Email - I have PTSD now (Post Tostones Stress Disorder)

Weekly update for Jan 30th - Feb 4th, 2018

       Ok so I’m gunna start off with a story. On Monday night after P Day was over, we had a member invite us over for dinner. She is the one I talked about last week who's house is infested with roaches.   The whole way over there I told my comp that he was gunna eat roaches and we were cracking all sorts of roach jokes. As we got in, it was still infested with roaches. She made us fried chicken and tostones which is fried plantains. I was about to start eating when I saw a couple little “hairs” on my plate, so I wiped them off.  I continued eating, just minding my business when about half way through, I lifted up my tostone and yes, I found a ROACH under my tostone!!!  Let me tell you, it’s one thing to talk about getting a roach in you food. It’s a whole new world when it actually happens. My heart dropped, it started beating a million miles per hour, and I thought my life was over. So I just calmly looked at my comp and then back at the roach and he just died laughing but on the inside. He mostly kept it in. I had to just move the roach and that tostone to the side and not eat it. That’s when it hit me that those little “hairs” I saw at the beginning before I began to eat were the legs and antenas... it was horrifying but I made it through. I think I have PTSD now. (Post Tostone Stress Disorder)

       On Tuesday we had zone conference and I had to lead it. I was a little nervous but I like doing stuff like that. We talked about how the mission is so short and we need to make the most of it and help people understand their “why”. Like why are you here in the mission? We talked about how we need to do revelatory finding and make sure we are doing what the lord wants us to do.

       I also went on an exchange with the APs and I went o Elizabeth with Elder Merritt. It was great! I got to spend the night with Elder Rios my trainer and Elder Fletcher. Elder Fletcher is from Mesa, AZ and went to Mountain View too. He is a stud. I hope I get to be his companion. 

Elder Merritt and I pretty much only taught Haitians and had to bring members to do the translating for us.  I could understand a little bit of the French but not much.  Later, while we were knocking doors someone opened their door and a huge pitbull walked out and I was sure it was gunna eat me.  But, God was on my side and it just jumped on me and walked around.

       Also this area is amazing. We are going to baptize a Dominican lady and her 3 daughters this Sunday at 9 AM! We are so excited. We also met a super cool Peruvian named Melissa and many other people who are just so prepared! The whole mission fasted that people should be more willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and act on the answers they get. I know it will happen here in Paterson. We see so many blessings here.  If you could all pray for Oscar (the father of the Dominican family that is supposed to be baptized this Sunday). If he won’t sign the baptismal paper the whole family can’t get baptized so pray for him to have a soft heart and allow them to follow their Savior and be baptized! 

       Well that’s about it for this week! Make sure you be an example to those around you! They watch what you do.

 I love you all so much and have a great week. Read the BofM!

Elder Mason Tanner Davis 

Patterson, New Jersey

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - First week in Patterson, NJ

Weekly update Jan 22nd - 28th

       Wow this week has been great. Also super busy. Every day that I have been here in Patterson I have come home completely tired and ready to sleep, but we still have to keep working when we get home.  My companion is Elder Moulton from Boise, Idaho. He has been out just over a year and is the greatest. We already get along super well. I know it will be a good transfer. 

      Monday last week was my last night in Passaic. So, we visited Patty’s family and we had a good time. When I told them it was time to go and I said goodbye, they all began to cry... it was so sad! 

I will miss them so much. It was sad to say by to my greenie Elder Williams. He was a great companion and friend. 

      Let me tell you a little bit about our area. We have 11 people on baptismal date (I believe it is the most in the mission).  We have put 2 on date while I have been here and I think this is the dream area.

 So much work to do along with all the new responsibilities I have been given. We drive a 2017 Nissan rouge. I love having a car. We also live in an amazing house.  It just needs a little tidying up and organizing and it will be like new. We even have granite countertops. The only catch is that we live right next to a rail road, so we have the train pass by like 25 feet from us every 30 min or so.  Good thing I’m a light sleeper haha. 

       My first appointment in Patterson was with a less active Dominican lady.   For a moment I would like to draw you a visual in your head to describer her house.  Imagine you are sitting on a couch looking as all the floors and walls are just moving with roaches. Well, there you go. I don’t think I ever saw less than 25 roaches at any given time. One fell on my comps tablet.  The member casually hit it off the wall and it fell on him haha. Great time! 

       So we had a meeting with all the zone leaders and the APs gave a training and a question session.  

One of the questions they asked, that I really liked was, “What would Jesus do if he was in your area?” I want to do exactly that! He would work this area better than anyone, because it is his work, His church. It puts a whole new meaning to WWJD ( what would Jesus do).  I invite you all to think about that seriously in your lives and make a change. I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

(Some other pics from this week)

Fish Market

Gourmet Dining at Mi Casa

Random??

Elder Mason Davis (Paterson New Jersey) Alma 34:32-33

Email - Finally a Zone Leader!!

Weekly update for Jan 15th - 21st, 2018

       Well this was a roller coaster of a week. First off, I wanna say sorry about last p day. Every once in a while our WiFi is weird and won’t let me get my emails until a few hours later or even 2 days later for a couple of you. So, sorry if I didn’t get to respond to some of your emails. There were lots.  

       About 2 months ago we had a 23 year old guy randomly show up to church. I sat by him and it turns out he had been taught by missionaries about a year ago and just felt like he needed to come to church. His name is Jasson. Yes it has 2 S’s haha.  Anyway, it turned out that he lived in the sisters area, so they were the ones that got to do most of the teaching. We were great buddies tho. Whenever he came to church I would sit with him and talk with him and stuff. This week he got baptized! He asked me to baptize him. I was so honored to do so. He is a very strong guy in the church and will continue to be active.  Hopefully be will able to serve a mission. 

       On a sad note. My amazing grandpa Mason I. Davis passed away. It was a hard couple days for me. I wasn’t ever able to say good bye or spend as much time with him as I wanted. But being here on the mission really helped me truly know that he is in a better place and I will see him again. God needed him in the spirit world more than this one. He will be missed. Love you Grandpa. 

      This is my last week here in the unique Passaic NJ! I will miss this place and Elder Williams! I have been called to serve as a Zone Leader in Patterson NJ. My new comp will be Elder Moulton. That’s all I know about him. His name. I heard he’s pretty quiet so I’ll be helping him with that. ;) I’m super pumped to help lift and serve this zone. I’ve always wanted to serve in Patterson too. I know it will be a great time. I’m gunna have a car for the first time in 9 months! YEET! 

       Well that’s all the super interesting things for this week that I can remember... I love you all and have a great week. Read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Your life will change for the better. 

(Here are a couple other pics from this week)

Sister missionaries cleaning the font before Jasson's baptism.

A few of the other families we are currently teaching. 

Another pic of my amazing cooking. 

Elder Mason Davis (Passaic New Jersey) Alma 34:32-33

Email - I slipped on a bag of dog poop

Weekly update for Jan 8th-14th

Saludos a todos. Hope everyone is doing great.

       So, let me tell you this story I forgot to tell from last week. Well, it was p day morning and it had snowed all night.  The sisters couldn’t park their car by their house so we had to drop them off the night before and park it by our house. Long story short, when we went to pick them up to go shopping the next day, we pulled up to their house where there was a fresh dead possum... frozen but fresh.  The van only has 1 door that opens, so as you can probably already guess, I pulled the van up right to where the possum was right below the only working door. When they came out I knew it would be good so I had my IPad out to video tape it.  It may possibly have been the best video I have ever taken. The only mistake I made, was I missed their first face reaction with the camera. Let me tell you, it was priceless! I will try to send the video. If the video works you may see my Olaf pjs and that is because their were some people who dared me to wear them.  So, I did. FYI, my basketball shorts were under them for sports later in the day though. Haha. 

       Last P Day was a zone p day and we had a great time. I love people so much. Just being around people makes me happy. We played a lot of basketball and I also got to play half a game of Settlers or Catan and it was soooo fun. I haven’t played that game is years. We also ended the day with chick filet, and let me tell you, that’s rare here in Jersey. I’ve only had it like 3 times maybe 4 while on the mission.  

       Last week it was nice and warm for 2 days. On Friday I only wore a long sleeve white shirt. I haven’t done that in a long time. It was in the 50s all day long and even got into the 60s for a couple of hours. But the next day it was back to 20 degrees. The weather here is like a roller coaster.  Also, some crazy news... I officially have less than 6 months left.  

       Here’s another great story from this past week.  We have been teaching a less active lady named Gina and she has an inactive son who we have been trying to teach. We have invited him to church many times and he has committed but never came until 3 weeks ago. Now yesterday, he came again. We talked to him and he said that he felt he needed to be back in church and then about a month ago his son turned 8.  We told him that if he becomes active again and talks to bishop he could most likely baptize his son. That would be amazing. 

       This week the whole mission had a huge activity called 2HourPower.  On Saturday between the hours of 5-7 PM, the whole mission had each companionship praying the whole week to know where to go and who to find during these 2 hours. So at 5:00 the whole mission got onto a conference call and we said a prayer and were given a little pump up motivation talk.  When the call ended, everyone in their own area got to work. Elder Williams and I felt we should street contact down a certain street and then knock doors. It may have been the coldest I’d been on the mission. The weather said 30 degrees so we didn’t get very prepped, the wind chill destroyed us. 

Any way we still saw so many blessings. We set up like 6 return appointments and got into a couple houses and shared a message with them. We got 4 new investigators and it was a great time to know that the whole mission was working very hard at the same time. It was a great week. Next time I email you I will know if I stay here in Passaic another 6 weeks or where I will be going.  I really feel that I will be leaving Passaic and Elder Williams but we will see. Sorry if this was too long... but, just for a good laugh I thought I’d tell you another quick story.  While we were walking down the street in the rain I slipped on a bag of dog poop... I didn’t fall completely but nearly. It was almost terrible! 🐶💩 

Hope y’all have a great week! Love you! Read some books “Nacho Libre accent” 

Elder Mason Tanner Davis

Morristown, New Jersey Mission

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - Coldest Winter in 200 Years

Weekly update for January 1st - 7th, 2018

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!! WOW time has been flying by and we are officially in 2018! New year, new me right? Haha, but honestly, I know that its super basic to say that but think about it. This is a great time for all of us to start new and set goals that we want to accomplish. We are all at different stages of life but I invite you all to set a goal of reading the Book of Mormon daily, your life will change for the better. 

Well most of this week the wind chill never got above 0 degrees so to say the least it was a very chilly week! I was told that this has been the coldest winter in Jersey in 200 years! Whenever I thought I was cold I would just think about my friend in Minnesota or Canada where they are not getting above -30.... nasty!

 So mom, this part is for you, I’ve always had a hankerin for corn bread, so I decided I would make some. I will attach a picture of the delicious corn bread I made! It’s been a while since I have made it but I think I nailed it! #ChefDavis 

This is the picture he attached.  Looks like bread to me. 😀

We have been doing lots of door knocking and Facebook proselytizing and have found some awesome people who are progressing. So many people want to know more about the Book of Mormon! The signs are being fulfilled. People are turning to God. I’m so thankful to be part of this work during this amazing time as the Savior is getting closer and closer. It’s very humbling to know that he has trusted me to be a harvester in his vineyard during this monumental time of the last days. 

      I’m very sad to have heard about the passing of president Thomas Spencer Monson. I know he is needed where he is and is happy to be able to see his dear wife again, to never again be separated. I love our prophet, seer, and revelator. He will be in our hearts forever. Pray for our new prophet Elder Nelson as he has this huge calling to guide the Lords kingdom here on the earth. I love and support or prophet. 

    Well this is my letter for this week! Congrats to any of you who made it to the end of this letter and I really congratulate you if you still read my emails!

 Have a great week. Love everyone and serve. #WWJD 

26 weeks until I get to say hi face to face!! 

Elder Mason Tanner Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net

Email - I Rang In The New Year With The Sirens Passing By

 New Years Day! 

December 25th, 2017 - January 1st, 2018 Update

Happy New Year! this week was great! Super cold, but still great. We had a few days in the negatives, but I have friends serving in Canada and Minnesota were they are at like negative 50. I guess I have no room to complain.

 Even thought this week was super cold we were able to get some new investigators.  That always helps the work move along. 

I'm sorry I wont have any pictures this week since i don't have my iPad. I was going crazy and typing random stuff and going into random apps, so I called the mission office and they said they think I had been hacked. They thought that someone was on my i pad.  Because of that, they made me turn it off until they figured out the problem.  So, now I have to type on a computer which I haven't done in a long time.  I guess I've got to get over it. 

New Years Eve is so different as a missionary as are all holidays.  On New Years Eve we went to bed at 10:30, so we didn't get to see any of the craziness or the fireworks that were being let off. I was woken up at 1 am tho, because of all the sirens passing by, so I guess that's how I rung in my 2018.  Only 1 hour later than everyone else. 

I invite you all to prayerfully think of at least 1 spiritual goal you have for this year. I challenge you all to do everything you can to meet it and to grow in some way closer to your Father in Heaven and your older brother Jesus Christ.

 I'm so happy to be a missionary and to be able to light the world every day. I am sorry this weekly was kinda lame but nothing too interesting happened this week... i love you all so much and hope you have a great week and a great year. Happy 2018! 

Email - White Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This week has been super good! We have been working really hard and have made some good progress in lighting the world! 

Ever since I got here, our relationship with the members hasn't been the best. It has been really hard to get legitimate member involvement and the ward isn't really functioning correctly. Thus, for this week, we focused a lot on the members and how we could brighten their days. We made a lot of treats and gave them to members while caroling to them. That was really fun.

 We got together with the Sisters and the senior couple of the area and spent about 5 hours caroling to people over two nights.

Christmas Zone Conference

In terms of investigators, not much happened. We are still working with Patty and she is doing well. Melanie and Hanelly are certainly being tried and tested already but are still doing well. We will meet with them on Thursday.

This Christmas has been good. We had a white Christmas! So far we have eaten breakfast at our Bishop's house, opened presents, and, by far the best, I got to video chat with my family. It was so good to talk and catch up with them. Although I am not with them for this Christmas, I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to talk with them. 

Anyway, all of my prayers and Christmas wishes go out to all.

Some of my random cooking pics.  Thanks mom for the beef stew recipe! 

Love, 

Elder Mason Tanner Davis

mason.davis@myldsmail.net