"Holes" - A Poem that I Heard on My Mission

Holes

I had been in that whole for a very long time
In the dark and the damp, in the cold and the slime
The shaft was above me; I could see it quite clear
But there's no way I could ever reach it from here.
Nor could I remember the wold way up there
So I lost all my hope and gave into despair
I knew nothing but darkness, the floor and the walls
Then off in the distance, I heard someone call;
"Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter.
Take rocks and old sticks and build up a fine ladder."
This had never occurred to me-had not crossed my mind
But I started to stack all the stones I could find.
When I ran out of stones, then old sticks were my goal
For one way or another I'd get out of this hole.
So I soon had a ladder that was sturdy and tall
And I thought,"I'll soon leave this place once and for all!"
I climbed up my ladder; it was no easy chore,
For from lifting those boulders, my shoulders were sore.
I climbed up my ladder, but soon had to stop
for my ladder stopped short-some 10 feet from the top.
I climbed back down my ladder and started to cry
I'd done all I could do. I gave my best try
And in spite of my work, in this hole I must die
And all I could do was sit and think,"why?"
Was my ladder too short? Or my hole much to deep?
Then from way upon high came a voice, "Do not weep."
And the faith, hope and love entered my chest
As the voice said to me that I'd done my best
He said, "You've worked hard, you're labors' been rough,
but the ladder you've built is at last tall enough.
Do not despair. You have reason to hope.
Just climb up your ladder; I'll throw down my rope."
I climbed up the ladder, the climbed up the cord.
When I got to the top, there stood the Lord.
I couldn't be happier; my struggle was done
I blinked in the brightness that came from the Son.
I fell to the ground, His feet did I kiss.
I cried, "What can I do to repay thee for this?"
Then He looked all around Him. There were holes in the ground.
They had people inside, and were seen all around.
There were thousands of holes that were damp, dark and deep.
Then the Lord turned to me and He said, "Feed my sheep."
Then he went on his way to help other lost souls,
and I got right down to work, calling down to the holes;
"Get up! Get ready! There's nothing the matter!
Take rocks and olds sticks and build up a fine ladder."
It was now my turn to spread the good word,
the most glorious message that man ever heard.
That there is one who is willing to save one and all
And we've got to be ready when He gives the call
He'll pull us out of the hole that we're in
And save all our souls from death and from sin
So do not loose faith; there is reason to hope
Just build up your ladder; He'll throw down His rope.

Trying to find "gozo" in a crazy world - March 18, 2020

Hello from the bubble of the CCM!

So, sounds like life is getting crazy out in the real world. We don't know much here about what is going on. My mom keeps me updated. There are missionaries here who can't get into Argentina, Canada, Jamaica, and other countries. They have closed their borders. They are staying here for 30 days to see if their visas can get approved, if not they will get re-assigned. They aren't letting any more Americans into the CCM/ Mexico MTC. We aren't allowed to go to the temple anymore because it is shut down. I am bummed about that. I loved the temple here. No one really cares about the virus here, its just the worry if we will get to our missions.  

Last week when we went to the temple we were walking around the Visitor's Center and a man had us come look at something. He took us to a room in the Visitor's Center where sister missionaries teach on the computers on Facebook. They have an apartment building there for them. We are all thinking that might be a premonition. Maybe that is where I will end up. We will see.

I am learning a lot. We are all really grateful to be some of the only people in the world still having church. We had a regular sacrament and church this week. That was nice. I can't imagine not being able to take the sacrament. For some reason, I was called now and meant to be here during this crazy time in the world. We all feel that way here. There is a weird vibe here. We are not sure what will happen if we will get to our missions or not. My mom says the whole world kind of feels like that right now. It will be an experience I will never forget. 

The relief society president gave a lesson the other day and was talking about women and the priesthood. She said that Eve made the 2nd biggest decision in the history of the world She had revelation for her family through the priesthood and knew what had to be done. It was a cool lesson. We listened to the prophet's message during sacrament meeting about the corona virus. I am excited for conference and the chance to be here at the MTC for this historic conference. The Jamaican missionaries were supposed to fly to Jamaica this week. They got to the airport and they shut down the borders of Jamaica so they had to come back. The Jamaican teacher here knows Brodey and says they talk about him in Jamaica still. 

The food is horrible here. I am not eating much so I am glad for the packages. I got Kadee's chocolate and grandma and Sue's package. I also got a letter from mom and Christian's mom. The mail helps a lot. Thanks for the letters and packages. 

I am struggling with the memorization. Memorization has always been hard for me so pray that I can memorize all of the things I need to. I am getting good at listening to the spirit and hearing his promptings. It has been cool to really hear Him. I am good at talking to people and having conversations in Spanish. I love meeting new people. We are doing a safety zone video night this week and eating all of my snacks. We play volleyball for sports. When we do "Come Follow Me" it is the best time of the week. We talk, we cry, and learn together. My favorite word in Spanish is Gozo. It means joy. I am trying to find mine every day. 

Love you all! 

Hermana Davis

One day the hard work it took to come on a mission and stay on a mission will be a badge of honor as we move through the veil" - March 11, 2020

This week was crazy!!! It had so many ups and downs but every minute is an adventure. Right after I got done with pday on Wednesday everyone started puking and getting sick so basically everyone has been down for the count all week, but me and my comp haven't gotten sick so were killing it. I also lost my blocka (name tag) for a hot minute so that panicked me but it all worked it... so I was wearing it one night and as we were leaving the classroom at 9 I realized it was gone so I high key panicked lol (tears and all) but I got home and I was still panicking but in the morning I woke up and went to put my gym clothes on and there my shirt was laying in the y closet with my name tag on it... so Idk how that happened but I'm so grateful and blessed. Two sisters in my district got sick then so me and my comp took care of them. And our elders got sick so it was only four of us in all of our classes. Then we had church which was awesome I didn't get called on to give my talk so hallelujah. We did come follow me as a district and it was amazing probably the part of the MTC where I could feel the spirit the most... actually talking about the gospel and not only about the language. On Monday we had a pretty good day, no huge ups or downs so that was good...  but then night came lol and we were all in our of the Hermanas rooms just talking about the mission and everything there were probably 5 of us in there and then... like 9 GUNSHOTS went off just over the wall of the CCM compound and we all hit the deck lol the one girl instinctively turned off the light and we were all on the ground in like .2 seconds lol... we stayed there for a second and like 9 more came. Were use to hearing gunshots pretty frequently but these were right over the fence and our apartment is up against the fence basically lol. But then we just went to bed and didn't let them bother us anymore . Mexico is going through a huge government picketing and everything so sometimes our teachers can't come and teach us. But we feel safe inside. Just everyone trying not to get sick lol. And our district started calling people who want to leave "wall jumpers" and it's hilarious. We had a really good devotional last night so here are some quotes. 

One day the hard work it took to come on mission and stay on a mission will be a badge of honor as we move through the veil" Devotional by Elder Anderson 

There is not one missionary who did not leave something behind and miss something 

So that was really cool! And today for pday were going to the temple 

All of you should listen to 

Conmigo quédate, Señor #98 in the Spanish hymn book. Its absolutely my favorite song in the language, but everything in Spanish has more diligence behind it if that makes sense lol 

The temple was super fun they have a little shack that you can buy skirts and stuff from so I bought skirts and 6th week I'm gonna buy some more ties, it was super cool. It was our district and zone leaders, so we were all in the session wearing the headphones. And the visitors center was super cool it was in a big building and it was like a mock town when Jesus Christ would've came to America so it was super cool. I have a video of part of it. Its definitely the nicest building in mexico city. 

I miss all of you guys so much and I love you guys!!! I'll be back in america in like 3ish weeks lol.

Mexico City Temple

Mexico City

Jake and Elly

Sunburn :)

Sometimes Days Are Hard - March 4, 2020

Ola everybody, I emailed on Saturday, it's only been three days but it's been so much fun and really hard also.

Sunday: we memorized our testimonies in Spanish and said them during testimony meeting which was super fun, we had not of devotionals and a lot of study time which is good and really daunting. lol

Monday: we got to take off our white dots!!! So we are officially not newbies anymore so that's amazing! It was a hard day also but really fun, we definitely broke down and fell apart during our grammar lesson, we were all crying even the district leader lol. But then we went to dinner and it was hilarious. If you have a really bad day you have to make up for it with laughter lol. Which we definitely did. And when I was saying my prayer in class I accidentally said come let va (how are you doing) instead of Querido Padre Celestial (dear heavenly father) so that's how my week is going,, we all had a good laugh. 

Tuesday: officially my first week was over today!!! We started with volleyball which was a huge stress reliever and we played with the Latinos which are always hilarious then we went to class which was stressful for some reason but then we got to meet new people and it was amazing! I love the people and I love learning new things about people. This old man gardener gave us his testimony on a  piece of paper, and that made up for the rest of the day.

Wednesday: PDay!!!  

So this week was good, bad, but super fun with my district 

I'll send more pictures later love you guys
The water in our apartment stopped working and it is brown coming out of the tap, so that isn't good. 
Love you all
Hermana Davis

My First PDay in Mexico CityMy di - February 29, 2020

Ola, I'm in Mexico. I met Elder Barker at the Pheonix airport, and we were glad that we flew together. They forgot us at the airport so we had to hang out for about 2 hours until my mom called and got someone to come. It was a little scary. He is from Hurricane. We also flew with the Arizona Diamondback players. On the plane everyone gave Elder Barker free food and stuff because he was a missionary. They didn't realize I was. Not used to Hermanas, I guess. The first night was rough, but now were all having a really good time. I love you much!!!!!! Mexico City is crazy, but its super fun. Its exactly like in the movies. All of the hills around us are filled with houses. It was pretty different when we were driving here from the airport. It is a scary city.  The Latinos always say Corona viruuuussss if we use Siracha, because it has Chinese letters on it. They are hilarious. They are only here for 3 weeks because they already speak the language. They try to get us to shake their hands and then say Corona Virus. No one is allowed to shake hands here because of it. To get in and out of the CCM you have to go through a ton of security all of the time. so it keeps us really safe so that is great. They check all of the IDs, under the car, and everything.  I cant sleep though because of the dogs barking and the sirens. There are a ton of parrots here, and they are really loud too. The first night I thought I was going to die lol. It is super hot and humid. I've never lived in humidity so that has been different. they say I have the best Spanish accent so that good. now its just memorizing vocab. We have a red bible. It has all of the Spanish words in it that we need. Everyone here only speaks Spanish so we use it a lot and a lot of times we just don't talk. They always say "speak the language" :). I have to memorize the first vision in Spanish. We cant drink any of the water. So, there are water dispensers in every corner and we fill up our water bottles. I am glad I am not using my contacts at the MTC. The white dots we have on our name tag are hilarious they always say bien Venitos we hate it. the CCM is the safest place to be in Mexico City. It feels like an abandoned city. There are roads, houses, and buildings, but no cars and very little people in the training center. Our apartments are crazy lol, but its fun.  There are usually 2000 missionaries here, but there are only 500 right now. Our district is the first time there have been more Hermanas than elders. So, that is cool. At least the first week is over. I have my testimony memorized in Spanish for the fast and testimony meeting. I have already filled up 1/2 of a journal. So, i am glad that I brought 4 of them.  I love all of my district. Most of them are from Utah. My pday will be on Wednesdays for the rest of my time in Mexico. 
Adios, 
Hermana Davis

The Hermanas in my district

My companion Hermana Hyde from Hawaii

CCM

My bed

Look who we found at the airport

driving through the city

Airport in Mexico City

Red Bible

She's a Missionary - February 23, 2020

I was set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was an amazing experience. Brodey, Sayre, Kate, Suzanne, Irene, and my mom and dad were able to be there. President Morris set me apart. 

You will be endowed with power and authority as the lords representative

Singular purpose and goal

Humility
Faith
Patience*

Go from relying on family to relying on the lord

Have fun

Lord can work with us when we are positive

The simple answer is Jesus Christ

Success is living by the spirit

Setting Apart:
A beloved daughter. He knows you. You have been valiant in keeping his commandments and he is grateful for the decision you have made to serve him and be an ambassador of the lord and savior Jesus Christ.
Bless you and your family for your dedication
Health and strength
That you will not be distracted or delayed in your desire to serve. Be protected from anyone or anything that would seek to harm you or distract you or have you deviate from the course that you are on.

Administration of angels to go before you and watch over and protect you. There are many who pray for you in this room and those on the other side of the veil.

Gift of tongues that they language will come quickly and that you will be able to share your testimony and experiences and especially your love.

Your ability to love gods children will expand. That you will be

Acclimate you’re your surroundings and that an

Abound in love with your companion. See them for their strengths and help them reach their full potential.

Gift of discernment— humbly seek the guidance of the spirit. That you will be able to bear a powerful bold testimony to those who seek the truth or seek to thwart the work of salvation.

Do not be worried about what you leave behind. Your family will grow and progress and be blessed.

You go with the love and faith and combined prayers of many and you will never be alone in this work. Draw upon the strength of the Lord and his power.

Gratitude for your desires to serve.

And... She's Off to the Mexico MTC! - February 27, 2020

Elly left early this morning to the Mexico MTC. She was excited and anxious all at the same time.  It is a big step and a hard day for all of us. She will be an amazing missionary, but we will miss having her around. 

"I am a Child of God, a Woman of Faith, a Warrior of Christ, I am the Storm."