A little cold to break up the heat... | February 26, 2018

February 26, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Hello family! I hope you all had a great week this past week!

Transfers were this week and Sister Cole arrived here on Wednesday. She is amazing! I love her so much! We have been working really hard and she has taught me a lot already! She is really great at contacting, and we had lots of time to do that this week, so we have been meeting some really cool people recently and having awesome lessons with them right there during the contact. I can't wait for the next 6 weeks that we will have together!

This week was great! I got pretty sick with a cold, which hasn't been too fun. But I woke up this morning feeling less congested and achy than I have the past few days, so that's a good sign! Lots of tea, soup, and sweatshirt-wearing has been doing the trick, I think.

As I mentioned, we didn't have too many lessons this week (lots of them fell through), so Sister Cole and I were able to contact a lot. We had one day where we were contacting a street and almost everyone in every house we called into came out and was super nice and interested! That was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord, as some parts of our contact area right now haven't been as successful.

I've been reading Jesus the Christ for the past little while, and I just recently read this week about Christ's resurrection. It was so great to read about that hopeful, happy event after reading about all the terrible things he went through at the hands of the Romans. One thing that I really loved from it is when James E. Talmage talked about his appearance to Mary Magdalene. She was so sad that the Lord's body had been taken away, and when Christ asked her why she was weeping, she didn't realize it was Him, but thought it was the gardener and begged him to tell her where the body was. The only thing Christ said to her after that was her name, "Mary," and she looked up and immediately knew it was the Lord. I was thinking about the joy, relief, and love that Mary Magdalene must have felt in this moment when she heard Christ's voice calling her name and realized that he was alive. Do we know Christ well enough that we would recognize Him if he just called out our name? If we study His life and teachings and apply them in our lives (which is the most important part), then we will definitely feel that joy by coming to know that our Savior lives and is always there by our side to help us.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your wonderful examples that you are to me and for the love and support you give me! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Davidson

P.S. It rained almost every day this week! It was awesome because it cooled it down a lot. We had heard that rainy season was over, so we were pleasantly surprised to get caught in a lot of tropical rainstorms...they definitely cooled us off while contacting!

Pictures:

Sister Cole and I on Sunday❤

Selfie with pastechis! (it was her first time trying them!)

I guess electrical cords work as leashes too...?

Iguana on a roof!

0 comments:

Transfer calls... | February 19, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Hi family! We got transfer calls this week and...I'm staying in Aruba! Woo hoo! I love it here, so I am super happy. Sadly, Sister Woodbury is getting transferred to Curacao :( But Sister Cole will be my new companion! We came into the field at the same time, so I got to know here when we were both in the mission home. She is so sweet, I'm really excited to get to work with her for the next little bit! She flies in on Wednesday.

This week was another great one! On Valentine's Day, the branch had a little family home evening activity and talked about the love of God, it was so cute! Unfortunately, none of our investigators could come, but they are planning on doing these FHE's every other week, so we are hoping to have some at the next one!

We had a really interesting lesson this week with a new investigator and his friend. We met this man, Dr. Gopa, while contacting. He teaches at the nearby medical school and seemed open to hearing our message. We went back this week for our lesson and he was there with a fellow professor, so we taught them both. They are both from India, living here temporarily while they teach. They are also both Hindu, and they said they didn't know "ABC about Christianity," and were hoping to learn more from us. We gave a brief introduction about God and who He is, as well as Jesus Christ, and then we were able to hear about their beliefs and the culture of Hinduism. It was so interesting! Neither Sister Woodbury nor I knew much about Hinduism, but as they talked, we realized that there are actually quite a few similarities between our beliefs! For example, they were explaining how they believe that God is a giant flame and that when we are born, we all have a small part of that flame within us. As they were explaining that, I kept thinking about how that sounds a lot like the light of Christ that each one of us is born with. It was a really cool experience and lesson!

We also had a really cool and spiritual experience this week:

We have an investigator who has a terrible living situation and is desperately looking for a new apartment. He asked if we could keep an eye out, and we noticed that some apartments that we often ride by are for rent. One morning we saw a woman get out of her car and start walking into one of the apartments, so we decided to talk to her. Her name is Clari and we started out just asking how long she had lived there, etc. Before we could even turn the conversation into a contact and introduce ourselves, she asked, "What time is church tomorrow?" We were both shocked but told her at 9, then asked if she knew about our church. She said yes and that she had talked with missionaries before and that she would be at church tomorrow. Well, on Sunday morning, we saw her walk into church! We were so happy and sat with her. I was making conversation with her before the meeting began and asked if she had been to our church in Aruba or Venezuela, and she responded Venezuela. Then, she said, "Sister, I am actually a member. I have been inactive for a long time." I was so surprised, but let her know how happy we were to have her with us. She stayed for all 3 hours and the members were so friendly and welcoming to her. One member even told us that at the end of Relief Society, Clari told her, "See you next Sunday!" We have an appointment with her on Tuesday, but she seems to have a desire to come back to church. I know that it was not coincidence that we met Clari on Saturday, but that the Lord's hand was guiding the entire thing. I am so thankful that we were able to find this woman who has a desire to return to the church and that we will now be able to help her, along with the branch. The Lord is in our work every day, and I am so thankful for the plan that He has for us!
In Dad's email to me this week, he shared that the Elders' Quorum lesson was on Elder Rasband's conference talk, "By Divine Design," and I think that talk applies directly to this situation! The Lord completely guided that whole situation! I am so excited to be able to get to know Clari more and help her return to a life on the gospel path.

I love you all so much, and hope you have a great week! Happy Presidents' Day! Mom and Lauren, have a great trip to London!❤

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures (This was Sister Woodbury's last Sunday, as well as Sister Burrup's and both of the elders, so there a lot with the members):

With Sister Aracely (Lauren, she's the fabulous one that I told you about!)

With Jesus and Meiker (Meiker was messing around and wouldn't smile)

Lots of members and missionaries!

My Valentine's Day outfit! I meant to take a picture at the FHE activity, but forgot, and then we were walking home and it POURED...so excuse how drenched I am. Thanks for the cute and festive new clothes!

0 comments:

Happy Valentine's Day! | February 13, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Hello everyone! Happy early Valentine's Day! I love you all so much!❤

Sorry this a day late, Carnaval ended yesterday, and it was the grand finale, so almost everything was closed.

This week was really good! First of all, Juandavid got baptized, and David, his dad, did it! It was amazing and such a beautiful baptismal service. On Sunday, he was confirmed and they invited him to give his testimony after. He went up there and was feeling the Spirit so strong that he was crying and could barely get words out...it was so cute! He is so happy to be a member :)

Even though we lost lots of our investigators a week before, the Lord blessed us this week and we have so many new investigators! We have been teaching lots of God lessons, which is the first lesson we teach. And lots of these new investigators are really awesome and have great potential. One is named Dennis, and he is Dutch. He doesn't believe in God, and this is the first time that I've ever taught someone without a Christian background or at least a knowledge of God. It's very interesting, I'm excited to keep teaching him! He said the closing prayer in our lesson and just asked if God was there. It was really cool, the Spirit was strong!

We had a fun experience on Saturday morning, the day of the baptism. Someone went to the church around 8:30am to fill up the baptismal font for the baptism that night, but then left the church and never turned the water off...so the primary showed up at 10am for an activity to a flooded church! The water had flown over the font into the primary room, into the hall, and into the chapel! So then it was all hands on deck. We got a call around 11 of what happened and booked it over to the church to help. About half the branch was there with mops and brooms and everyone was just working on pushing water down the hall and out the door! It was a mess, but it was a really fun service activity and bonding experience for the branch. And the floors were clean and spotless after that! We were all just thankful that the primary had an activity that morning, or we don't know when the water would have been discovered!

We had a really cool experience while contacting the other day as well:

On Sunday, Sister Woodbury and I were contacting in our contact area, which has been a little bit difficult. On this particular evening, we had not just been rejected, but rudely rejected about 7 times in a row. We were trying to have good attitudes about it, but deep down, I was disappointed that nobody had any interest in listening to our message or even being kind to us. But then we got to one house and there was a man in the window who told us to wait while he came out. He walked out of the house and 2 little girls and a little boy followed behind him and started playing in the yard as we talked. His name is Adrian and he is Arubian, and was super nice and almost immediately showed interest. Because of what we had learned at zone conference, we started talking about families. The 2 girls were his daughters and the boy was his nephew. They were so cute and watching them just gave me such a joyful feeling. We testified of families and how they can bring us happiness and that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. He seemed to really enjoy the conversation, and he said he wanted us to come back when his whole family could be there to listen. I felt the Spirit so strong as we focused on families in that contact, and the tough contacting time that we had had before that completely left my mind. I am so thankful that the Lord put us in that man's path and that we were able to share the gospel with him. We have an appointment with him for Saturday!

