hola?"

Now, I wish you all could know Elder Schiess because I just want you to just hear his voice when he said, "hola Hermana, como esta? Tenemos un massage para usted que puede cambiar su vida para siempre."

Hermana Skidmore was shaking from trying not to laugh.

Just picture a giant 12 year old with an 18 year old's voice (and you've pretty much pictured Elder Schiess) saying "hello sister, how are you? We have a massage for you that can change your life forever."

Hermana Ahlmer and I lost it. 

Mensaje!

Not Massage!

Been there, done that!

"Those were on the Floor!"

So we are a bunch of rule breakers and we bring food and candy into the classroom when we're not supposed too... I'll admit that Hermana Skidmore and Hermano Roberts have caught me more than once mid bite into an apple, rice krispie, quesadilla, etc and then I shamefully say "this isn't what it looks like" and I'm shamefully sent into the hall. 

Side note: I find it crazy that all of our maestros are our age??? Like literally we would all have gone to high school together!

Anyways, some brought a box of Lemonheads into the classroom. While the Hermanas were away, Elder McCoy tipped the box over and ALL of them spilled onto the floor. He picked them all up and put them back into the box and told the rest of the elders to let the Hermanas eat them. Good thing I don't like lemonheads.

But we didn't know this (except for Hermana Timm who somehow caught wind of the Elders' shenanigans) and Hermana Ahlmer was eating them almost all day. 

Finally Hermana Timm noticed and she yelled "Why are you eating those? Those were on the floor!"

I wish you could have seen Hermana Ahlmer's face when she opened her mouth and like five lemonheads rolled out and she looked like she wanted to cry and then die. I did die.... Of Laughter! Trust me if you have seen the carpet here, you would want to cry and die too if you accidentally ate something off the floor. 

I Just Like Being A Missionary idk

I really need to write a list of things that happened over the week because I'm just scratching my head about other things. Pero esta bien.

I never really pictured myself being head over heels in love with being a missionary but I totally am! From the moment I got set apart, I had just have had this special feeling that has never left. I'm just always happy... Well I still have my ups and downs but for the most part it's all good. 

But for some reason being a missionary feels like being a kid. We don't have anything to entertain ourselves besides each other so we've made up a bunch of games to play with each other when we should be studying... hehe.

This week like every night we just totally lose all focus and we all talk and joke around and then cheeks and sides hurt from laughing so hard. My district are all like best friends with each other. Hermana Skidmore told us that she gets comments from other maestros that have taught us that our district is "muy gracioso." Seriously though, we have the hardest time focusing because we just talk... 

Elder Schiess: "Okay guys, it's personal study time. Let's be quiet for 20 minutes."

2 minutes later.

Elder Schiess: "Hey do you guys want to hear about my dream last night?"

Our Final Lesson with Diana

We had our final lesson with Diana last week which was muy diferente because it was over skype because she was on vacation in Arizona... I was way sketched out about it though because we taught a member over skype and it mostly just consisted of us just laughing awkwardly and having no idea what to say and when we speak in Spanish she would hold up a sign written in English: "I can't understand you."

Well I can't understand me either!

...

Anywayyyys... I was so shocked by how strongly I felt the spirit during that lesson. She told us last time she didn't go to church AGAIN even though she pinky swore. We felt the need that we needed to talk about Joseph Smith, and when we did Diana asked why God helped him translate the entire book of Mormon and he showed himself to him when he couldn't help her learn English...

Well Shoot.

Now that I think about it, it was seriously amazing by how smoothly the entire thing went without us speaking perfect spanish. The Spirit works miracles you guys.

But after we tried explaining to her that prophets were called of God to fulfill his work and they were given priesthood power to do so, we just realized that what she was REALLY struggling with the fact that she hadn't received an answer to her prayers about the church yet. 

And something really weird happened during that lesson.

It was like we hit pause on what we were teaching and I asked her, "Diana, do you want to know about the Church of Jesus Christ?"

She seemed a little taken aback and then she thought about it and said "sí"

And then Hermana Ahlmer asked her "Do you feel like the things that we are teaching you are important?" And she thought about it and answered yes again.

