Email - She's Probably Like Mid 60s and She Is In Love With Me... No Joke

Weekly update January 23rd- 29th

Well folks it's p day again! This week feels like it went by pretty quick!! To start the week off we had Bidges on p day! What better way to start a week than with service? We went to their storage unit and had to move like 200 bags full of clothes up to the level above. We used a conveyor belt to get them up and there was a giant mountain of bags at the top by the time we were finished. 

Later that day, we balled it up at the Caldwell chapel like we do every p day.

 It rained most of the evening that night which wasn't anything crazy here in Jersey... it's always cloudy. I miss the sun! 

We were finally able to teach Victor again and we taught about the plan of salvation and he was loving it until we got to the end and were talking about the different kingdoms... he had a tough time understanding them.

At zone language study I had to teach the pre-teens Spanish so that was fun lol. After district meeting we went on an exchange and both Elder Ruiz Casa and I were put in with the zone leaders area. And we did  a lot of contacting and teaching. It was awesome.

 We were in Paterson and for those of you who know about that place, it's pretty sketchy! It was crazy to hear about the lives of some of the people we taught... it made me so much more great full to be where I am today and to be born where I was born... we ended up putting 4 people on date that night and getting tons of return appointments. It was a good night. 

The zone leader I was on exchange with had me wake up at 5 in the morning with him and not much happened haha.  He just planned his day.  Later in the day we taught the professional soccer player named Victor Solís and put him on date. It took a little convincing but he accepted! We had a worldwide mission conference and there were lots of huge changes. The way we work is different. There is no set schedule, we get to choose our schedule now... they did it so we have to be more self governed and make the schedule according to each of our areas. We also get to go to bed 1 hour earlier and they got rid of nightly planning! Haha sorry you guys probably have no idea what any of this even means... we also had one of the people we had on date call us and drop us so that was a bummer.... We only have 2 people on date now. Missionary work is tough man. But, I wouldn't be doing anything else though! <3 

I hit my 6 month mark! Man this was a fast 6 months and sometimes it feels like I've been in Jersey my whole life and I always will be. I forgot like 90% of the stuff that happened before the mission. I don't remember like anything. It feels like people have called me Elder Davis for my whole life and always will. It's weird to hear my name.

It was also my moms b day!!! Happy Birthday Momma!! I am so lucky to have the mom I have! My life would be completely different without her! She has been an example to me for my whole life. I miss her like crazy but before I know I'll be back giving her the biggest hug ever. She's the reason I am who I am. 

We had weekly planning and had to drop a lot of our people since they aren't progressing or keeping commitments so that was really tough. We did end the day with a solid lesson with an investigator named Steven! We have been trying to meet with him for like 2 months. 

We had service at Bridges again and moved a TON of boxes and bags! I definitely got my daily workout there. We then went to brother Thomas's house and talked about the scriptures that we can share when someone says that they don't need to be baptized since they already were baptized as a kid. (We get that answer daily). Later in the day we had a lesson with a Brazilian who only speaks Portuguese. Her daughter drew us an awesome pic after we showed the video of Christ's baptism!

 That evening we went to the church where they play soccer each Friday to see if we could find more people to teach. There was a new lady so I went up and shook her hand and she pulled me in to do the Hispanic kiss on the cheek and got really confused when I didn't kiss her on the cheek back. It was weird to explain. But we ended up talking to her more and she said that she wants to meet with the missionaries! She's not in our area so we had to refer her over to different ones but that would be excellent if she gets baptized,

We played ultimate Frisbee and I l have learned that I love it so much! I'm going to get my family to play it at the park all the time when I'm back. During personal study I read the last few chapters of 3rd Nephi and oh man they were sooo good. I love being able to read the scriptures each and every day. I promise when I say there is no better way to start the day. The day is so much better when I read and it motivates me daily. Read the scriptures daily everyone! Get in the habit of reading it. Even if it's only 10 minutes or a chapter. I wish I did before the mission. The scriptures protect us.

