Chad is Senior Companion AND District Leader!

Hola Padres!                                                       25 Apr 2011

        Here we go again with another week down!  I forgot my outline of my email and the things I wanted to say this week, so sorry if this email is extremely sporadic and doesn’t make any sense, but I will try my best. Well this week was definitely a trial of my faith, because it was Elder Bravo's last week in the mission. But somehow we ended up still maintaining a good week and were successful. Well we still ended up with a bunch of lessons and a bunch of stuff that happened. Well this email will mostly be about things that happened to me that don’t really pertain to the Gospel.  

   The first thing is that according to tradition here, Elder Bravo and I, both ate a TORTA CUBANA! The picture can explain a lot of why I am really proud of this accomplishment. (See Picture of Sandwich!) It really took a lot of mental focus to eat the whole thing. It is about a foot long and has 3 different kind of meats (pork, chicken, carne asada), avocado, onions, tomatoes, and beans! Well I officially joined the club of only 5 Elders who have ever completed one of these. There have been many who have tried, but only 5 have ever succeeded.

Another weird thing this week was that I saw Rob Broadhead during one of my lunch hours. We were eating and I look over and see this guy and he looked familiar. I did a double take and I was like "why do I recognize this guy", and then it all clicked and we got up and shook hands and talked for a little bit. I knew that Kent and Sharon (parents) said he was down here, but I never thought I would actually see him! It was a strange coincidence. (The Davis and Broadhead Families have known each other from Walla Walla since Rob and Chad were little tykes!)

Sunday was once again a really busy day for us, we were doing something non-stop. We had regular meetings, church and that is where it got interesting. We had some unexpected visitors there at church, Elder Bravo's family. It was really weird for me to see and meet his family.  I can’t imagine how weird it was for him to see his family. During Sacrament Meeting, we had the confirmation of Selene and then we had to jet early to the mission home for Bravo's last interview. So if that isn’t a full day already, we came home and taught some lessons before we went to our BAPTISM!! Yes, we had another baptism. His name is Fredy Vazquez. The cool thing is that Elder Bravo and I were able to be there on his first lesson that he ever had and then also to see him get baptized. That doesn’t happen too often here in the mission, but we really did all we could and we were blessed.

As you know, this transfer is now over and it was a really incredible transfer. We saw tons of blessings and help from the Lord. We may not have been the best we could have been at all moments, but we did help others come closer to Christ and that is what it is all about. I don’t know if I will ever be able to have another transfer like this, but I will sure try! It is now time to talk about this transfer! The verdict is that I am going to stay in the area and my new companion with be Elder Lopez. He is from Mexico, so my streak of having foreign or native companions continues. (Chad's last three companions have all been native Spanish speaking.) The new thing is that I am going to be District Leader. So that will be something new to try and handle on top of all the other duties of a missionary, senior companion and also District Leader.  Wow! Also, I am no longer in a walking or biking area as I was before. We will be getting a car, so don’t worry Mom about a bike or anything like that. (It is 'The Mom's' job to worry, and I do a pretty good job at it!)

Here are some responses to questions and things.... I am glad that you had a good Easter with Christina and I am sure that Dad enjoyed the food. I never bought an electric razor, and I am just going to stick to a manual one because my face has adjusted enough to it. I am also doing good on money, I did have to buy a new backpack a few weeks ago, but I try not to really spend a ton of money if I don’t have to. But I am planning on buying a new pair of pants or two, just because I don’t want to wear out my suit pants and because that is all I will be wearing for 6 out of 7 days during the week for the next 5 months. (We kept asking him if he was doing okay with money -- we don't have a lot yet want to make sure all his needs are met!)

(I asked Chad how many emails or mail he typically receives each week.)  Well the amount of emails depends a lot on the day and all that, but on an average I will get about 7 emails outside of the mission things that they send. These emails are from other missionaries, friends, and of course family. Well I hope all is well back in the Tri-Cities. Take care and do know that I love you and pray for you often!!!!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!           De Tu Hijo Amado,   ELDER D!