Thursday, September 29, 2011

email from 9/15/2011

Hey Everyone,

How are you doing?

Not a whole lot has been happening around here that is too exciting to tell but we have had some cool experiences.

Tuesday Elder M. Russell Ballard came and spoke to us for our tuesday night devotional and it was an amazing talk, that marks the second Apostle that has come to speak to us since being here in the MTC and all of the leaders are saying that has never happened before so it is really cool. My District leader Elder McKay got pretty sick a while back and he asked me and his companion Elder Heath to give him a preisthood blessing one night, that was an amazing experience and i was stoked for the oppertunity to do so.

I was supposed to leave this week to Peru and some of the elders in my district got their visas, Elder Farnsworth and Myself didnt recieve ours and so everyday we listen for the intercom that comes on and announces all the new visa arrivals hoping one day soon it will be our turn to pack up and head out of here! We are so excited to leave and actually get to experience the outside world and know what it is like to spend time with real investigators and other people who arent all in your same situation.

The Language is coming along just fine and i am hoping that sooner or later i feel good enough to talk to everyone all the time in Spanish, we try to talk as much as possible in spanish here but it is hard sometimes when you dont know how to phrase what you want to say and you are required to find an alternate way of saying things. But i am doing well none the less and we are all progressing with the language and being able to teach by the spirit in a language that none of us know. We are teaching Almicar, he is from Equador and is super catholic so trying to get your lesson across with him is sometimes quite the challange, he is receptive to what we are saying we are just having a hard time getting him to accept a baptismal date. On the other hand we are also teaching Antoino, he is from Cuernavaca Mexico, he is a way cool guy and we really relate, he plays for Cruz Azul a semi professional soccer team down there and loves to paint. His baptismal date is set for Oct, 16th and well see how the lessons keep going, at this rate i am confident we are doing alright.

I am getting pretty good at reading preach my gosple in spanish i think i have read most of it and have done my fare share of marking and i think i might actually be getting there! i know a lot more about the gosple that i did when i got into the MTC and it is amazing what kind of questions you will get from investigators or people that dont believe the same way you do! it really is hard for people to understand what it means to be baptized and a lot of people dont believe they can be forgiven of their sins!

Well Elder Girsh came into the MTC yesterday and i have only seen him once and we didnt get to talk for long so i am keeping my eyes peeled so i can run into him and actually get to talk to him for a bit. Elder Anderson and i are still in the same dorm building and everyday is an adventure its kinda just like at home but in a missionary way, the guys in my room and i found a way to play baseball! its legit! haha we found a ping pong ball and a piece of a tube and we get some intesnse games going on! i love it! you can spin that little ping pong ball like none other!!! We are all getting up early and trying to work out as much as we can. Our entire district refuses to get fat at the MTC and just a little heads up after the first week the food is sooooo old! haha you get sick of eating the same things day after day and none of it is remotely close to healthy for you, but none the less you can complain about 3 square meals a day when there are people who dont even have that.

We do this thing called TRC which is basically like home teaching but we get to meet random volunteers and it is really fun, we meet a sister who was origanally from Germany! she was 96!!!! crazy! Her husband has passed and her whole family growing up was communist! it was interesting to hear some of the stories that she had to share with us! i loved it!

We go to the Provo temple every Thurdsay and our sessions are at 10:20... they are open to the public so they get way busy! today there were a ton of people in there but i love to go and feel the spirit so strong, also we have the temple walks at the provo temple everysunday at 1! so if anyone wants to stop and say hi thats the time! haha jk... but we have meet some interesting people at the temples on sunday!

Well the weather here is getting colder and colder and i love it! we get up every morning at 6 and the temperature is perfect! Mom and Dad would you please send me either my red under armor sweet shirt or my black and grey stripped zip up, either one will work just fine i dont need both. I will be sending home some stuff soon that i dont wish to take with me to Peru as i will have no need for sed items. Things here are good though and we are all just moving day to day!

Well thank you everyone for the mail and for all the wonderful things that you send me i love you all and wish you all the best in all that you do!