 We knocked lots of doors and got quite a few numbers and return appointments. We visited our new investigator Daisy and her neighbor and there were like 7 kids in the house! They loved us haha! Man would that be awesome to see that whole family be baptized.

BOOYAH!! We had 2 less actives come to church. We aren't seeing tons of investigators coming or making progress but we have been working hard with the less actives and we are starting to see the fruits of our labor. The reason we are seeing them come back is because we are involving the temple. They want to go so bad that they are coming back to church. People.... Visit the temple weekly with your family. The power of the temple is real and you will 

feel it I promise.

 So funny story... there's a lady who comes to our sacrament. She's probably like mid 60s and she is in love with me... no joke... when she talks about me she calls me her boyfriend and she always tells me how attractive she thinks I am. She always saves me a little spot to sit next to her at sacrament meeting haha it's so funny!

 We helped the ward with a little get together they called, "It's great to be 8". We took all the 8 year olds in the stake on a tour of the baptismal font and talked about baptism. 

Why can't everyone be like children!

We had a good dinner with the Alcas to end the week off. 

I love you all and continue to trust in the lord and listen to the spirit. Love one another as Jesus loved you, try to show kindness in all that you do,  be gentle and loving in deed and in though for these are the things Jesus taught. I love that song :) talk to y'all next week! 

<3 Elder Mason Davis 

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - A Free North Face Jacket and More Pizza Than I Care To Eat

Weekly update Jan 16th- 22nd

Well this week nothing super crazy happened, but it was a good week:). We went grocery shopping with the sisters and took our time and went out to the car and waited 30 min for the sisters to finish shopping. Crazy sisters! I found out that one of them is 30 years old! My mom had 5 kids by the time she was that age. We had dinner with a member and he said the same thing a lot of people say. He said my Spanish sounds like Spain Spanish! People always ask me, "Did you learn your Spanish in Spain? Haha I guess that's a compliment. 

We helped at Bridges for the first couple hours of the day and it's so crazy the amount of people that have heard of Mormons! We met a cool guy from Columbia! If I marry a Hispanic girl she has to be from Columbia! Lol we had a solid lesson with a recent convert and a less active and they want to go to the temple to do baptisms! I love seeing people grow in the church! 

We had to get ready super quick since we had a 1 hour drive to get to Patterson for the zone conference! We had a car inspection while we were there to see what missionaries could possibly get a car upgrade so we made sure it was nice and clean when we got there;). During the zone conference we talked a lot about the importance of the Sabbath Day and how we need to keep the Sabbath Day holy and have people understand the importance of it.

 We also talked a lot about the importance of prayer in every day life. We should be praying multiple times each day! All it is is a conversation with our Father in Heaven! That's something I wish I did much better at before my mission... so for those of you who are reading this... PRAY!!!! I promise it will make each day so much better and help you get through the hard times! The same thing goes to the Book of Mormon!! READ IT DAILY!! It is for us in these days. It will change your life for the better.

I love the Spanish program because we always have food and leftovers to make. We eat A LOT!! I never thought I would have to say this but I'm trying to watch what I eat.... I've been trying not to eat so much junk food so I don't come home fat. I'm fine with gaining weight since I need it but I don't want to be overweight.

 During lunch time I always clean up while my comp sleeps. I love being clean and organized. But both of my comps have been pigs when it comes to being clean so it's been a little harder! I wish I knew how to be clean when I was home. My mom would be so proud of me if she saw how organized I am;)! 

For dinner a member made us a a popular Peruvian dish called papa a la juancayina or something like that. I definitely miss having my moms delicious meals that she made daily! That evening we met with a member and when we left she gave me a super nice North Face jacket! I love these members and their willingness to help the missionaries out!! <3 

We had service at Bridges again and part of it we had to bring boxes to their storage and it literally looks like a place where they would film a zombie apocalypse movie!! It's sketchy!! I also picked up a pretty cool pink tie from them. They have piles on piles of clothes they try to give us for free. We met a super cool guy who told us he used to be a professional soccer player a while back. We also got a return appointment;)! We also met a new guy named William who would like more information about the gospel. We picked up dinner from a member and then drove straight to a different members house to have dinner again. We got pizza from both houses... we get a lot of pizza!!

 Our car hit 50,000 miles so that was pretty cool :) 

The day started with a pretty good day of ultimate frisbee and it was a blast! I love playing ultimate frisbee! We went to visit a new investigator we have but he wasn't home but somebody was sitting on his steps so we contacted him. He set up a return appointment and while we were praying with him in the streets there were 2 people watching us... after the prayer one of them left and the other asked if we were Mormons so we said, "yeah".  We talked to him and he wanted to take a pic with us but wouldn't give us his info so he wasn't that interested just excited to see Mormons haha. At night it was super foggy. You could only see like 20 feet. I loved it but it was super creepy!! 

We didn't have any investigators come to church but we did have 2 less actives come. I think that is just as cool to have them come back! We also met a super cool English guy while knocking doors. He is super strong in his own religion but he was one of the nicest people ever. Those are the people that we are going to see in spirit paradise before the judgment. People who have a firm believe in God and strong faith. I respect that a lot! 

Well that's about it folks. The past week has been pretty warm. It's gotten into the 50s! It should start cooling down tho. The mission is great and the time keeps flying by.  Feel free to email me and ask me questions! I love you all and you are such an example to me!! <3 Elder Mason Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - The bird looks like Trump!

Weekly update January 8th- 15th

I started my second transfer here in Short Hills which I'm super pumped about it! Elder Ruiz Casas and I get along really well. We are both goof balls, so it works out well. When we woke up it was 3 degrees but the windchill was -9!

  We had this super nasty looking dinner but it was actually pretty good.  (It happens often! I think the Lord is blessing me with the gift of tongues, to eat weird foods)

On Tuesday the new missionaries got here!! None were from AZ sadly.  But, there is an elder that came in who is 6'6" and at least 300 pounds!! My comp and I are teaching a cool family but the mom is hard core catholic... we have been teaching them with the Bible so she will believe us. The husband understands a lot but she is having a hard time believing what we are teaching her. It's so hard to get people to keep commitments and to come to church in this area.  We met a solid family who has been to church back in Costa Rica for like 8 months!! They have a bird that has hair that looks just like trump!!! That's the birds name hahaha.

We have been visiting lots of former contacts which are people that have met with the missionaries before.  We have picked up like 6 more people to teach. It's been super sick! 

My comp had a 7 hour meeting so I got put with a greenie for most of the day. Most of the day we were doing service so it went fast! We went to Chick Fil A for lunch, so that was a highlight of the week.  People are giving us chocolates like crazy since everyone got chocolates for Christmas...  

We played Frisbee and by the end of our game, my legs were so sore! I'm not gaining weight anymore so that's good news. I've been trying to not eat as much junk food and as much food in general! I feel a lot better when I do that. 

We then had a less active tell us she was going make breakfast for us and to come over... so we did! We got there and said she had to shower and told me to start making breakfast for everyone and for my comp to do the dishes.... so we did haha she's crazy! Later that night we met Gladys and she is a super golden investigator. We taught her about the nature of God and got to know her better. She even came to church the next day! We also had 2 less actives who we have been working with for a while come to church. One of them hasn't been in like 10 years!!! 

I love the mission! Before I know it my two years will be up.  Time is flying!

Love you all! 

Elder Mason Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - Manhattan In The Winter

Weekly update: January 2nd- January 8th 

Monday: I've come to realize it is super nice to have a washer and dryer in the house but these ones take like 1 hour to wash and 1 1/2 hours to dry so that's super annoying!

 There's this nice silver Casio watch that a missionary had and I really liked it and he told me they sell it at Walmart. So, for the past 2 months I have looked for it every time we go to Walmart...  today it was finally there! 

My new Casio watch

We had lunch at Burger King since we got some coupons.

 Let me tell you what my companions ate .... 2 burgers, 2 loaded hot dogs, a large fry, a large onion ring, and a large drink... he downed it ALL!!! I was impressed and grossed out...

Seriously lots of food!!

 Well, after that we went to the bowling alley with the whole zone! It was tons of fun. We all played 2 rounds and 14 people played. Not to brag or anything but I did get the highest score for the day ;)  I only got 128....

I guess my 2 semesters of online bowling kinda paid off. LOL

 After, we had dinner at an English members house so it was super weird to get a small meal! Like 4 carrots, 1 slice of meat, and some other steamed veggies... white people these days man. ;) 

Tuesday: we had a solid meeting with the zone and they talked a lot about listening to the spirit and asking lots of questions to people so they can answer the question them self. We have 3 of the elders going home in like 3 weeks! They are almost "dead"!! It's crazy to see people make it to the end because some days it feels like this is just how life is and this is how it will always be. After that we had an exchange and I went to Patterson with Elder Anderson. For those of you who don't know that place... it's super sketchy! We went and met a person they had met a couple days earlier knocking doors. When we got in they spoke very little English... they could kind of understand him when he spoke English to them so I had to translate quite a bit... I would just share what I had to say in Spanish and then tell him what I said. We ended up giving them the baptismal invite and they gladly accepted! They are super solid! I bet they will get baptized!! Quick story... while he tried to park, he bumped the car next to us but luckily there was no mark on either! Blessings! Later that night we were knocking doors and we talked to an Arabian guy who told us "Get out of here" so we left and he tried chasing us but his friend stopped him... what a great way to end the day;) 

Wednesday: We exchanged back and when we drove home 40 minutes we realized we had their phone and they had ours.... we told them we would have time to get it back later that day. We made cookies for one of our less actives since it was her b day.

 Later we had an appointment with Ronny and Lady and we brought Brother Thomas to check up on her foot. After he checked her foot, we taught Ronny and Lady about the difference of the Godhead and how they are all different using scriptures. They said, "Why would anyone say that they are the same?! With these scriptures you can clearly see they are different!" We also talked a little about how everyone will get a chance to learn after this life. The spirit was very strong during the lesson and they felt it too. These are the things that make me love being a missionary! I also found out that while I was gone on the exchange, Elder Ruiz Casas ( my companion ) put José Salazar on date for the 5th of February! We now have 6 people on date. :) now that the holidays are over we will be able to meet with our investigators more! 

Thursday: We had weekly planning and it was awesome to plan for all of our people and see how we can best help them! We met with a new referral we got and the member who referred her came with us. We were told that she was from Brazil but she knew Spanish... Really, she understands Spanish but doesn't speak it..... so the whole time we taught she would just reply in Portuguese and share all sorts of stuff in Portuguese which was a fun lesson! It's hard to understand them but I can pick up enough! We then went over to one of our members and shared the importance of family home evening and the blessings that come from it! After we talked about Mexico and I showed them some pics since they are from Mexico! Nobody has ever heard of the place we go though... :/ 

Friday: we woke up to like 2 inches of snow and headed over to bridges to do service. We mostly moved boxes and sorted stuff. I'm super proud of myself because they offered me a bunch of cookies and candy and I said no! Man I never thought I would have to come to a day where I had to turn down sweets... :(. We went over to a members house who is a RM and he told us some of the pointers for the mission and some of his favorite scriptures. He is a cool guy! We came home and did TAC and that's where the last week of the transfer every missionary deep cleans their apartment. I actually like it because I hate having stuff not where it should be or dirty. I picked my cleanliness up from my parents ;) thanks guys! Sorry I wasn't like this when I was home. My trainer, Elder Rios called me and told me that we were going to the temple tomorrow with Christian our recent convert. I'm so glad to see he is still active and is now going to the temple! We had a big dinner at the Riveras house and it was good:) it was pretty normal food though....

Saturday: We woke up and drove back to where I was "born" in Ironbound in Newark! We exchanged and we went over to our recent converts house with his wife and their friend. We walked about 40 min through the snow storm over to the Newark Penn station and took a train over to the New York Penn station. We had about a 1 hour walk through the snow again to the Manhattan temple! It was so sick! New York with snow.

