Email - I Thought He Broke His Coccyx (Tail Bone)

Weekly Update for Dec 11th -17th 

Anyone need a fridge magnet?

       Wow! Only 1 week until Christmas. Next p day will be Christmas. I don’t think we will have a white Christmas but I’ve never really had one any way.  Last year we had some left over snow in the shade but this year I don’t think we will have anything. That doesn’t change the Christmas spirit or the true meaning of Christmas! I invite you all to think about how you can put CHRIST into your CHRISTmas this year! #LightTheWorld

       Now on to a more sad note.

 The people here in Jersey are like the weather... if it’s warm, they are warm. If it’s cold, they are cold.

 The people now are not very receptive at all. When we ask if we can share a message about Christmas and Jesus they just say, “No, not right now”. They usually don’t even open the door. That’s ok though. We will keep working and keep loving the people here in Passaic. I love it here. 

        I’m counting my blessings of being in a walking area. I’m not sure if I’m being sarcastic or not....

 I do love being in a walking area but in the winter it’s a different story.  This transfer makes 8 transfers in a walking area. Most missionaries don’t get more that 3 transfers in a walking area their whole mission. 

I honestly think I have more time in a walking area than any other missionary in New Jersey. I count it as a blessing.  

I'm thankful to be on my mission during this Christmas season to be able to really think about Jesus Christ and have the ability to share it with those who want to know.  I’m so thankful for the priesthood. 

Probably about 8 months ago I prayed for the ability to use my priesthood more. Well, since that day I have been able to give at least 1 blessing every week! It does make me a little sad when members want us to give the blessings instead of their husband. But I am so thankful to be able to have that ability. 

       Now time for the funny story of the week. So, on Friday we were walking down the road during a snow storm.  As we were walking I kicked up a baby crib mattress that was under the snow.  It still had plastic wrap on it and was super slippery in the snow. For those of you who really know me, you know the next part. :-) I handed my comp my I pad and Book of Mormon and said, "Hold this". He then replied and said, “ You’re gunna break yourself”.  Right when he said that, I ran towards the mattress and rode that baby like a snowboard . I did that until it slid out of under me and I had a pretty majestic landing and nothing happened. When my comp saw that I didn’t get hurt, he wanted to try. I knew it wasn’t gunna be good when I saw him running towards the thing with his hands in his pockets and jumped on it standing straight up with both feet toward like skis.  After a few feet of success that’s when the mattress went flying and so did he. His feet and his head were about the same level... he landed on the ground and I was sure that I had just watched my companion brake his coccyx (tail bone). He did not. Instead he landed on his elbow first. He then handed me his Book of Mormon and I pad and said, “Hold this while I flip out for a minute”.  So I did and we walked around groaning and yelling for a moment and then we were on our way again laughing like crazy. After a little while it began to really hurt and he thought he had fractured it.  After waiting a little while longer, we got smart and made him a fancy sling. The mission nurse said to take some ibuprofen and ice it and wait until morning. So that’s what we did and I am happy to tell you that right now he is all healed up just sore. :-) #MissionaryLife

       Well that’s about it for another week living the life as a missionary in New Jersey! I hope you all have a great week and an amazing Christ centered CHRISTmas! I love you all! Hasta luego 

Elder Mason Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - Staying in Passaic For Another Transfer

Weekly email for Dec 4th -10th 

Sorry this weekly email is so short. I’m really short on time today. Well the best part of this week was putting Patty on date! She is the mother of Hanelly and Melanie. When we first started going over she didn’t even want to listen. Now we have taught her all the lessons and she is on date for January 20th! 

Also some cool news is I will be staying with Elder Williams for at least 6 more weeks here in Passaic. I’m in a walking area and it is very cold here.

On Saturday it snowed about 6 inches. We were out in it quite a bit walking to appointments. 

Sorry my weekly is so short today but this is all I could do. I love you all and invite you to try and do something each day to light the world. 

A nice dinner that we had this week

Elder Mason Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - Anyone Up For A Chicken Foot?

Weekly update for Nov 27th - Dec 3rd

Wow only 3 more weeks until Christmas. Maybe it will be a white Christmas! ;) 

       So to start off the week, I had an exchange with the biggest elder in the mission. His name is Elder Bailey.  He is 6 foot 6 inches and 350 lbs. He’s a big guy! He came here with me. The first thing he did when we got to the apartment was drink 1 1/2 liters of orange soda. Then later that day he ate a whole bag of Popcornopolis zebra popcorn and a couple handfuls of candy. He said he felt like junk.  haha! Well, what do you expect!? 

He gave the baptism interview to Melanie and Hanelly and he said they are both super awesome. 

For dinner a member had us over and gave us chicken foot soup. She wasn’t going to give us a foot, but since Elder Bailey didn’t speak Spanish I asked for her to give him one in Spanish and she did! I was trying to hold back from laughing so hard, I had tears running down my cheeks. She also gave us both crickets but I’ve had those a few times. Not too good but I can eat them easily. 

Elder Bailey

       We did a light the world table stand with the sisters and it was pretty cold and not many people wanted to stop but we will have it be earlier next time and it will be better. For those of you who don’t know what light the world is, it’s a campaign that the church is doing and I invite you all to check it out and try and do the act of service that it asks every day. It will really brighten your day and bring the Christmas spirit into your life. 

 Light the World Campaign

       So on Thursday we woke up at 3:45 AM to get ready to go to the Manhattan Temple! We drove with our ward mission leader and it was a great time. Super early though! I wish I could go to the temple weekly. That’s my plan after my mission. I invite you all to do what you need to do so that you make the temple one of your top priorities. 

Temple Day

       So we were doing some door knocking and found a super awesome Dominican family that let us in and let us teach them.  After they invited us in they fed us a delicious home cooked Dominican spaghetti and tostones meal. Soooo awesome! So cool how you can knock on someone’s door and they willingly let us random white people in and then feed us! #Blessings

       This week a lot of our focus was preparing for the baptism. We we made tons of calls and so did the sisters to all the members.  We invited them and asked them to bring a little food and on the day of baptism we had tons of people come. We had about 25 people and plenty of food and snacks. It was amazing to be able to baptize Melanie and my comp was able to baptize Hanelly. The next day on Sunday I got to confirm Hanelly and my comp got to confirm Melanie. I’m so proud of them. Thank you for all the prayers! 

       At the place we do service, they had a big Christmas sale. Tons of Christmas stuff! So for $11 we got a 7 foot Christmas tree and about 50 ornaments! Super great deal if you ask me and now our house feels like a home! Well... more than it did before.

      Well that’s about all the really cool stuff that happened this week! Hope you guys don’t get too bored with my random stuff every week. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Read the Book of Mormon. It will make your day better I promise! ❤️❤️

Elder Mason Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - Three Miracles This Week

Weekly update for Nov 20th - 26th, 2017

       Man these weeks are flying by! It feels like I just started training Elder Williams, but now we only have 2 weeks left of training. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving full of food, football, and FAMILY! I’ll start if by just telling you about Thanksgiving. To be honest Thanksgiving this year was much different than last year. We only had 2 meals with members. I was able to go to sleep comfortably. 

On Thanksgiving Day, we thought it would be nice if we baked up some goodies and brought them to some members and investigators. So, we did exactly that! We made some delicious cupcakes and also some brownies with peanut butter and marshmallows and it was scrumptious. 

I’ll attach some pictures below. 

Elder Williams

       Also I was sick a good majority of the week with a nasty cold and sinus problems but I’m all better now! 

This December there will be a Spanish Christmas fireside.  My comp and another sister have been asked to play the piano guys version of “O Come O Come Emanuel”. My comp will be playing the piano and a sister here in Passaic will be playing the cello. Each day for at least half an hour he had to practice and will have to continually do that until December 10th. He is doing great! I wish I knew how to play the piano haha. 

Three Miracles This Week:

      Miracle #1: So Hanaly and Melanie are getting baptized this Saturday and Melanie has asked me to baptize her (she’s the 10 year old) and my comp will be baptizing Hanaly (14 year old). We are super pumped and will be taking time this week to plan it and invite tons of members. Hopefully their mom Patty will soon follow them! 

       Miracle #2:  So remember last week I talked about a lady I was able to give a blessing to that had been diagnosed with cancer? Well the sisters saw her again and she was happy to report that she went in for a check up and the cancer has shrunk immensely.  She will only need surgery and radiation. 

The power of the priesthood is real! Don’t be afraid to ask for a priesthood blessing. To make this whole  thing even better she then told the sisters, “I want to be baptized on December 23rd. This church is the true church, I know it is the true church. God has answered my prayers!” We are so excited for her and for the sister missionaries to be able to help her towards baptism.

       Miracle #3: I’m going to explain this story simply. So in our mission we use Facebook for missionary work. I’m not a big fan, but this week I tried using Facebook again. I added a girl from Passaic and I began to talk to her. She said she had talked to missionaries before and wasn’t really interested but she said I can try and teach her something. So I just asked her a simple question. “Do you believe in God?” She said, “Yes, but idk if I actually do or if it’s just what my parents tell me.  I then asked her, “Have you ever asked God if he was there?” She said “no”. I told her that God loves her and I invited her to pray that night and ask God if he was there. She told me she would. The next day she was very exited and surprised to tell me that God had answered her prayer and now she wants to learn more. That was a very simplified version of the whole conversation but it was amazing to see her open her heart and pray. So for any of you who might be wondering if God is there or if he really loves you and knows you. Ask him. “3rd Nephi 27:29 - Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”

       Well this email is already very long so congrats if you have made it this far. This week was full of miracles and so many amazing stories that I wish I could tell them all! The mission has changed my life and it will continue to change it.  I love you and and I’m so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement. I’m thankful for my family and friends that have changed my life and been an example to me. I hope you all have a great week. Love you!  

Elder Mason Davis 

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - Thanksgiving Can Be A Night Full of Regrets and Nightmares

Weekly update for November 13th -19th

       Well, I’ll just start of with saying HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

  

Here on the mission in the Spanish program, Thanksgiving is the most 

dreaded day of the whole mission.

 WHY, the average person might ask?  Well let me tell you.  Rumor has it, that in the months from October to the end of the year the average Spanish Elder will gain 12 pounds.  Yes, 12 pounds. The reason that happens is because the Spanish people are so loving and kind that they all invite you over for Thanksgiving dinner. I think we will be having 5 Thanksgiving meals this year. Possibly more. As you all know, you can’t leave a Spanish persons house without eating 2 full plates of food. The night of Thanksgiving is a night full of regrets and nightmares. You just lay in bed trying to get comfortable to no avail. You want to puke but you don’t want to waste their food. So, you Just deal with the pain. That’s why Thanksgiving is the most dreaded day of the whole mission. 

This last week I took lots of pictures of the food I have been making. I’ll attach some pictures. Apparently I have become a chef on the mission.

       This week, we had a conference with Elder Nielsen from the 70 and it was amazing! 

At one point,  we had a short break to stretch. I was sitting next to my good Korean buddy Elder Kim. While I was doing some stretches he was next to me doing the same.  Well... long story short. My fist hit his watch and his watch shattered and I got cut. It was a minor flesh wound. Don’t worry mom. 

       Now time for something a little more spiritual. So, at the end of last week we received a referral from someone from Florida that wanted us to visit her sister living here in jersey. She requested that we set up an appointment to give her a blessing. She lives in the sisters area but they needed us in order to give the blessing. So we set up an appointment with her and went over. Very nice lady! She told us that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, but it was caught very early on and it was small. As she told me this I felt so much love for her because that’s the same news my mom had received just a few months ago. I wasn’t able to be home to help my mom with what was going on,  but I was able to be here for this woman.  I was able to give her the blessing and when I put my hands on her head I felt the love that God has for her. I felt as though I was able to tell her what I would have told my mom in this situation. The spirit was very strong and at the end of the blessing she was crying. It was a great experience not to be forgotten. 

       So as far as Hanaly, Melanie, Patty, Princesa and Orly. They are doing great! Hanaly and Melanie are both on date for December 2nd! That’s coming up soon! Patty said she needs more time but the last lesson we had with her the spirit was very strong and she was crying. She will be ready soon. 