Adios con amor,

Elder Skyler Chaz Davis

Email from 9/22/2011

Well Hello Everyone,

This has been an eventful week and i have a few stories to tell, i wasn't going to add this to my email but i feel like i should. The end of last week was a little rocky for myself and another Elder named Elder Heath, for some reason we seemed to be not getting along on all the levels that roommates should be. On Friday night after gym time we were all showering and Elder McKay and myself were locked out by Elder Heath and my companion. We sat out there quite a while in frustration. After being locked out for about 10 or so minutes i started to get very frustrated and pound on the door demanding that they let us in, to no avail. Shortly after Elder Heath decided that it would be funny to poke his head out and crack the door and say "no one is here" or "you cant come in" and then promptly slam the door closed again thus adding to my already existent frustration. After about 3 or 4 times of this occurrence i was about at the end of my rope. I saw the door start to crack open again and slammed into it with my shoulder pretty hard. It then flew open and struck elder Heath in the side of the head, well this seemed to trigger something in him. He lost it and we quickly were engaged in a shouting match, i tried to keep my cool as best as i could till some unkind things were said. i then lost my cool and called him a "p...k" inappropriate yes i know and i regret the decision but none the less it happened. Continuing, That did not sit well with elder Heath and he then abruptly lost it again and charged me when i had turned around to walk into the back of the room. All i could tell of the next few moments was i was thrown to the ground and shortly after received a few sharp punches to the face. As fast as they could elder Mckay and my comp elder Beus ran and grabbed him off of me, none the less he was in quite the rage and pursued me again, this time being stopped by elder Mckay with a quick shout. After i got up i realized what had happened and it was at this point where my anger really set in, he yelled a few things at me and then left the room. At this point this was the side show of all the elders in our floor and everyone was gathered around watching. I excused myself and walked to the far stair well and sat and cried for a while. The full emotion of what had just happened had finally hit me!

After a half an hour or so of sitting on the stairs pondering and praying about what had just happened i went back into my room to be met by Elder Heath, we hashed out the much needed apologies and went on our way being missionaries again. at this point i had thought to myself that it was over and that would be the end of that event, but boy was i wrong. I woke up the next morning with a black eye and some regretful feelings to say the least. Also my pinkie toe had been dislocated and fractured but i quickly popped it back into place with the assistance from my comp. i didn't this much of it and when i woke up the next morning it was all black and crukade! haha no bueno, i iced it and bent it back with a few gross pops and some sharp pains and now i think I'll be ok. i didn't want to go to the doctor, (Mom i know you'd love that last sentence :) love you sorry!!!) As was his responsibility our district leader elder McKay reported to the Zone Leaders who then reported it to our Mission President. I got a call from the front office informing me i needed to report to an interview Sunday. when i arrived elders beus McKay heath and myself all had interviews with out mission president about the event. We sat down one by one and all had emotional interviews and the feelings about the air were grim. when i met with my mission president he told me that i would be as was elder heath required to have a meeting with the district president as i was one of the parties involved in the incident. my heart dropped and i lost all control of my emotions, the next 24 hours would be the deciding factor for me as to whether i would remain an elder or not. my focus and stress that night were visible to those members in my district as we all reported to our dorms that night. i asked for a priesthood blessing from my companion and all of the members in my district. Elder beus gave a wonderful blessing and i was grateful for the opportunity to have been a apart of that.

As you can imagine my night consisted of much prayer and pondering and about 2 hours of restless sleep, when i was awoken on Monday the day of my interview, i was so nervous and scared and all kinds of emotions that i couldn't even eat breakfast or concentrate at gym time, right after gym the speaker in our hall came on and the announcer told elder heath and i to report to the district office building, i was so scared and nervous my heart was wrenched. When we arrived we sat down individually and had our meetings with President Sonnie, he only asked one question, "what happened"? after i had described it heath had his interview and then we went in together. i was fearing that i was going to be sent home, when we got in there he told us that he was very disappointed that it happened but he sees great potential in us and that we would be staying, my heart was full. Elder Heath and i both were overcome with emotion and gratitude. We left that meeting and knelt down for a quick prayer outside.. we were going to be given a second chance....

Now the most important part of this is what i learned from it.... First of all there is never in any circumstance an excuse to use your words or physical strength to solve a problem in a hurtful or harmful way. if Elders heath and myself would have stopped and realized this sooner we would have been ok and calmed down. Second i need to learn to be more patient and more forgiving when things are done against me and not feel like i should react in an aggressive way. Third, the lord has a plan for me, i was given struggles like this to help take what i myself am not strong at and make me stronger, i feel as though since this incident elder heath and myself have come closer to one another and also both learned valuable lessons, "you can not teach the gospel of Jesus Christ or the gospel of love if we first do not exercises that ourselves!"

well that is the main story that i needed to tell for this weeks update, also a few other interesting stories around here... We declared room wars and were having prank wars with each other for a little more added fun. i found out how to break into a room using floss, an envelope, a hanger, and a vacuum! haha it is quite the sight to see! we broke into the other rooms dorm and took one of their beds and wrote a fake cleaning check slip. They never pass their cleaning checks and as a result one of them would loose their bed! they totally bought it and showed everyone! immediately a few rooms down the hall we saw elders cleaning and vacuuming and scrubbing down their room! we were cracking up. after about a half an hour they left to go to the front desk in the main building to look for a mattress, we then promptly put his bed back and made it all nice for him and wrote a gotcha note and left it on his pillow! everyone on our floor was cracking up when they saw us moving it back and making it! When elder Jensen came back and saw his mattress he laughed and we all had a good time. to get back at us they broke into our room and set 4 alarms to go off in the middle of the night and they his them all over the room, we got bested! they got us good and we lost a little sleep that night! but we all had fun!

Russell M. Nelson came to speak with us this Tuesday for our devotional and that makes 3 Apostles in 4 weeks! heck ya we are super lucky and they all gave amazing talks! I didnt know how funny they are... this weeks talk was centered around the October special edition of the Ensign. This months edition is all about the book of Mormon! the history, the stories, the book itself, everything!!! i encourage you all to read it! it was soooooooo good! they gave us all our own copy and asked us to read it before the devotional! i loved it! Also i am reading the BOM in Spanish only and it is SLOW but it adds a new dimension to it! the translation is so much more direct and simple i love it! it gives me a different outlook on the way i study and read the BOM.

Well i still havent heard any news from my Visa and time is just ticking by, i think the reason that it didn't come in the first place was because i needed to learn from all the experiences ta ht the lord had in store for me here! and i know that in time and on the lords time it will come when i am needed to teach the people of Peru!

I love hearing form you all and hope and pray that you are all doing well. thank you for all the letters and packages you are all so supportive and i love you with all my heart! i am out of time for now!


I LOVE YOU ALL!
Adios con amor!

Elder Skyler Chaz Davis
Hola! Como Estan Mis Amigos!

I was very tempted to write this in spanish but i know that only a few would be able to understand what i was trying to say! so i faught against the erge and maybe some other time!

I wanted to start off by wishing good ole Dakaota a HAPPY BIG 18th BIRTHDAY! dang you are an old fart! i sent you a pack of depends in the mail!!! haha ok that wasnt that funny... love you buddy and hope you have a great day tomorrow!

Now on with the letter! This week has been some more ups and downs for me, the lord keeps giving me opportunities to learn and grow in all the areas he and i both know that i need. This week whilst in class Elder Heath got heated during one of our district meetings to clear any disputes or things that upset us during the week... He was a little flustered and Elder Jensen made the suggestion that someone calm him down, i asked him to take a minute to calm himself before we continued the meeting. that again didnt seem to sit well with Elder Heath and he got even moer frustrated and started to yell at me and in the end called me some inappropriate names. took a moment to pause and learned from this last experience and took the opportunity to walk out and go get a quick drink of water before any feelings were escalted! that seemed to be the end of that situation and i thought it was handled well.. 3 members in our district made a pack with one another that whenever they were to speak in english they would be required to carry this large rock around with them where ever they went until another one of the spoke in english to take the rock. the 4 remaining elders myself included deceided to decline from this way of motivation of sorts. During lunch my companion Elder Beus had the rock as a consequence of speaking in english. Then Elder Heath said something and everyone laughed and said your turn to carry the rock. i had just gotten my food and returned to the table upon seeing Elder Heath receive the rock. Elder Farnsworth said you better hope someone speaks in english or you are going to have to take the rock to gym! i said ""oh ya heath you better hope someone does, becuase taking the rock to gym would suck".... i didnt think that that was an over the top statement but i guess to him it was perseived in such a manner. upon hearing this Elder Heath burts into anger as fast as you can flip a light switch! he choose the best way of releasing this anger would be to throw his cookie at me in the middle of the lunch room! i was not expecting this and it was not well received! but i learned to bit my tounge and calm my frustrations agian and simply stated "lets not act like we are in 4th grade and throw food, we are more mature than that." i stood up and walked away...
Well nothing around here goes without a meeting with someone in athority and as you can guess Elder Heath and Myself had meetings with our zone leaders last night... but the difference this time is that since in both situations i was not involved in escalating the situation i was called in to give my side of the story! also my entire district got to give an opinion on the matter and seeing how i was not at fault in these confrentations i didnt receive punishment, none the less i am constantly frustrated with the fact that i am put into these types of situations in which i am seen as a problem elder... i have learned from all of this and have done well keeping my cool.. pray for me though i am having a hard time being with Elder Heath 24/7...
well that was my update on that situation for the week, i pray for you all and hope all is going well at home!

Well we arent allowed to speak in english anymore from this time forth and we are all progressing in spanish quite quickly! we are all learning so much.....

Our teacher had 2 younger sisters one is 20 and one is 18! he told us to write them! i am the only who did! it was a funny letter! i told them how i was raised by pigmes in the sahera and then i moved to sun city and changed my name to flynn rider and then becuase a criminal named vector and all this stuff! i made referance to 8 movies it was super funny!

well my time is up and i have to go!

cant wait to hear from you all and hope all is well!

Love
Elder Skyler Chaz Davis

Friday, September 16, 2011

Elder Davis off to the MTC



On Sunday August 21st. Skyler Gave his talk in sacrament, he did a great job! I was very impressed with his comments, sincerity and poise. afterward we had an open house with a probably 50+ people coming thru to wish him well. mostly young women






On August 23rd, Skyler was set apart as an Elder and full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He had a wonderful blessing from our Stake President President Burton.

On August 24th, we said our goodbyes as we dropped him off at the MTC in Provo Utah. He was ready and excited to be there full of smiles !!!!!