This experience was really cool! It was small, but I felt the Spirit really strong as we talked to him. I am so thankful for our families that Heavenly Father has given us and that we can be with them forever!

I love you all and hope you all have an awesome week!

Love,

Sister Davidson

P.S. On Tuesday this week, Sister Woodbury and I went to the family history center to learn what it was like because we've been trying to get our investigators to go. There was a newly-called family history consultant there along with the senior couple, whose specialty on their mission is family history. We got to be the "guinea pigs" for the new family history consultant so she could practice teaching us what to do. I got to look at my family tree and see some people who need work done. It was so cool! I felt the Spirit of Elijah so strong and cannot wait to do family history when I get home! Mom, I'm coming to help you! I'm mad I didn't do it before, it's so fun and I think I've discovered a future hobby for myself! Also, Sister Lindley saw that some of my family is from Caliente, NV and said her grandpa is from there! His name is Roy Naegle. I know it's a small town, so I thought maybe someone in our family might know him! Small world!

Pictures:

Juandavid's baptism!

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE! I love the Spanish candy hearts! And the second one is when I was reading what the front of the card said, so my face is weird...

A rainbow! It's very faint, but it always rains here while it's also sunny, but for some reason there is never a rainbow...but we finally saw one! It was so pretty and lasted about 3 minutes.

Here is us with the Filiciana family on the day of Juandavid's baptism!

More package pictures❤

0 comments:

New mission president! | February 5, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Just found out from lds.org that our new mission president in July is going to be President Kyle K. Baird. That's all the info they have on him. Hopefully we will learn more about him from Pres. Egbert at zone conference this Friday! (it's in Aruba again so I won't be flying anywhere)

LOVE YOU ALL!

0 comments:

What a week... | February 5, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well!

This week was crazy, and a little difficult. Sister Woodbury and I lost a lot of investigators, sadly. A few of them we had to pass on to the elders and then many of them dropped us...And then the invesitgators that we do have have all been having doubts and haven't been progressing too much. So that has definitely been hard, but Sister Woodbury and I are praying really hard and we are still seeing the Lord's hand in our work, which is the most important! Even though there were lots of difficult lessons, we still met some really cool people while contacting who have potential. As well, Juandavid is still on track to be baptized this Saturday! The branch has really been reaching out to the whole Filiciana family to support them in the transition they are making into the Church, which has been amazing.
This morning we had a district activity at the church and played soccer! We invited the youth (only 2 showed up) and their Sunday School teacher, Sister Moore. It was really fun! I learned that I need to practice my soccer skills...the youth were so good, Sister Burrup and I were just embarrassing ourselves the whole time! But it was still a good time and we kind of helped make a few goals (we like to think...).

This week I was studying in D&C and the Book of Mormon (separately) and noticed a similarity in what I read. I read Alma 33:23 and the last part that says, "even all this can ye do if ye will" really stood out to me, about how it's our personal agency to allow our faith to grow. Then I read in D&C 37:4, "here is wisdom, and let every man choose for himself." I really liked these 2 scriptures about our personal agency. The Lord has given us everything we need to gain personal salvation, but it is up to us if we are going to use what He has given to us to help us or not. We have the scriptures, we have the words of prophets, we can pray, but are we going to read our scriptures, listen to the prophet's words, and take the time to pray? It is up to us to do this, and I know that if we do, the Lord will bless us more than we can imagine! The Lord has given us our personal agency and it is such a precious gift, so we should use it for good and choose to follow Him because He knows what's best!

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

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

District activity soccer! (I'm in the blue shirt)

Comps❤

Hermana Davidson || Trinidad Port of Spain Mission

A little cold to break up the heat... | February 26, 2018

February 26, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

Transfer calls... | February 19, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

Happy Valentine's Day! | February 13, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

New mission president! | February 5, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

What a week... | February 5, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

Sister Davidson

Blog Archive

A little cold to break up the heat... | February 26, 2018 February 26, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

Transfer calls... | February 19, 2018 February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

Happy Valentine's Day! | February 13, 2018 February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

New mission president! | February 5, 2018 February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

What a week... | February 5, 2018 February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

0 comments:

Sister Davidson

Blog Archive

A little cold to break up the heat... | February 26, 2018

February 26, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Transfer calls... | February 19, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Happy Valentine's Day! | February 13, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

New mission president! | February 5, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

What a week... | February 5, 2018

February 25, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments