Elder Chad's BIRTHDAY is July 25th! Have you written a missionary lately?

Buenos días!               July 16, 2012
          Well this week was a very solid week, and we were able to see the hand of the Lord a lot this week. We really received a lot of blessings and miracles this week. I think that it is like that quite a bit, we think that we are at a point where we don't know where to go, and then the Lord provides the way. He will always continue to move His work forward!
         Most of the blessings that we saw this week came in the form of new people to teach. We found three new, very solid people to teach. One of them is named Misty. She just recently moved back to Castle Dale after living in Price for a while, and she actually went to church and requested that we come and visit her. So we did, and it went really well. We were able to invite her to read from the Book of Mormon, pray, and to be baptized. She accepted the challenge to do all of those. Her baptismal date is still pending, because she said she really wanted to read the Book of Mormon first and to know of its truthfulness before she commits to a date.
          We also found a 10 year old boy named Kaleb that lives right next to us actually. I taught his mom twice when I served in Wellington a year ago. It is a pretty crazy situation. They happened to move their motor home right next to us, so we went and contacted them. It went really well and Kaleb really wants to be baptized as soon as he can, but we just got to get permission from his grandmother.  We are actually teaching his grandfather as well. His name is Shorty. His wife (Kaleb's grandmother) is actually a less active member of the Church, and they were married in the Church up in Salt Lake. He has quite a few questions and he kind of issued us a challenge to teach him. He said that he thought baptism was a good thing for his grandson, but didn't know if he could do it himself. He said, "You boys got a lot of work to do, if you want to get me in the water." So I thought it was pretty fitting and I have never really been one to turn down a challenge!
          There are just so many miracles and good things that have happened this week. Last week, I mentioned the amazing contact that I had with Arturo and we set up a return appointment. The return appointment turned out amazing! We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel, and he just soaked it all in. Throughout the whole lesson you could see he felt the Spirit. As we taught about the First Vision, he just started smiling from ear to ear. We likened Joseph Smith's question to the same one that he has; which church is true? We explained that Joseph Smith decided to pray. Then the First Vision came about, and Arturo just started smiling through the whole thing. We then explained that God had given us physical evidence to know the truthfulness of the Restoration, the Book of Mormon. Then Arturo, looked at me and the Book of Mormon that he had in his hands and said, "So Hermano Davis, you are telling me that all I need to do to know what church is true is to read this book(the Book of Mormon) and to pray about it, then God will give me my answer?" I testified to him with all my heart that he could know of these things for himself by doing those two things. We then invited him to be baptized and he said that he would definitely be baptized when he receives his answer. I have total confidence that he will read and pray and to receive his answer. The Lord has truly guided us to visit with Arturo. I really don't want to think what would have happened if I would have just kept driving last week.
      Another amazing thing happened with a kid named Logan. We have been teaching him for a while, but he wasn't making the greatest decisions, so his dad wouldn't give us permission to baptize him. This last week we made sure that Logan knew the consequences for his actions and if he really wanted to be baptized, that he would behave. We talked with his dad this week, and he said that Logan was behaving a lot more and he gave us permission to baptize him on the 28th of July!
         I also went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week. The zone leaders serve in the Helper Stake, and the town of Helper is pretty ghetto. We knocked on a bunch of ghetto trailers, talked to some Hispanics, and even went into the dirtiest house I have ever been in on my mission. I felt like I needed to burn all my clothes afterwards. We also had Zone Conference on Friday. It was pretty amazing and interesting at the same time. It really gave me that boost that I needed to keep moving forward and become better everyday. Between the two zones, 13 missionaries go home in the next two transfers. Many of the missionaries I have served with; it is a weird thing to get old in the mission. I hardly even knew half of the missionaries that were there.
          This week we were also blessed with more RAIN! It rained basically off and on from Thursday until last night. We were hit with "flash flood" warnings all weekend. It has definitely been good for the area! Most of the forest fires have been put out, or they soon will be.
         Well I have talked about one of our investigators, David, for the last couple of weeks, but he still continues to amaze me. He has really been weighing the Gospel heavily on his mind. He is completely committed to go forward with his baptism. He is making sure that his work is done so that he can come home for the weekend to go to church. He has taken his Book of Mormon with him so that he can read it during the time he has off. We also gave him a blessing this week so he can overcome his addiction to chewing. We could really use some extra prayers for him as well!
        NEWS FROM HOME: It is so crazy that Matthew (Rickords) is leaving (on a mission to North Denver Colorado Mission). I am sure he will be a great missionary and a fun one at that. I am glad to hear that the things for Pops' treatments went through. I know that you will both be taken care of why you are up there (in Seattle) -- even if Pops receives "spa like treatment" for his birthday.  J  (CHAD’S BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP ON JULY 30^th and I asked if he had any objection to sweet treats for his birthday.) Speaking of birthdays, for mine I am not really physically fasting from anything. I really don't drink any pop (soda) anymore, so if you could just leave that out. But cookies or whatever you send would be fine. I am sure I could share some with my companion or district. (Okay, friends and family – any treats or birthday wishes, cards, letters, etc. -- SEND THEM TO CHAD!!!!  Make this birthday one to remember!)
      Well the Lord truly has lead us this week and we were able to see His hand a lot. May God bless each and everyone of you this week!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!      

de la viña del Gran Rey Jesus,       ELDER D