And then we told her that she has to act if she feels this way.

It was kind of a blur after that. But all I know is that we bore our testimony over and over again about the Book of Mormon. We told her that if she read it everyday and sincerely prayed, and attended church she would recieve an answer. We also told her that as she came closer to Christ through reading the book of Mormon, her life would change for the better and she could feel the spirit. We read scriptures together and it was a miracle to me to see the spirit touch her over skype. You guys... She started crying!

It was so special to see her so touched by the things we said to her. We read the last two paragraphs of the introduction of the Book of Mormon with her and we promised her through the Book of Mormon, all of her questions and trials would be answered. 

It was the coolest experience. Hermana Ahlmer and I hugged and teared up after we finished praying and turned off skype.

We didn't know then but that would be the last time we spoke to her.

I really hope her life will continue to change as she reads the book of Mormon.

I hope all of you are reading your libros de Mormon back at home!

Praise to the Man

So we sang in the MTC choir for the last time last night. We sang "praise to the man" and it was the best song I think to leave the MTC with in our hearts. I don't think the choir has ever been so full (we had like 500 missionaries come in last week) or ever sounded so powerful...

Or maybe I'm just saying that because I had a mini high school reunion and sat with Abbey Morrison. I love hearing her sing, she has the most beautiful voice. But she sat on my right side and now I'm a little deaf in my right hear... Pero esta bien, estoy bien. 

But the song really made me think of how special the prophet Joseph Smith truly was. I think I remember a quote somewhere that said that there has been no other person like Joseph Smith in the world who sacrificed and did so much for the world EXCEPT for Jesus Christ.

Now as a missionary, I'm just beginning to see just how important it is to know Joseph Smith to be truly converted to the gospel. Because if the Book of Mormon is true, then he was a true prophet. If Joseph Smith was a true prophet, then the Book of Mormon is true. So there's that.

Also lately I've been saying "Jesu Smith" when I'm trying to say "Jose Smith" in Spanish... so I'm just going around talking about "Jesus Smith"... Hopefully I'll cut that habit out before I get to the field.

Holy smokes! The next time I email I'll be on the other side of the world!! I bet I'll have TONS to tell you then!

Also Mom I have been getting your packages! I've been trying to send you emails personally but I'm not sure if you're getting them? I hope so!

Entonces, hasta proxima semana cuando estoy en Argentina!

Wish me luck!

Estudiando en la Noche

(Studying in the night)

Missionary illusions

Does someone have an idea???

​The double chin is real, but the arm holding up my hair that isn't mine also isn't mine. 

... But other than that idk about this pic

Quotes of the Week

"Look what the Spirit dragged in."

...

that's all I got.

See you on the other side of the world!

Simply Beautiful

If you've ever heard that the mission is a time warp... You've heard right! I'm leaving the MTC in a week and a half for ARGENTINA! Holy shininkies! How did that happen? We're getting our flight plans this Friday and I don't know whether to be happy because the food here is just plain horrible (missionary mom's who send packages of healthy snacks saves lives) or sad because I love the MTC. Don't know why, but I just love it here. Such a peaceful happy feeling here and estoy muy agradecido por la oportunidad tengo estar aqui :)

So this weeks email is going to be short and sweet... Enjoy!

Give us your Children!

So remember how I had dinner with the MTC president and totally did not who he was? And now whenever we see him at devotional Elder Hamblin looks over at me at says "Hey Hermana, that's the MTC president. Did you know that?" or "Hey Hermana Davidson, where do you think he's serving? Here at the MTC?"

...

Well if you didn't know that, now you do. I just roll with it. It's a chiste. Esta bien.

BUT

I've almost been let off the hook.

almost.

Hermana Ahlmer and I were teaching one of the teachers here last Wednesday night... Rewind to a couple weeks ago. Remember when I accidentally told this guy we had a "massage" for him instead of "message." Well yeah this is the same maestro. Hermano Hicks. We all love him but whenever we teach something really embarrassing happens on our end.

Every time

Though this time it wasn't me! So to start off,  walked up to him pretending like we were talking to people on the street in Mexico again. We chatted for a bit, talked about where we were from and a lot awkward stuff (because let's face it... It's awkward when you speak in a foreign language and you're afraid of accidentally saying something borderline inappropriate... Trust me, I would know) when he said something about our hair.

