I hope you all had a wonderful week full of spiritual experiences! 

This week was crazy and really fun! Sister Hardy (the STL) flew in from Bonaire for exchanges on Thursday and was supposed to leave on Friday morning, but then her flight got cancelled, so she spent Friday with us too! It was so fun to be back with her and to be in a trio with her and Sister Woodbury. We visited the Filiciana family (Sister Hardy and I were the ones to contact them and start teaching them) and they were so happy to see her! It was great for Sister Hardy to see them as a happy family who is strong in the Gospel. Having Sister Hardy there made me think back to what they were like when we first started teaching them, and wow, they have changed so much! I wrote President about it:
 We were able to see the Filiciana family that day, and they were so excited to see Sister Hardy again. Their whole family was together (David, Melissa, and their 3 kids), which Sister Hardy never saw when she was here. When we used to teach them, we were rarely able to teach David and Melissa together. With Sister Hardy there, I was able to remember and notice the difference they have made as a family and how the Gospel has truly changed their lives and their family for the better. They are together more now and they have more love in their home. We talked to them about their goal to go to the temple as a family this year, and they told us their "mini goals" that they have to reach the temple, such as reading the Book of Mormon and going to church every week.

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ truly does bless families, no matter what their circumstances are!

Another thing that happened when Sister Hardy was here: We had a lesson with an investigator at night in a neighborhood that isn't super safe and pretty sketchy. This neighborhood has lots of apartment building that are all 3 stories tall, and this investigator lives on the top floor. We normally lock our bikes to the staircase at the bottom, but there were some people playing dominoes right there, so we walked to the next apartment building to lock our bikes. Then we went up to our lesson, but he wasn't home. As we were walking down the staircase, we ran into him coming up the stairs! We were on the landing for the second floor (these staircases are outdoor) and we stopped to talk to him and reschedule with him. We decided to share a scripture with him, so Sister Woodbury pulled out her scriptures and started reading the scripture. I happened to be looking over at where our bikes were locked while she was doing this, and I saw someone trying to steal our bikes! I tried to point it out to Sister Hardy without making a big scene since Sister Woodbury was reading a scripture, but I wasn't very subtle and everyone looked when I pointed. Then our investigator said, "Someone's trying to take them, go, run!" So we started running down the stairs and over to the other apartment building and when we got there, he had run away and our bikes were still there. Mine was locked on the inside, so Sister Woodbury and Sister Hardy took theirs out first and then I went to get mine and saw that my lock had been cut! The only reason they couldn't steal is because it was on the inside and the other two bikes were locked to mine! That was such a tender mercy from the Lord. We were all so freaked out! Our investigator came over to make sure everything was good afterwards, so we were still able to share the scripture with him :) It was a crazy experience!

It has been really hot here recently and SUPER windy! There have been days where if we stop pedaling, our bikes almost immediately stop moving forward. It has been a really good workout! We also got a little bit of rain this morning, and I am hoping for more this week! The rain here is actually really cold, so it's so nice when it happens! 

A couple weeks ago I started studying Doctrine and Covenants and as I have been reading it, I have been thinking about how amazing it is that God still speaks with us today. We have ancient scripture, but as well we have modern scripture and revelation to help us in life! How cool is that! As I have read what the Lord said to Joseph Smith and others, it made me realize how loving our Father in Heaven is and how He wants us to have the truth in our lives. We are so blessed to have the scriptures and modern day prophets and apostles to lead and guide us, and we should never take that for granted! It is so easy to get caught up in life and everything we have going on, but I know that if we take time to study the words of the prophets, we will receive revelation and guidance for our lives and the Lord with bless us with the Spirit more abundantly.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! Les quiero! Mi ta stima boso!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

​A cool and creepy graveyard that we saw as we were riding our bikes. We stopped and read a little sign that was there and the first governor of Aruba is buried here! These graves are super old, from the 1700 and 1800's!

​Me, Angelica, Sister Hardy, Rocky (their dog), Melissa, David, Naomi, Juandavid, and Junior (a neighbor friend). One happy family!

​One of our investigator's daughters has the tiniest, cutest pet bunny!

Hello everyone!

Big news of the week: We have a new prophet! I hope you all got to see the broadcast of them announcing that President Russell M. Nelson is our new prophet, with President Dallin H. Oaks as first counselor and President Henry B. Eyring as second counselor. That was so exciting and hearing them speak was amazing! The Spirit was so strong, even all the way over here in Aruba. I know that President Nelson is truly the prophet of the Lord and that he will lead and guide us in these days, and if we listen to him, we will receive all the blessings that the Lord has in store for us.

So, I know that I have been telling you all about Juandavid and that his baptism was scheduled for this past Saturday, but unfortunately, the baptism didn't happen. We were waiting at the church for them to show up and they weren't coming. So a different set of missionaries rode over to their house to see what was going on and told us that David, Juandavid's dad, who was going to perform the baptism, said he felt strange and didn't want to baptize. They let Juandavid know that there were other men at church that could baptize him, but he said he only wants his dad to do it. So we had to tell everyone what happened and send them home...I was surprised at how nice they were about it! I thought they would all be frustrated with us, but instead they said, "Well that's how it goes sometimes, this isn't the first time it's happened." And they kept asking us if we were okay and if there was anything they could do to help. It was so sweet! We even had a member call us later that night and ask if we had recuperated from our no-show baptism, haha! We are not quite sure what is going on with David and the whole Filiciana family, but some of the Relief Society went to visit Melissa last night and we are going to see them on Tuesday. We are keeping them in our prayers!

Our other investigators are doing really well! We have met with Eduardo a lot this past week, and in our last lesson, we taught him about the Book of  Mormon and gave him his own. After we explained it, he said "This is my answer about why God would only talk to people in Jerusalem...now I know I was wrong! He talks with all His children!" It was such a great lesson and we are so excited to see him tonight!

Daniel, Nerwins, and Javier are doing really well! They love the Book of Mormon and we taught them about the Plan of Salvation last night. They loved that we can live with God and Jesus Christ and our families in the Celestial Kingdom and said they want to follow Jesus Christ so they can make it there one day. We invited to them to be baptized and they said they want to keep reading the Book of Mormon and praying so they can be 100% sure, but their testimonies are growing every time we visit and every time they read!

We had such a tender mercy from the Lord this week that I wrote about to President Egbert:

Even though this week was difficult, the Lord still blessed us with lots of tender mercies! One of these happened on a morning when our first appointment fell through. We were walking our bikes out of the neighborhood where we were, and happened to walk past the house of a former investigator, Jesus Antonio. We dropped him a few weeks ago because he wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon before he prayed about anything, but he wasn't putting in the effort to read. However, he loved learning about the gospel. When we passed by his house, he was outside working in his yard. This was such a blessing, because he is almost always at work during the day. We stopped to talk to him and he said that he has been reading the Book of Mormon (he is in Jacob) and he could remember the story so well and he loves it! He said he is learning so much. Because he had made this progression, we made an appointment with him for this week and are going to start teaching him again! This was such a blessing from the Lord that we were able to see him and that he has been doing so well on his own in these past few weeks. I know that even though things don't always work out the way we think they should (our appointment falling through), the Lord has His own, perfect plan (we talked to Jesus Antonio!). I am so thankful for the Spirit that guides our actions every day in this work!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Don't forget to read the Book of Mormon! Love you all tons!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

Our week here was really good too! We did a lot of contacting in our new contact area and met some awesome people (there was also a day when we contacted from 2 hours straight and got rejected at every house...but then we met someone awesome so it was worth it!). There was one day when we were walking on a street that is at the very edge of our contact area and that we hadn't been on before. The street is a really big, steep hill and we could tell from the bottom that the houses on it were really nice. As we were walking up the street, the houses kept getting bigger and nicer and it really looked like we were in a neighborhood in Beverly Hills! When we got to the top of the hill/street, we looked back and saw the ocean in the distance with palm trees and were surrounded by huge and expensive homes. It was a weird feeling, I felt like I was back in LA! There was even one part where we stopped in front of one of the big, fancy houses because we had to write something in our contact book and there was shade there. So we were standing there writing, and a maid in uniform came out of the house and said "I'm sorry, the lady of the house can't attend to you at the moment." Umm....what?! Haha the whole situation and area just felt way too fancy, but it was really fun to see all the nice houses! I'll have to take pictures next time.

Carnaval started last week on Sunday! It starts in Oranjestad with tons of parades and partying, but then moves down to San Nicholas (other side of the island) and mostly stays there for the rest of the time. It goes until Ash Wednesday. The missionaries down in San Nicholas have to be home early on the nights when there are parties and parades, because people go crazy and they hand out alcohol to everyone, it doesn't matter what age! There are some American members who are living here so the husband can go to med school, and they heard about the parades and thought it would be fun to take their little kids to go watch the parade. Well they got there, and realized that the parade floats were just open bars and anyone can walk up and there are bartenders that will make and give you a drink! Not quite the parades we're used to in the US...

We had some really great lessons with our investigators this week, they are all progressing really well! Daniel, Nerwins, and Javier (I think I've written about them before...they are 3 friends who are working here while their families are in Venezuela. Also, Daniel looks exactly like a Latino version of Vin Diesel! I told him and he said he gets that a lot, haha!) are doing really well! They believe Joseph Smith was a prophet and they love the Book of Mormon. They each have their own copy and they all study it together and every time we go, they have lots of questions for us and lots of verses marked that they liked! They're awesome! Juandavid is going to be baptized this Saturday, by his dad, David! David received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday, we are so happy for him! He can't wait to baptize his son, he recites the baptismal prayer for us every day when we come by :). We also had a really cool experience with a new investigator this week:

This week, we had a really amazing experience while contacting. We had been rejected at every house we had contacted that evening, and were very discouraged. As we were walking down the street, we saw a man struggling to carry lots of garden supplies. We offered to help. He declined and said that he was almost home, but then asked what church we were from. We introduced ourselves and our message, and he asked if we give lessons and if we could visit him the next day! His name is Eduardo and we immediately set up an appointment with him. We saw him the next day and had a God lesson with him. He told us he wanted to learn more about God because his ex-girlfriend was really religious and always encouraged him to find God. He was baptized in the Catholic church as a baby, but never went because he lived far out in the country in Peru and his family had no way to get to the church. He told us he had never prayed before, but we taught him how and he said the closing prayer in the lesson. It was so beautiful! He said he felt really good as he prayed and he wanted to do it more. He came to church on Sunday and loved it because he loved seeing lots of families there and he liked that we talked about lots of different topics in the classes. He said he felt very peaceful there. Later that day, we were teaching him the first part of the Restoration, and out of nowhere, he asked, "I've always asked- If God is the Creator of everything and is all powerful and loves all His children, why would he only talk to the ones in Jerusalem with the Bible? Why wouldn't He send His gospel to other people on the other continents?" We were shocked when we heard this! We hadn't been talking about anything related to that, but he said it had been on his mind. We told him we have his answer and he is so interested in learning more.

This experience was so cool and Eduardo is so prepared! He has lots of great questions (like the one I shared) and already loves church! We are so excited to keep teaching him!

I love being a missionary and being able to have experiences like this! It is a once in a lifetime chance and I wouldn't change it for the world! I notice the hand of the Lord in my life so much and I am so thankful for all of the blessings He has given me and my family. Never forget that we are all missionaries and that the greatest joy comes from sharing the gospel!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

​Roasting marshmallows!

​Morning sky from our apartment window

​Juandavid and David!

Story time! So we bought ground beef a while ago and put it in the freezer, but then we wanted to use it, so we moved it to a drawer in the fridge to thaw. Well we looked in the fridge the next day and a ton of blood/other meat juices had leaked out into the drawer! There was so much of it! Our kitchen sink was too small, so the only other place we could think of was the shower...I dumped all the blood down the drain and then took the meat out and divided it into ziploc bags and now they are back in the freezer (and hopefully not going to leak again). The shower and fridge drawer got cleaned so well with a lot of cleaner and bleach after this!​

Hello family! How are you all? How was the first week of the new year?

This week (or past few days, since the last time I wrote was Wednesday) was really great and we had many spiritual experiences!

A quick update on our investigators and some new people we met this week:

One contact we made this week is a man named Calo. We met him on Saturday and invited him to church on Sunday and he came! He said it was a lot of new things, but he felt really good. We have an appointment with him this week. Another person we met is David. We talked to him on the street, and he invited us to teach him the next day. When we went, he was there with his wife, Anna. They are so amazing! They have such amazing faith in God, and they just got baptized into a Christian church last month. But they said talking to us felt like such a relief, and they were really eager to invite us back! I am excited to begin teaching these new investigators that we have met and to continue finding those who are ready for the Gospel! Our progressing investigators are doing well, too. Juandavid is still preparing for baptism on Jan. 20 and is doing really great. Leasbeth, unfortunately, has been really difficult to see. She was living with her kids and her parents, but she got in a fight with her father and has moved out to a different apartment. We are trying to get into contact with her, and she wants us to visit her, but she has been really busy with everything that is going on. We are hoping to see her this week. 

It was really sad to hear about Leasbeth, and we didn't even find out until we stopped by for an appointment and her mom told us what happened. We called and talked to her and she said she hasn't been able to read her Book of Mormon because she left in her car, which her dad took! So sad. So we told her we would bring her a new one and she got so happy! We are continuing to pray for her and her situation.

David and Anna, the contacts we made, are so cool! They are both Venezuelan but speak English fluently (I thought he was from the US when we met him). They are a young couple and they're both graphic designers. They're super artsy and fun! Our lesson with them was so cool, and I told President a little more about it:

As we were closing up the God lesson that we were having with them, Anna said she had a question that she's asked every church she's visited and she's never gotten a clear answer. I was super eager to hear her question after I heard that, and a little nervous! Her sister passed away from cancer a year ago, and she said she started wondering about the afterlife after that experience. She said she had always heard that people go to Heaven after they die, but she asked us, "Don't we have to wait until the judgment to go to Heaven?" We were super excited to hear that question, because we knew that we could give her the clear answer she wanted! We told her that we had her answer and explained a little, and let her know that we would teach more about it in the future. She is super excited to get her answer and we are excited to give it to her!

That lesson and experience was so cool! It is amazing to see how the Gospel can answer anyone's questions and how it can touch their lives in so many different yet personal ways. We are so blessed to have the knowledge that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have given us of the Plan of Salvation, the Book of Mormon, modern-day prophets, the Priesthood, the Atonement, etc. We could go on forever of how many blessings we have received through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it's amazing! I always took that for granted before, but now that I am able to see, meet, and talk to people every day who don't have that and who are looking for it, I realize how much of a blessing it is! We should always be thankful for that and be using the knowledge that we do have to bless our own lives, but more importantly, bless the lives of others. This Gospel is perfect and I know that Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us by name and has a plan for us!

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures (I was really bad at that this week, so I don't have many (again), so sorry!):

​We made a "fancy" lunch this week! Boiled carrots, mashed potatoes, and chicken cooked with complete seasoning and parmesean cheese. We had no idea what we were doing the whole time, but we kept throwing spices in everything and it turned out delicious! We were very proud! (I'm not sure why the second picture is upside down, sorry)

​❤

I hope your New Year's Eve was fun and you have been able to start off 2018 well!

Aruba started off the New Year on about December 28, with tons of fireworks! They have been going off night and day since that day. The most was on the 31st, of course. Sister Woodbury and I woke up the next day and the streets were COVERED in red firecracker paper! I'll attach a picture, but it doesn't do it justice. I couldn't believe how much there was! Aruba was really excited to welcome in 2018, I guess. We heard from lots of people that it's always this crazy, though. They love the new year!

In addition to fireworks every day, we have also been receiving rain every day! There are about 5-10 minute intervals where it absolutely pours and then it either stops completely and gets sunny, or lightens up to little mist for the rest of the day. It's been nice because the rain really cools down the temperature. I've even wished I had a sweater with me when we've been caught in the rain! That's a nice feeling, I haven't experienced that since being home.

An update on our investigators: Juandavid has a baptismal date for January 20th! He is so excited and loves reading the Book of Mormon every day! We also have another investigator, Leasbeth, on baptismal date for Feb. 17. I'm not sure if I've talked about her before but she loves this Gospel and is already sharing it with her friends! We checked up on her Book of Mormon reading after not having seen her for about 2 weeks and she's in Mosiah 20! She reads so much of it every day when she has free time. Even at work, where she works at a front desk, she said she reads it when there's no clients. We are so excited for her! We also have some fairly new investigators named Daniel and Nerwins. They are Venezuelan and are here working (their families still live in Venezuela). We taught them the Book of Mormon last night, and they are so excited to read it! When we talked about how we can receive an answer to our prayers through the Holy Ghost, Nerwins said, "But how do I know if it's the Holy Ghost? What will it feel like?" They want to know the truth so badly. We are really excited to keep teaching them and to see their progress!

We had transfer calls today, by the way! Nothing too exciting, Sister Woodbury and I are both staying in Aruba. I was so happy when I heard that, I love Aruba!

I hope you all made/are making goals for this new year! I have a couple and am still working on one more. President Egbert is encouraging us to make them individually, as a companionship, and as a district. Goals are so important, so don't forget to make them! Especially spiritual goals. They can really help us to increase our faith, testimonies, and Christlike attributes. If you're having difficulty reading the Book of Mormon, maybe you can make a goal to read however many pages every day so you can finish it by the end of the year! That's a goal that the Oranjestad branch is doing together this year.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Davidson

P.S. I just found out that President Monson passed away last night. So sad. But the amazing thing about the Gospel is that we know he is with his family and with God, and the Gospel here on earth will not stop, because Heavenly Father loves us and will call a new prophet to lead us!

Pictures (sorry I don't have too many this week!):

​A giant cactus we saw in the yard of a house in our contact area! These are pretty common here but not usually in people's yards.

​After being caught in a rain storm...it probably lasted about 7 minutes. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm SOAKED! The light parts of my skirt are dry because I was bent over riding my bike.

​The red firecracker paper. This is just the side of the street, but some of them are covered in it!

​A cool, modern-looking house in our contact area