 Sadly I didn't get very many good pics! We finally got to the temple and they went and did baptisms for their close family which was amazing!

After we got out we stopped by Century 21 and got a sick floral tie!

 We then had another 1 hour walk through about 6 inches of snow! I loved it! I was all wrapped up so I didn't feel anything! We got home and exchanged back and had to pick up 2 meals and met the son of a less active who isn't a member yet. He's super cool! 

Sunday: At church we had our branch council for the first time in a while and we got to talk about all our people we are working with and how the branch can best help us. This branch is solid member missionaries!! I wore my new floral tie! ;) we had 2 new investigators come to church today! The whole branch was so excited and involved with them and made them feel so welcomed. We plan on putting them on date tomorrow. They seemed to love it here and they learned so much.

 One of my fave families in the ward is moving back to Peru. They were only visiting for the past 6 weeks. I'll miss them a lot! After church one of the members had a big break your fast meal at her house and it was Mexican food. The main dish was called pazole. I don't know why people always put bones in everything tho... it's guácala! (Nasty) not the soup but they fact that there is bones in a lot of stuff. I got to meet some new people when we went to visit a less active. They were so surprised to see a gringo like me having a good conversation with them! They said they were super impressed, so that made me feel good! We got to talk to lady a little more about baptism and the Holy Ghost and she seems to get it. Sadly that said her mom wants to be there for their baptism  the middle of February! I guess that's good but it's so far!! 

We had conference calls and I will be staying here in short hills for another transfer with Elder Ruiz Casas. Love you all so much.

mason.davis@myldsmail.net 

Email - ... Yaaaay even more junk food to make me fat...

Weekly update December 26th 2016 - January 1st 2017

MONDAY: We started off p day a little differently... Brother Thomas hosted ultimate frisbee again! So we headed over there and played frisbee for a couple hours. It was crazy how many geese there were, landing in the field next to us! All I wanted to do was go hunting! We had a fun p day with the whole zone at the church but the only awkward thing was I forgot to do my hair.... oh well who cares. We played fun games and had a little white elephant gift exchange. I brought a super small tie and I ended up with a bag full of random candies.... yaaaay even more junk food to make me fat... we stopped by our new investigator Jose Salazar and he's a nice man and likes when we come share messages. I hope we can get him on date the next time we visit him.

TUESDAY: We had district language study and it's funny because the first 10 min we go over slang that certain places use. After district meeting Elder Larsen had his hot seat. It's crazy to see missionaries go home because I'm so far from it haha. We then came home and taught a new investigator named Victor. We taught the restoration and the importance of the Book of Mormon and then he accepted a baptismal date for the 5th of February!! He is a super nice and humble guy from Peru and has lots of questions! His work schedule is a little tough though so we are gunna try and find him a new job. We then went to Hermana Zanardo's house and had dinner. After that we had weekly English class with our star student Helen Woo! She's the best student we have.... And our only... I got my sisters gift in the mail too! I'm so glad to have the family I have. They are such a blessing in my life!! 

WEDNESDAY: We had to drive out to Patterson to have interviews with President and it went good! He really focused on working with less actives so that's what our focus will be now! We had the scripture class at Brother Thomas's house with the Sisters and he always accidentally calls one of the sisters "sister Davis" haha it's pretty funny! We then went over to the Whitneys house and when we pulled up there were 3 deer and a raccoon out front. So you know exactly what I did.... ;) haha I tried to see how close I could get to the deer and they didn't really care about me and I was able to get about 10 feet from them! There was one that when it would go to run it would put its head down and jump side to side backwards.... it looked so goofy we were both laughing so hard!! 

THURSDAY: We met a new guy while we went to visit a less active. A member had us come over to get pizza after that, we get pizza every single week!! We had a solid weekly planning session for the 5 people we have on date!!! Nidia had me come over and gave me a quick hair cut since she owns a salon. We headed over to a less active members house and the daughter is the sassiest girl I have ever met! She screams at her mom and the mom doesn't care.... we shared the plan of salvation with Ronny and his wife and it went really well! 

