Hi everyone!

This week was crazy...we had some emergency transfers take place! Sister Cole (in Aruba) has been having some problems with her hip and is no longer able to ride a bike. So Sister Melendez and I got a call from President Egbert on Thursday night that he would be moving Sister Cole to Curacao where there is a car and Sister Melendez would be going back to Aruba to finish up the last two weeks of the transfer...and all this was happening on Saturday! So Sister Melendez flew out Saturday morning and Sister Cole got here in the afternoon, and she is now my new companion! I was super sad to see Sister Melendez go, but it's fun to be back with Sister Cole! Plus, she spent 6 months in Curacao so she knows the place like the back of her hand and also knows all the members...that has been a huge help!

Other than that craziness, this week was great! We saw lots of miracles from the Lord:

• On Tuesday, Sister Melendez and I were looking for our new contact area and trying to take a shortcut that our map said should be there. Well, it wasn't there, so we ended up a little lost. It was really hot and we had to climb up some hills, and Sister Melendez didn't drink any water that day...so when we got to the top of one of the hills, she said, "Sister Davidson, I don't feel very good..." and got super pale and then kind of fainted! (She was still conscious, but very weak) We were both straddling our bikes, so I couldn't hold her very easily but I was trying my best. She eventually gained enough strength back to get off the bike and sit down and drink gatorade while I checked the map. Pretty soon, a man came walking down the street and asked if we needed help with directions. As he was giving me directions, I was watching Sister Melendez out of the corner of my eye and noticed that she was really pale again (by this time she was standing) and looked a little wobbly. So I basically threw my bike into the stranger's hands to catch Sister Melendez and explained what had happened to this poor, confused man who was trying to help us with directions. He said he lived right there and we could come on his back porch and he would ask his wife for help. We went, and his wife was the nicest person ever and gave Sister Melendez a sleeping bag to lay down on, ice water, and an ice pack and cooling liquid for her head. They were so kind and helped us with everything until the Parr's were able to come and pick us up. If that man hadn't come walking down the street, I don't know what we would've done! It was such a miracle!
• We had a lesson with a new-ish investigator named Nani about the restoration. It was a pretty normal lesson, but then at the end, after we closed, her eyes just filled up with tears. We asked her what was on her mind and she said she hadn't been to church in a long time and she really wants to return because she knows it's what God wants her to do. We invited her to come to church (she couldn't this week) and she said she really wanted to. She also said she loves having us over because we bring God into her life.
• We were in a lesson with Selo this week, and were talking about the Priesthood, and he was telling us that it scares him that so many people have died in the wrong faith without the Priesthood, and he was wondering if God was mad at him for being "led astray" his whole life by faiths that don't have the Priesthood. He said this was just something he couldn't get over, he's spent so much time thinking about it, and wants to know what happens to those who lived in apostasy and didn't receive the Gospel with the Priesthood. We explained to him that everyone has the opportunity to listen to the message of the gospel and accept it, and that God is not mad if we are not raised in the gospel, but he recognizes our acts of faith, whoever we are, and blesses us for them. After we said this, he looked at us and said, "You've done a great thing today. You've broken the ice. I feel so much relief." He was so happy to have his questions and concerns answered after all the time he's spent pondering about it. I know that the Spirit guided that conversation and allowed us to say what we needed to to help him understand and feel at peace. 
• This one's kind of a funny tender mercy: Sister Melendez and I had heard that Curacao had Dr. Pepper, so last P-day, we checked everywhere for it and couldn't find it. We were so sad! Then on Friday night, we were in a lesson with the Perez family, some members here, and at the end of the lesson, they brought in a grocery bag...filled with cans of Dr. Pepper! They said they remembered us mentioning that we liked it once and they saw it at the store and thought they would buy it for us! It was super nice...I know the Lord is mindful of EVERYTHING in our lives, even the small things that don't seem to matter! So then I had Dr. Pepper after 10 months of not having it and it was even better than I remembered :)

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

1. Thanks for the birthday package! I LOVED it! Can't wait to celebrate with cupcakes next week :)

2. Had dinner at a member's house, Javier. He used to be a chef, his food is amazing!

3. Sister Cole, being a champ and cleaning some fresh bird poop that landed on our windshield

4. Dr. Pepper!