"Pelo? Nuestra Pelo es rubia?" 

We had noooo idea what he was saying. He said some more things that just made us more confused and then we heard the word Nazi. Hermana Ahlmer and I looked at each other and then at him and asked him in english, "Did you just call us Nazis because of our hair???"

He got flustered over that and said some more things.

But we just asked why he thought we were Nazis he just waved his hands said "never mind."

so there's that. We're already off to a great start. (I feel like Uncle Richard would appreciate the Nazi story... I haven't forgotten my promise that I would keep an eye out for Hitler in Argentina... Should I even be saying this as a missionary???)

Anywho... Things get worse. Will first, better, and then worse. So we talked to him about his life, found out he was married with two kids but he and his wife were thinking about getting a divorce which made him muy triste. We told him that we had a message with him that could help his marriage and he was totally down and we all got excited that everything was going so well and we set up a fake appointment in the morning when Hermana Ahlmer said, "Da su hijos tambien!"

I almost lost it.

The maestro got a real concerned look on his face. "Quieren mis hijos?"

At this point I couldn't stop Hermana Ahlmer from saying, "Sí, sí! Quieremos su hijos en la mañana!" 

At this point I was dying on the inside.

And then he said something like "No pienso." And shook his head.

And then I lost it.

I felt horrible but Hermana Ahlmer was soooo confused and I just sat there laughing so hard tears were a rollin' down my face. And then Hermano Hicks started busting up too.

"Doesn't dar mean to bring?" She asked me.

"No, dar means to give. Traer means to bring!"

So allow me to translate the convo for you. I have a feeling google translate won't do it justice.

Hermana Ahlmer after we made plans to meet with him in the morning: "Give your children also!"

Hermano Hicks: "You want my kids?"

Hermana Ahlmer: "Yes, yes! We want your kids in the morning!"

Hermano Hicks: "No I don't think so."

Lost in translation.

I thought I was going to pee when I told the Elders in our district later that night. I'm just grateful that my companion is like super chill so she thinks it's almost as funny as we do. 

Now I don't feel nearly as bad about my dinner with the president haha.

Mas Palabras Lost in Translation

Remember how I told you about that quote that said it takes 40,000 mistakes to learn a language? Well I'm not joking when I say that I'm probably already hit halfway here at the MTC.

Remember how I said that I may have accidentally said something inappropriate once or twice?

Welllll this week during our lesson with Diana, Hermana Ahlmer asked what "concept" was in Spanish so I made the dumb mistake of taking a whack at it and guess what it was and I said, "concepcion". Yeah it is what you think it is.

Diana immediately corrected me and said "concepto."

I was all like "oh okay."

And by the sorry look she was giving me it clicked in my mind what I had just said.

Then I was all like "ohhhhhhhhh oops okay."
Then we all just laughed awkwardly together.

And then Hermana Ahlmer saved the conversation. Bless her. Bless her.

"One by One"

So I had a hard time not telling you guys about this last week but since it happened yesterday I'm allowed to tell you about it Yay! So guess who we had speak at our devotional yesterday... drum roll please.... Elder Bednar!

This was especially special (say "especially special" over and over I just like it) because (Dad you're going to looooove this) he wrote a song and the first time it has ever been sung publicly was by your's truly (and pretty much the entire Provo MTC) last night. But guess who wrote the music? Paul Cardall. 

Yes it was perfect.

Yes I may have stolen the paper handouts of the song we sang. It's so sweet! Look for it in next months new Era!

Besides the song, the talk was exactly what I needed to hear. I don't know why, but yesterday was really hard on me. I'm kind of a worry wort. But I don't worry about things hardly at all like "haha I haven't paid my 10 dollar copay at the doctors and it's been three weeks haha it's fine." So when I do worry, I worry about EVERYTHING and yesterday was one of those days. I just had so many questions I had prayed would be answered in that talk and I was so surprised to find that all of my questions were answered all at once with the same answer.

"Christ knows you as one person. He knows you by name. You are in His hands. You can do this!" It was perfect! And then there was this one part where he said "Let's see what happens" and I almost did a happy dance because that's something I write in my journal all the time to remind myself not to worry about the future but just enjoy time as it comes and goes. 

So basically... I'm just happy.

I feel extremely lucky to be apart of such an important work. We are here not by coincidence, but by inspiration. Every person that I have met from my companion, district, maestros, and from the people I will meet have been simply inspired. It's so exciting to be a missionary because we have the sweet privilege of helping people change their lives for the better by coming unto Christ.

Example.

Our Latest Lesson with Diana

This week we had another lesson with Diana. Hermana Ahlmer and I have been really worried that she isn't really been accepting our invitations or that we haven't been making much of an impact on her life.

Well we were right about the first part.

We invited her to go to church and she told us she would, buuuut she did what all of us want to do and stay home and sleep. We acted super disappointed, but she pinky promised that she would go next week. 

Diana was super late to the lesson, so we only had time to answer one question she had. She noticed that her LDS roomates didn't eat anything on Sunday and so dun dun dun we talked about fasting. It was so cool to talk about it and share our testimonies that we knew that prayers can be answered through fasting.

Then we asked her if any of her prayers have been answered. 

So now we find out we were wrong about the second part I mentioned earlier.

Diana immediately perked up and she told us that she usually loves her math class, but the other nght she had the hardest time doing her homework. She was so frustrated and mad, but she remembered that we had told her that we can ask for help from our Heavenly Father. And so she prayed. And guess what?

She told us it was answered! She immediately felt peace and calm and was able to finish her homework like a breeze. 

You seriously have no idea how badly Hermana Ahlmer and I needed to hear that. I have never felt such a simple joy!

Simply Beautiful

Something that I have come to learn is that everything about the gospel is simple. It's the simple things in life that really add up to something beautiful. Like that one scripture I can't remember where, "By small means, great things come to pass." It's so true.

Just like how 17 questions I had were answered all at one "Don't worry about it, I've got you"- the Spirit. Just how a simple prayer by our investigator was answered made us feel like we were on cloud nine. I just love the simplicity of it all haha. When teaching we keep things simple. I remember a quote from an apostle you said "The gospel is simple. Don't overthink it. Think simply." I just love it. From whatever prospective you have of the gospel, it is just full of so much love. Everything about it. We are just so loved. It's just simply beautiful :)

Entonces, That is pretty much all for this week! I'm excited to share new language fails with you next time which is dun dun dun my last P-day here! Wha the What? Esta loco pero esta bien!

Also BIG shout out to Drew and Sheri and the rest of Penrod fam for the package! My district loved the Baby Ruth's and Twix bars and I may have or may have not eaten half the loaf of homemade bread in one night... What? The food makes me want to cry here SOS.

Also thank you Teresa for the Dear Elders! I read them every night and I die of happiness to read the little notes by Jake and Aiden. I love my nieces and nephews so much and I love to hear from them!

Also Nate, Elder Mccoy in my district is basically you. So I basically have my brother in my same district so I'm basically really stoked about it. 

Tiene una buena semana!

Quotes of the Week

"Hermana Davidson runs like she's dancing." - All of zone 28 during kickball

(When Elder Knickerbocker opened a package full of socks with the Army of Helaman on them)

"Elder, if you wore those socks during gym you would never lose a game of four square!" - 

Elder Hamblin

"My mom is so cute." - Elder Schiess

"Como?" - Hermano Roberts x47 a day and we hate it.

"Gracias mi homies!" - Hermano Parker

Don't be afraid to Open your mouth and be Churchie

So I hope I don't disappoint anyone with this weeks letter because this week was not as exciting as the last... It's seriously going to be hard to top the cereal eating contest.

​I was actually happy about it I swear but do you see that stack of bowls on one tray??? That was just one Elder who ate that OMG dead.

Hermana Keyser got some cereal for dinner on Sunday night and I nearly lost it pero esta bien.

So I'm going to try and think of anything that might have happened that I haven't mentioned yet...

Fruit on Our Faces

So this happened the other day...

I fell off the bed shortly after this was taken so lol.

I blame Hermana Frandsen. But after you work out you get hot and the girls rooms are always heated (which I'm grateful for) but not after exercise because it's so hot. Yeah you could argue to just go take a shower but we only shower when we reeeaaallly need to because we don't have enough time to be anything but disgusting hahahaha... ha. Anyways, the best alternative was putting fruit on our faces because it feels nice and cold for some scientific reason that I can't explain. Maybe I should ask Hermana Keyser.

My Dinner With the President

So one night for dinner we sat down with this friendly senior couple. We've sat with other senior couples before so it wasn't unusual. We were chatting and stuff when I made the mistake of asking, "so where are you guys serving?" Immediately I knew I asked a stupid question because the sister looked at her husband with a really surprised face and Elder Schiess and Elder Hamblin were looking from between me and each other like "Is sheserious???"

"We're serving here," the man said.

"At the MTC?"

"We're the MTC President and Wife." President Burgess said.

Ohhhhhh myyyy goshhhhh. Never have I ever apologized so much! Why didn't I look at their name tags that cleary said who they were ahhh.

In my defense though, I knew there was an MTC president but never heard his name or see his picture and I sit so far away from him during devotionals because I'm in choir. So. Yeah. 

But they were so nice about it but I didn't talk very much the rest of the dinner. Everytime we see them now Elder Hamblin is like "hey Hermana Davidson! Where do you think those two are serving?" haha I think it's hilarious now. But I'm NEVER going to live this one down in the district. 

Diana

So this week we got a real life investigator this week. At least I'm 99.99% sure she's legit. They just never tell you so you're always on your toes. Her name is Diana and we don't know her but we love her. She is from Ecuador and she came to BYU for school and her cousin (who is LDS) is here. She wants to know more about the church and our first lesson was pretty good I think. I can understand everything she was saying except for little words here and there that I've never heard of. It's just speaking that is really hard. Diana really wanted to know why Mormons don't drink coffee and tea and Hermana Ahlmer tried so so so so hard to explain. But she accidentally said "coffee and tea isn't bad for you, we just don't drink it," and then I made it worse by saying "sometimes weird things are asked of us but we just do it" and soooo yeah. A lot of things were lost in translation there.

But at one point she asked us why Hermana Ahlmer and I are here and it was so cool to watch her reaction as we told her how much we loved the gospel to say "adios" to our families for a year and a half and learn a new language and live in a foreign country. She grew up Catholic and so she only knew recited prayers out of the bible. We invited her to pray with us and that was probably the coolest experience. Hermana Ahlmer warned her it might be weird at first because it was something new for her and she seemed really sketched out at first. But the spirit was so strong and I tried to really focus on her needs and I asked Heavenly Father (I was the one praying) to please bless her and her family in the very little spanish I know. After you could see how touched she was by those words and guys it's just so cool to witness right before your eyes people who haven't recognized the spirit before really start to feel it.

... Kay I made it sound like the first lesson went smoothly buuuut truthfully it didn't. The spirit was strong, you just learn something about yourself and the way you teach that you can work on to be better with each lesson. We are pumped to get back in there and answer her questions much much better haha! And bring a follshetto... Darn it!

The Church is True!

So Hermana Ahlmer and I had one of the coolest experiences with our studies in preparation for our lesson with Diana. During personal study, I first started with stuff I had planned the night before to study for our fake investigator (our maestro, Hermano Parker) which was about the Plan of Salvation and I couldn't focus and I was really struggling on the inside to follow the Spirit. It just felt wrong. So finally I gave up and prayed again to ask for help to know what I should study for and for whom.

Immediately the first thought that came to my mind was Diana. It was weird because our lesson for her wasn't scheduled until a few days later and we had lesson with Antonio that night. But I went with it and I really felt like I should study about prophets in "Predicad Mi Evangelio" (preach my gospel). Out of curiosity, I looked over at what Hermana Ahlmer was doing and she was reading the exact same thing. Hmmmmmm...

And then after I had studied up on that I felt like I should look at one of the books I was told to bring but I seriously have never looked at it. I looked at the index and immediately Articles of Faith caught my eye. I started studying those and I looked over again and Hermana Ahlmer was reading them too. Was she copying me or something?