FRIDAY: At bridges we did a lot of moving boxes and bags. At the end we got some ties! I'm gunna send a bunch of ties home to my brother! We cleaned up the house a little bit during lunch since I hate having a dirty house! It was snowing while we were visiting less actives so that was fun!! While it was snowing I was outside trying to catch snowflakes in my mouth... I'm sure I looked like a goofball but it was so fun. We visited one of our new investigators and we were going to share the restoration lesson and put him on date, but the person below him had super loud music playing so we waited and just talked about it a little and we will do it next time we see him. We had a lesson with a less active and she said she wanted to go to the temple so we are going to set that up soon!! 

SATURDAY:  We played frisbee in the morning for the LAST DAY OF 2016!!!! It was like 28 degrees with a little snow on the ground haha it was the best!!! "Grandma" fed us dinner and it wasn't good at all!!! It was a bunch of pickled stuff. We then went to a member who lives on our street who is a RM. We talked to him about the mission and stuff and he said how much he loved it and how much he misses it. He is going through a super hard time right now and had me give him a blessing. The spirit was strong. I felt the power of the priesthood. By the end of the blessing he was crying. I love the mission so much!!! We didn't get to do anything New Year's Eve since we're missionaries so it just felt like any other day! 

SUNDAY: The first day of 2017!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! At church I had to give a 10 minute talk in Spanish and I feel like it went well! I was a little nervous but no biggy! We then had burgers at a members house which are the first ones I've had on my mission! They were alright but nothing like the burgers my dad makes.... oh man I miss my moms home cooked meals!!! That evening we knocked a lot of doors of former investigators and found a few more people to teach and to come to English class. Sadly we did have to move our people with dates back a week or two since they have been so busy with the holidays we haven't been able to teach them. 

Anyway I love you all and the church is true and make sure you make solid goals for this year!!! Here's an awesome quote from preach my gospel on goals...

 "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith."

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - My first Christmas away from home

MONDAY: We woke up and did studies while we washed clothes and after that we went over to the library since my comp would rather email on a computer. Idk why... anyway we then headed over to Walmart and I barely got any groceries since I still have so much! After we ate lunch, we headed over to the church to play some basketball and right before we got there I looked down and realized I was wearing my slippers.... luckily someone had extra basketball shoes for me though! After p day we had a nice family home evening with Karrel and Diego about the plan of salvation and they seemed to understand it well! We played headbands for a little bit after and that was a good time! We changed their baptismal date to the 1st of January since they are usually busy and haven't been able to teach them all we need to. But that is going to be an awesome way to start the year for them! We also had una cita with the only recent convert in our area and her mom. We talked about the real meaning of Christmas and all the blessings that come from serving people. 

TUESDAY: We had Spanish study and district meeting at the Caldwell chapel. After that we exchanged and Elder Harmon the zone leader in the English speaking mission, came to my area! The only bad part is he doesn't know more than hola in Spanish... most of our appointments juked us so we had quite a bit of free time. We decided to call a bunch of people and try to set up appointments but we didn't have any luck... luckily our dinner appointment never canceled so we drove over to Hermana Zanardos house and she had two of her Portuguese friends over and they only spoke Portuguese... so I had a good conversation with them and Elder Harmon just sat there wondering what the heck we were talking about... before we left we showed the Because Of Him video and talked a bit about it then headed out. We had to go back home to teach English class. That evening a new investigator called me and told me that he wanted to set up another appointment with us soon and he wants to learn more!! 

WEDNESDAY: I made Elder Harmon and I some bomb orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast. He goes home in like 2 1/2 weeks so he was telling me that most Elders get lazy their last months but to not do that and to work hard until the end! We drove 30 min to meet half way to exchange back and when we exchanged, he went to get all his bedding and stuff he had brought and realized he left it at my house... we ended up having to meet him back there a couple hours later with it! We visited a potential investigator and I talk with his dad and found out he loves fishing so we had a good conversation and then shared a message and they said they would be fine to have us back again! We then stopped by Ronny's and we were gunna play a video through his tv but his tv wouldn't turn on. We tried fixing it for a while but couldn't figure out what the problem was. He was pretty upset. On the way home I saw a nice buck so that was cool! 