Thank you so much for all your love, support and prayers. They help a lot. I want you guys to eat lots of Thanksgiving food for me and send me pictures next week! I love you all and hope you have a great week and find a way to serve someone! Be thankful for all you have! (Alma 34:38) 

Email - A Possum Sighting! Of course I Had To Touch It Too.

Weekly update for Nov 6th - 12th

The weather is getting cooler and the Holidays are getting closer! 

      Well to start off with, last week something happened to our WiFi so I didn’t get a lot of the emails until after p day was over. I’m not sure what happened. So if I didn’t respond to you, that’s why. 

       One of the days last week, we were walking down the road trying to find some inactive members. It was freezing cold with rain that day, so we decided that we should stop by an active members house. As we arrived, they let us in and made us some great hot chocolate and got us something to eat. I love these people so much! 

      Some mornings the feels like temperature is 14 degrees when we went out to do exercises. We do lots of walking through the rain and sleet so that is always an awesome time.  

We have been witnessing tons of miracles and blessings lately.

 Orlys family is all progressing so much and they have all accepted to work towards baptism!

 I love missionary work so much.

       We found a lost member while knocking doors.  We asked if we could help her with anything and she said “yes, I need help cleaning my backyard”. 

So we came back a few days later with the sisters and one member and moved tons of giant logs and metal pieces and helped her organize the yard. While we were working a possum walked right next to us! It was super old and blind and really slow. So of course, I had to touch it.

I was going to pick it up, but the sister missionaries wouldn’t let me.  I have to be honest, manual labor is so much easier and relaxing than missionary work. The mission is both physically and spiritually demanding. 

Gotta love it. ;)

      Well I think that’s about it for the interesting stuff that happened this week.  I love you all and invite you to keep reading the scriptures and truly try to show your love to you family this week. 

Email - Welcome To My "Sistrict"

Weekly update for Oct 31st - Nov 5th, 2017

      Well happy Halloween! This past Halloween and the day before we had to be in the house by 6 PM since the Mission President didn’t want any shenanigans happening. So on p-day we didn't get to go out and do any missionary work. Sad day. 

      On Halloween day we were at a members restaurant when someone came in and said “there’s smoke coming out of your building” so Elder Williams walked out to see where it was coming from and it actually was 1 street over.  It was someone’s storage/garage that was on fire. Pretty crazy. 

Also the terrorist attack that happened in New York last week involved a Home Depot truck tat was rented from the Home Depot 1 mile from my house. Crazy Halloween stuff. My prayers go out to all those who are suffering from that incident. 

      So there were 6 missionaries here in Passaic but last week was transfers and Elder Ruiz Casas went home and Elder Johnson was moved to down south of New Jersey. Now the real problem... they didn’t replace them with any missionaries. So now my comp and I have to take care of their area with the sisters. So now we have a lot more members to visit. A couple of them should be active haha.  Also since the Elders left I now have a “sistrict” which means my whole district is sisters...  also that means no exchanges for a whole transfer.

      As you may recall we had a recent convert named Orly. Well the rest of her family is opening up and really wants to learn. Her grand daughter Hanaly has come to church like 10 times and loves it! So we have been teaching 3 more people in that family and they are all progressing like crazy. The youngest one is 11 and in 4 days she read 100 pages of the children’s Book of Mormon. She is the best. We put Hanaly on date for Nov 23rd and the other 2 accepted baptism but since they haven’t been to church yet, they didn’t want to plan a specific date. Super pumped for them! 

My comp and I have been doing morning workouts outside and we have been running as well. So before the mission my fastest mile was 7 min and 50 seconds... (yeah I know super bad). Well I just set my new record for a mile!.I got a 6 min mile! Almost a 2 min improvement! 

Sorry you guys prob don’t care but i was psyched!

      Well the times is flying by it feels like p day comes every other day and I’m not sure what new things have happened but I try not to bore you guys. I will give you all the same invitation we give to everyone. Sometime this week I want you all to read Moroni 10: 3-5 and no matter how strong your testimony of the Book of Mormon is I want you to kneel down and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true . Don’t get up until you get an answer from the Holy Ghost. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true and has changed my life and can change yours if you allow it to. I love you all and have a great week! 

Elder Mason Davis

Passaic, New Jersey

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - God Trusts Us To Do The Right Thing

Weekly update for Oct 23rd - 30th

First off I wanna say Happy Birthday to my sister Lacey who is now an adult. She is amazing!

I am so glad I have you as a sister.  

I also have some sad news this week. Elder Ruiz Casas is finishing his mission in 1 day. We served together for 4 1/2 months back in Short Hills and he has by far been my funnest comp ever. He will be missed very much. It’s super sad to be honest. He is my first comp to go home... sad day. 

While I was having my district meeting I was training on the spirit. The senior missionary said something that really stuck with me. Sometimes as missionaries people think we always feel the spirit and know exactly what to do or what to say. That’s not how it is. 

But, what he said really answered many questions and brought me so much peace. He said “Sometimes we don’t feel spiritual promptings because God trusts us to do the right thing." In reality we are constantly being led by the spirit.  Being members of the church for such a long time we get used to being guided and it can be hard to notice it. But I just want to testify that I know that if we are keeping the commandments and doing what we need to, the spirit is constantly guiding us. 

Love you all!!

-Cool art work in a parking lot I live by-  

Elder Mason Davis 

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - This Week I Turned 20 And Met President Rasband

Weekly update for Oct 16th - 22nd

My back hurts, my joints hurt, I’m just so old. Being 20 is crazy. I feel so old. My teenage years are over! I’m officially in my 20s... it’s weird to think that next birthday I’ll be home. This was my 2nd birthday on the mission.

So on my birthday I woke up and made some bomb biscuits and gravy with spicy sausage for my companion and I. Super good!

 Then I opened the presents my parents sent me and it was awesome! Thanks to my family for the gifts! I loved the wooden watch so much!

 For lunch on my birthday, the other Passaic Elders took me and my comp out to eat pizza.  My old companion Elder Ruiz Casas got me bean booozled for my birthday so as I'm sure you already know, we had to play it right then and there. I highly recommend playing bean boozled if you are in the need for a good game (and stank breath).

 For dinner my parents had ordered me a ton of food from a place called Noches De Colombia and they got me something I’ve always wanted to try. Una bandeja paisa. Super good Colombian food.

 It was a great birthday for sure. Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. Love you all.

      By my house, there’s a dollar store that is possibly the best store I’ve been to in my whole life. It has everything your heart could ever desire. Like things that would be like 5-10 dollars at Walmart are here for one dollar... but here’s the catch... some of the food that they have is only a couple weeks away from expiration.. but I mean it’s just candy so how could it actually go bad? It’s honestly the most amazing store ever.  They even sell tiger hydrating face masks.  LOL

      ELDER RASBAND CAME!! So on Saturday we got up at 5 am to get ready. The sisters came and picked us up in the van (the only van in the mission is here in passaic). We got to the Morristown chapel like an hour and a half early but it’s better than being late. It was nice to be able to talk to all the other missionaries from around the mission since it was an all mission conference. They had us all gather up for a picture and once we all were gathered up we still had a few minutes until he would arrive for the picture so we sang hymns and it was super amazing! The Mormon tabernacle choir would be proud of us. ;). The moment Ronald A. Rasband came in was such a cool feeling. You could just feel the spirit enter when he did. After we took a couple pictures, we all walked in a line to enter the chapel and we all got to shake his hand. We also had Elder Bennett and Elder Bunker from the quorum of the 70. Elder Rasband really focused on how even though here in jersey it may feel like the place nobody wants to get called, there are tons off prepared people here. He served here on his mission. He also really focused on how everything happens for a purpose and that it all happened by divine design. 

      I am so thankful for the mission and that I was sent here to New Jersey. I don’t know why yet but I know that the lord has seen fit for me to be here in New Jersey. I may never know but I trust and have faith that I was sent here by god. I have seen so many miracles and blessings here on my mission and there’s no place I’d rather be! The mission has changed my life and my eternity! Serve a mission! There will be no regrets!  I can't wait to hear how all your weeks went.  Send me an email. 

- A couple other pics from this week - 

Go Toros! ↑

Elder Mason Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net