During companionship study, we started off by looking at each other with really weird looks. Hermana Ahlmer told me that she had a personal prayer just like mine and felt like she should study the same things I did and she noticed the same things too! Agghhh my mind was blown! We never discussed studying these things before our personal studies and none of us even thought to. The Spirit works in such cool ways and I love it because we had a lesson planned for Diana that we otherwise had not planned at all because of our lack of time if we hadn't followed the spirit. 

I couldn't help but say, "This is too crazy. The church is true!" It's the little things that really solidify my testimony :). 

Adios Elder... Uh, Quien???

So weird/funny/awkward/cool story. I made friends with this Polynesian Elder in our building from California that I still don't know his name. I don't even know why we became friends it just sort of happened. We just said "Que pasa" during break and then we had our own special handshake that we kept up until he left on Monday. He had our district take a picture with him on Sunday (he was friends with our whole district) and that was that... Whoops. Guys I just want to be good with names! Actually, I'm not even sure if anyone in our district remembers his name either hehe. At least I knew the name of his companion, Elder Barrett. I always asked him "Donde esta su companero?" (where is your companion) every time I saw him because he hated it so I of course loved it. You guys, it's so fun making friends at the MTC and you don't even have to know who they are haha!

Me Companero Toca Mi...

Soooo this really isn't my story but I struggle not to laugh every time I think of it. So we had this audio exam on the computers the other day which was super awk.... We had to talk into this little microphone and answer these questions in spanish so it went just about as good as you could imagine. I ended up just saying "uhhhhhh" and laughing with little bits and pieces of spanish here and there so there's that. 

But Elder McCoy (in our district) had this question that asked him to tell a funny story that happened in the MTC. All what he said was "uhhhhh Me companero toca me - WAIT. What am I saying? NO." and that was all he said for an answer and we're expecting him to get pulled out of class sometime to be questioned because "me companero toca me" means "my companion touches me." Haha misionero chistes!

Mas Misionero Chistes

So speaking of more misionero chistes, Elder Knickerbocker this week told Hermano Roberts that he was "embarrassado"... Which I thought everyone knew meant "pregnant" but I guess for once I know something the Elders didn't. So now all the elders walk around telling everyone that they're pregnant.

Things Elders Say

"I had a dream last night that Hermana (anonymous) and I got married and I was mad about it."

"From the moment we first met, I knew you were cool and that we would be partners for life." - anonymous

"Why are you only eating salad?"

"Yeah the food here is gross but food is food so I'm eating as many burgers as I can cuz I just love food."

"Hey you straightened your hair today."

"Why didn't you curl your hair today?"

"How often do you wash your hair?"

"Do you cut your own hair?"

"Your hair looks like a greek goddess."

...Elders are obsessed with hair idk. Hermana Ahlmer thinks it's because they miss their long hair that they had  to chop off before they came here. By the way, not all these things were about me haha.

Beware of the Smells

Here at the MTC... There are smells I just can't explain. And they're all gross. One moment you're fine and then you smell something like llama green spit (trust me... I KNOW) and you think you're going to die. But trust me... NOTHING is as bad as the tray drop off. It smells like rotten fish mixed in with dirty laundry. The sisters and I get the elders popsicles so that they will dump our trays for us if we feel sicker than usual from the food.

If you are coming to the MTC... You've been warned!

I KNEW It Was Going to be Me

So every Sunday we have to write a talk in Spanish and I just felt like I should make a special effort on mine. We don't know who is going to be picked to speak until sacrament meeting when they announce it so everyone feels way nervous until after sacrament. The moment I finished I said "it's going to be me" and Elder Schiess said "Yeah it's going to be you" and guess what? It was me.

And I KILLED it. Haha. I'm just saying that because I literally said in the beginning of my talk "I usually start with a joke but I don't know how to joke in spanish but it's okay" and everyone laughed. I didn't even mean for it be funny. Maybe I said something that got lost in translation again idk. But I did a crown braid with my hair that day and seriously think that my hair was the reason why I got picked on. Pero esta bien.

Open Your Mouth

One of the biggest things I've been learning here is to not be afraid to open your mouth and speak. I get timid in speaking spanish because it's sooooo hard to really say what I want with what little I know. But it's sooooo important to speak anyways. We know enough to get our point across, all what matters is if we're not afraid to make mistakes and speak when we feel prompted to. Sometimes I'm afraid to sound too... churchie. If you get what I mean. But I'm a missionary now. Being churchie is what I do for a full-time job that I don't get paid for haha. I kind of had a cool experience with this the other day.

We were having member TRC's where we go talk to members of the church in spanish. Our goal is just to really get to know them and share something with them that is uplifting according to their needs. We talked to this one couple - Actually, scratch that. Hermana Ahlmer talked to this one couple while was inwardly at war with myself on whether I should share this scripture or not. 

Somehow, the wife's deceased parents kept coming up. She was a convert and her parents died as catholics and never accepted any teachings of the LDS faith. I could tell this was hard on her, and I remember I had found a scripture from my personal studies that had brought me comfort about someone I know when I had read it. I have started making these little scripture key in a book where I organize different scriptures that answer different questions. One of my sections are scriptures on comfort and I don't know why I hesitated in sharing the scripture but I was. But I couldn't get the scripture out of my head. I looked at my book and exactly below this scripture was another one I had written down with the description "don't be afraid to speak because Heavenly Father is with you."

Immediately Hermana Ahlmer asked if I had anything to share and I knew that I should share Mormon 9:8. I don't know why, but the wife seemed to be really touched by this scripture and I knew I had done the right thing. Poor Hermana Ahlmer was so confused because I had never shared this scripture with her and she tried to hurry and look it up and read it in her english scriptures and she either read the verse wrong or read the wrong thing because she was so confused why the wife was tearing up and calling the scripture beautiful haha. I explained it better to her after haha.

I hope everyone can learn from this that if you feel like you should share something with someone... Open your mouth! Don't be afraid to be churchie! You receive those promptings for a reason so follow it and just sit back and watch the amazing things that will unfold before you. :)

So I hope this letter was as good as everyone has been telling my letters have been. I feel like I have a crowd to please. Oh, I hope my group emails have been making it onto my blog okay. 

Also, Teresa you are the best person! I have absolutely loved getting your dear elders. It was such a comfort to me to hear that your fam back at home have been praying for me in your espanol prayers. I seriously teared up when I read that for the first time I was so touched. 

So sibs... If you want a special shout out... Dear Elder me. 

But seriously, thanks for everyone's emails and love and support! Te amo!

Quotes of the Week

"Hermana Ahlmer's hair is like a fountain of spewing milk." - Hermana Knopf

"No enfocense Hermana Davidson No! No make a funny."-Elder Schiess about something I'm still confused about.

"I used to throw up from my own farts." - Elder McCoy

(During closing prayer in the district one night)

Elder Schiess: "Hermana Keyser would you say the prayer?"

Hermana Timm: : "She said the opening prayer."

Hermana Keyser AND Elder McCoy at the same time: "I can say it."

Elder Hamblin looking and gesturing at Elder McCoy to say it: "Okay so Hermana Keyser will say it."

Elder McCoy: "Wait, what?"

Hermana Keyser: "I can say it."

Elder Schiess: "Okay so Elder McCoy will say it."

Elder Hamblin: "Who?"

Elder Schiess: "Let's just split the difference and have Hermana Davidson say it."

Hermana Ahlmer like he was talking about her: "Alright."

(everyone settles down but no one prays)

Me: "Who is praying, me or Hermana Ahlmer??"

(I ended up praying)

Elder Schopp: "I really like that kids shirt."

Elder Trapani: "I really like that kids shirt too."

Elder Schopp: "We should mug him."

(I start laughing)

Elder Trapani: "The funny part is that we're being serious."

Hermana Ahlmer and I after we had oranges for breakfast:

Hermana Ahlmer: "ugh, I've got oranges in my teeth."

Me: "I have oranges in my body."

Hermana Ahlmer: "... That made me uncomfortable."

To Abby and Katie... I make her uncomfortable ;)

Love you all!