THURSDAY: We had one of brother Thomas' lessons again and it was good. He pointed out we need to use the scriptures more. We then had to pick up some pizza for the members and went over there and ate it. We get quite a bit of pizza here. Easily every week!! We went over to the Boggios after that and we talked about a lot of words Peruvians use and just random culture stuff and then had a good lesson about member missionary work! After the lesson he messaged a person he knew a long time ago the Because Of Him video. 

FRIDAY: We went back to Bridges to serve as we always do weekly and afterward they gave me a nice sweater since they said they have too much and a nice fleece jacket! Also since I need basketball shoes they gave me a pair! They love having us help them out and I love helping them!! We then came home and called almost everyone in our area book. Like 100 people and only set up like 2 appointments.... so we got out and started visiting people and stopping by to see who was home. We then had a dinner appointment and the mom was asking me how much I missed my family and stuff haha. Then Ronny told us that we were trying to get the video playing on his tv and it hasn't worked since and now we have to get him a new one.... we were so confused. 

SATURDAY: We went and played frisbee in the morning and it was cold and raining but we all had a great time! We made some brownies and gave them to a less active member who was sick. We also went over to Ronny and Lady's house to fix the tv and right when we walked in I felt like I needed to look on the bottom and right when I did I saw a switch. I switched it and the tv came on!! We then taught them the restoration and about the Book of Mormon and we put them on date to be baptized the 8th of January and they said yes!!! I'm so glad they made the choice to say yes!! Now we just have to do all we can to make sure they get baptized! What better Christmas present could I have?!?

SUNDAY: CHRISTMAS day!!!! I woke up and opened my presents and then I made me and my comp a nice breakfast! Biscuits and gravy with spicy sausage ;)

 we then had church and it was only one hour and combined with the English ward! After church we headed over to the Whitneys house and I got to skype my family!! It honestly was a little weird the first couple seconds since I hadn't heard their voices in 5 months!!! They all look a little different. For dinner we picked up food and also Ronny made us some food. The egg was almost raw... it was definitely a lot different not having Christmas with the family but there is no place I'd rather be! Bringing other families together for eternity!! MERRY "CHRIST"mas everyone!! I love you all!!!   

Some of the treats that came in my Christmas packages :)

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - I'm eating my way through my mission

Weekly update December 12th-18th 

MONDAY: first off we have a grilled cheese maker so I took advantage of that and I got the stuff to make a grilled ham and cheese. I got pepper jack with the ham you would put on a sandwich and it was soooo good!! Give it a try. We then headed off to the church and I wore the new tiger shirt I found;) on the way home to change, an investigator asked us to come over and help her move a table so we did that and it took a while since there were a few parts and her stairs are super narrow! At this time we were both in our p day clothes.... after that a member made us some food to pick up so we did a drive by and grabbed the food.

TUESDAY: I had to get pack up some stuff since I was going on an exchange. We drove over to the Caldwell chapel which is a super nice area and had language study with the Spanish missionaries. After that we had district meeting. We do role plays and practice the lessons, so it's fun to listen to the new people and their Spanish!  (I know I'm still new) 

We exchanged and I went with Elder Locke to his area which happened to be in Caldwell. Like 5-7 companionship rode over to a hospital and sang a bunch of Christmas songs to a room full of patients and they loved it! We also had to go to a different hospital and give someone a blessing. So, Elder Locke and I went over and then he took me to a place to grab some Chinese food. It was good! I haven't had Chinese food in so long. He showed me how he can solve a 7x7 Rubix  cube in just a couple minutes!! So something about him... he is addicted to the color orange. He has ONLY orange ties. On p day he doesn't wear any other color. Everything he owns that could be orange is orange... low key it's super weird... he said he got it from his 28 year old brother who is addicted to the color green... 

WEDNESDAY: We had to drive about 30 min to get over to one of their investigators and my comp and his comp were there too since my comp had to give her a baptismal interview. We then exchanged back and drove over to Pep Boys since we needed our brakes replaced. Since they said it would be a couple hours we walked 15 min over to one of the few Chick Fila's in New Jersey since we haven't had it since we left home! It was still as good as I can remember! And we accidentally had the other elders phone with us too so they had to drive over to us and pick it up... they also ate with us haha. One of the Elders it's from the Philippines so he had never had it. It's sad because he only has like 3 more weeks on his mission and he is so sad. He doesn't want to go home because he said America is so much better. He said back at home is so hard. He said he could serve a mission his whole life if he could. That evening we went to a members house and they brought an investigator and we showed a 20 min restoration video and go all his info so hopefully we can start teaching him! We also had some good Peruvian food. 

THURSDAY: It started snowing during studies and it probably snowed a little less than an inch and was melted like an hour later... We brought brother Thomas back to Ronny's house to check up on his wife and Bro Thomas said her foot is doing a lot better and he told them the best way to be healed is through God. He told them, to pray daily and ask for help. (Of course, we had to translate this to them). He did a good job telling them about the gospel! We went over to Karels and had a little family home evening and answered a lot of her questions. We had a big dinner there too. Ronny invited us to come over and eat some dinner earlier that day so we went back over there and their Pastor showed up so that was a little odd but he was nice! I was soooo full at the end of this I thought I was gunna die! Two dinners! But this isn't odd in the Spanish program... to make things better... we had 1 more dinner to go to. No joke! So we headed over to a members house and had a third dinner but luckily it was just pizza so we didn't have to eat it all! It was also a super cold day!! The windchill made it 3 degrees! I have the clothes for it tho so I'll be fine. 

FRIDAY: We had an all mission conference so we got a ride from the Sisters and headed to Morristown. A guy from Mesa came and talked and his son was on the giants on the NFL and won 2 Super Bowls! He was the center and now he's a Bishop! He passed around all his super bowl rings to show everyone!! We watched a little bit of a football game and he related it to a mission so that was fun! We then all got together and had an awesome Christmas meal and Elder Marz and I both loaded up on food! Elder Marz and I have already decided we will be homies when we get home! I really hope we get to be companions some day!! After eating we went back into the chapel and had more spiritual stuff and after that we got the gifts our family sent us for Christmas. I told myself I'm not gunna open any of my gifts I get from home or friends or members until Christmas Day even though I want to open them haha the strugs. It was super fun to see all the missionaries in the whole mission in one room!! 

SATURDAY: We woke up to about 3 inches of snow and it snowed another inch during studies! The snow soon turned to rain and would just freeze on everything so it was super annoying! I am always the one who scrapes the ice off the car. ICK. We then rode over and were part of the English correlation and the family gave my comp and I a box of chocolate for a Christmas present! The wife took a pic of us and told us when New missionaries come she takes a pic and send it to our parents! We helped and did service with a group called Bridges and fed the hungry and gave them clothes! It was crazy and made me realize how lucky I am to be where I am. We then went over to the English Bishops house with the Sisters and had super good white people soup! I eat everything now! I don't have the option to be picky! My mom would be so proud of me if she saw some of the stuff I ate;)  that evening we had the Spanish Christmas party and it was so funny how they just played English Christmas music! We had Portuguese BBQ for the food! 

SUNDAY: At church I was told I had to give a talk for the first day of the year... that will be fun! Pray for me :0. After church we made cookies for Ronny and his wife. We took them over with one of our members and it went longer than we thought but we found out a lot more about them! The member really helped us out! We went over to the Passies house and got fed some more white people food and then headed over to the Alcas directly after and had to eat another dinner! There are many nights where we get fed 2 or 3 dinners! Haha it's a love hate situation with the Spanish program!! 

Well next time I email, CHRISTMAS will have already passed. So MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I want you all to remember the real meaning of Christmas and to try and love and serve your family! I love you all and hope you have a great week!