Lots of emails! | March 26, 2018

April 01, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Sorry for sending so many emails today...

I totally forgot to mention...don't forget to watch conference! Or go to it, if you're Mom and Lauren (and Dad?)! I'm so excited to hear from our prophet and apostles, be able to sustain them, and hear from other inspired leaders of the Lord. How cool is it that conference falls on Easter Sunday? I love it when that happens! Happy Easter! I am so thankful for the resurrection of Christ and the hope and happiness it brings to all of us. Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Davidson

P.S. Happy early birthday to Cami, too!😉❤

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Something in the water | March 26, 2018

April 01, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Hello family!

This week was good! Again, nothing too exciting happened as far as our teaching and finding goes. Some of our investigators have been difficult to see, which means that the time we spend teaching has gone down a little. Which also means that our contacting time goes up. We are almost done with the contact area where we are working now, which has been one of the more difficult areas I've worked in, so we are looking for a new area! I'm excited to start somewhere new and find the people the Lord has been preparing.

We've had some crazy things happen in Aruba this weekend as far as health goes. First, we got a call from Sister Lindley on Sunday afternoon that Sister Melendez was in the ER because she was having pains around her heart. They were worried because she's had a heart murmur since birth. After being in the ER for hours, she got some pain medication and they told her that the muscles around her heart were inflamed and that's why it was hurting. She is doing much better now. Second, Sister Cole started complaining about ear pain on Saturday and finally couldn't stand it Sunday night because she couldn't sleep. So this morning we went to urgent care and she has an ear infection! So she has been catching up on sleep and taking the prescribed drops. We are also praying for her! Third, we found out today that a member in the branch had a heart attack yesterday and is in the hospital. He is doing okay, but he is in our prayers as well! We're not sure what's going on, but people here are falling apart! We have definitely been blessed through it all though, because everyone has been recovering well.

I think I forgot to share a really cool experience from last week:

This week, we decided to go to Chaloburger for dinner, a food truck in our area. We were there and waiting for our food when a worker from the back came and stood next to us and started asking us if we live close. We told her we live in Seroe Blanco and she said, "Oh, do you live in the church?" She had never spoken to missionaries before but had seen our church a few times. Then out of nowhere she said, "You are both really happy." At first I thought she was asking us if we were happy, but then she repeated it and I realized she was saying it as a statement. We told her we are happy because we have a knowledge of God and His love for us, and began introducing our message. She seemed so interested and we were able to contact her and we are planning on visiting her this week! This was such a miracle from God because we have had a really hard time meeting new people, but God placed her directly in our path when we weren't expecting it. I know God has His perfect plan and if we are doing what we are supposed to, we will be in the right place at the right time to receive His blessings and bless the lives of others.

We are going to visit this woman this week, and I can't wait! God's timing and plan is perfect and I am so thankful for it!

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! Don't forget to pray and read the scriptures!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

There was a really cool rainbow all around the sun! It was like that all day

Caribbean Coke :)

Dario, a recent convert, made us rice and bean soup for dinner on Thursday!

We went to visit a member family and the daughter, Monchi (in the picture), told us the neighbors had puppies and ran and got them so we could hold them! They were tiny and so cute!

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Casibari, Carbon Monoxide, Cockroaches | March 20, 2018

April 01, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Hello family! I hope you are all doing well!

Don't freak out too much from the subject, this week was really good and full of surprises! Because I'm lazy and don't have too much time, I'm just going to bullet point everything:

We had exchanges on Tuesday, so I went to the other sister's area to work with Sister Melendez. It was awesome and their contact area was really far out in the boonies, so we rode our bikes forever on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere with a house every now and then. It was so fun! There were lots of hills and rocks, so I felt like I was mountain biking! (Dallin and Dad, get ready to mountain bike with me when I get back, because I think I found a new hobby). I'll attach pictures. There was tons of cacti, it was really pretty!
In the middle of the night on a day this week, our carbon monoxide detector started going off. I checked the clock and it was 2 am and Sister Cole were so confused at what was happening, but it was so loud! We went to check it and couldn't get it to turn off. We could only think that it would go off because the battery was low, since we don't have anything in our apartment that gives off CO. We finally got it to turn off, opened the windows of the apartment, said a prayer for safety, and went back to sleep. The next day the senior couple came to check it out and couldn't figure out why it went off...weird!
Our apartment doesn't usually have bugs, but this week, there were 2 instances of cockroaches! Giant ones, and one of them flew! It was so gross. Luckily, Sister Cole has spent some time living in the South (her dad is in the Air Force), so she is not as scared as I am of those things, and she killed them both. It was disgusting though!
Sunday, March 18, was Aruba's flag day, and it is a really big holiday for them, kind of like our Independence Day. So there were Aruban flags everywhere. Church even met early to raise the flag and sing the national anthem. It was super fun! Everything was closed yesterday because of that, so that's why we had to email today.
I also spoke in church that day, this was the second time! I spoke about repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The microphone wasn't working though, so I basically had to yell my whole talk at the congregation...it went well, I think!
On Sunday night, our 8pm appointment fell through, and while we were talking to the person that we were supposed to teach (they were telling us they couldn't) there was a dog behind a gate across the street that kept barking and kids that were yelling at laughing. After we finished talking, we walked over to see why the dog was barking (the kids had left by then) and saw a tiny kitten hiding under the car, terrified. The dog wanted to get it so bad, and the kids had been throwing rocks and water at it :( The poor thing was tiny and shaking and so scared. So Sister Cole got it from under the car and we started walking around the neighborhood talking to people we knew and asking if they wanted a cat. After about 3 rejections, we stopped at a member family's house whose 12 year old daughter has a big soft spot for animals. Unfortunately, she is allergic to cats, but they took it and said they knew of friends that have been wanting a cat and would give it to them. It was a crazy but a cool experience!
We had our district activity yesterday at Casibari. It's a bunch of huge rock formations that got there when Aruba was created from an underground volcano. There are tons of boulders and you can climb to the top and see a lot of Aruba and the ocean. It was super fun and really pretty! I'll attach pictures of that too.
This week I was reading in Ether and came across Ether 2:24: "For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth." I loved this scripture so much! No matter what life throws at us (the mountain waves), the Lord will always be there to help us come out of "the depths of the sea" as an even stronger person. There is nothing that He can't do, so we have no need to fear the trials and hard things we go through in life! If we are doing all that we can to build our testimony in Him, we will be able to stay firm when those difficult times come. He is there to help us because He loves us!

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

Middle of nowhere

Sister Melendez and I :)

Surinamese food from a member in the branch...it was so good!

View from the top of the rocks

The Aruba district

Companions! :)

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March 12, 2018

April 01, 2018 Lauren 0 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week. Sorry to hear that so many people are sick, I hope you are feeling better!

This week was really good! Nothing too exciting happened, but sometimes that can be a good thing!

We had a lesson with Ephraim, a referral from Salt Lake. He is very interested in our religion because of the lifestyle we lead (not drinking, smoking, honest people, etc) and got online and started talking with someone about that. He is from India, grew up in Dubai, and is now living here while he goes to med school for 2 years. We taught him the Restoration this week and it was a great lesson! As we talked about prophets, the Priesthood, and dispensations, he just kept nodding and saying "That makes sense." When we talked about the First Vision and Joseph Smith, he asked, "But how do I know that that actually happened? How can a regular person like me know if he was a prophet?" It was so cool! We committed him to pray about Joseph Smith.

Other than that, there's not too much to report on. We have been doing a lot of contacting, which can be hard, but it's fun when you get to meet new and nice people.

The wind here has been crazy recently! We've talked to quite a few people and they say that this isn't normal and they're not sure why it's happening. But it's made riding bikes either really easy or really difficult, depending on which direction you ride...going against the wind is crazy! If we stop pedaling, we pretty much immediately come to a stop because the wind is so strong. It's crazy, but it's been a great workout!

I hope you all have a great week! Remember that the Lord is perfectly mindful of you and your situation and He is only a prayer away! He is our Father in Heaven and wants to hear from us, help us, and bless us! I love you all so much!

Love,

Sara

Pictures: