July 9th, 2012

 

Hola Todos!

Well this week reading emails was emotional on many fronts!

First off,

CONGRATS ELDER DAKOTA DAVIS!!!!! THE HMONG PEOPLE OF FRESNO CALIFORNIA ARE GOING TO LOVE YOU!!!! GOOD LUCK LEARNING HMONG! I KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO BE AN AMAZING MISSIONARY AND THE LORD HAS MANY GREAT THINGS IN STORE FOR YOU!!!

Secondly, i would like you Dad to keep me the most updated on Grandpas situations! I will fast for him and keep him in each and every one of my prayers! Docotrs say terminal cancer and i say... for with God nothing shall be impossible unto you!... This is going to be a rough week for me concentrating in this work while this is going on back home, but i know that this is part of the lords plan for Grandpa and i am with him forever!


Many things have happened this week and i have learned so much from all the experiences i have had. First off we met our new Mission President, President Rowely and Hermana Rowley tuesday. They are great! although they are still learning spanish and getting used to the mission you can feel their immense spirit and we all know he has been given the keys to carry out the work in this part of the world! we will move forward, nobly and boldly with a firm faith in Chirst knowing we are behind our preisthood leaders!

I hope you all had a great independance day! my comp and i threw together a few videos that i hope made it out to all of you celebrating the 4th here in Piura! haha just another day in the mission feild!

Well we had a great baptism this week of our great friend Rosggy! he is cousins with the family that we live with. The family we live with is super catholic and although they treat us like sons, want nothing to do with the church! and havent for the 3 years missionaries have lived here! He although did listen and has pasted for many set of missionaries! He was never really sure about the church and when he left with his friends we were worried that he would fall away.... He began to read the book of mormon and we invited him to really read it. In his baptisms ( he was baptised by one of my best friends in the mission Elder Frame) he gave a powerful testimony of how he came to know the book of mormon and the church was true! he is older than 18 and solo made the decision to be baptised although his family doesnt support him and the family we live with can not know! haha he is going to be a great future missionary! i love this kid!!!!

Something i learned this week that really hit me was taught to me by one of our old investigatores that we had not visited in over a month! Rosa Jara is a 21 year old who when we met her had recently given birth with her boyfriend.... she lost the baby 28 days after he was born due to complications and she was destroyed, she would not accept us anymore, wasnt eating, wasnt sleeping, she was in great depression! We visited everyday and everyday she turned us away! This week we had an appointment fall through close to her house and we stopped to pray to find direction as to where we should go, we both felt to visit her and she accepted us right away! she is doing great and has said that the book of mormon and the pamphlet of the plan of salvation that we left with her is helpping so much! at the end of the lesson we invited her to pray, she did so and in her prayer is when i learned a great lesson! She thanked God for having had such a trail in her life, because she knew that it was to make her grow stronger and she thanked god for her progress! it made me stop and think about how strong she was to thank god for this!!!! thats crazy!!!! what love for her father in heaven! i have never thanked god for my trails i usually am upset about having them! i deceided to take a turn and change the way i think about trails and hard times in my life! i thought about ether 12 27 when the lord says he shows us our weaknesses to make them strengths unto us! i am truely thankful for all my trails now and i know it is because the lord wants me to progress and grow!


Last night we were asked by a less active family that i have never met before to give an urgent blessing of health.... we entered their house late last night before going home and found Brother Thomas Ruiz, he is an 83 year old brother who is failing of health, his family begged is to give him a blessing and my companion wanted to give the blessing and i was then asked to preform the uncion.... i placed my hands on his head and anointed his head with consegrated oil, as soon as i put my hands on his head i felt the lord tell me that it was his time to come home..... i was shocked!!!! i didnt know what to say or what to do!!! i paused and was silent for a while! i finished and then it was my companions turn to give the blessing. He gave the blessing and in part stopped for a good minute or so, we were waiting for him to say something and i looked over and found him looking at me...... he finished the blessing and we made a return appointment for tuesday to see how he is doing...
we left the home of the family and just looked at each other.... we rounded the corner and just stopped without saying anything to one another.... Like me my comp had heard the voice of the father calling brother thomas home, when he paused in the blessing he told me he was told to tell brother thomas that his father in heaven was calling him home.... i told him that i felt the same way and we were astonished that we both received this angelic manifestation! we kept borhter thomas in our prayers and are thinking about him constantly....we are not sure if he has gone to the other side, but we both felt last night that it was his time to return to the father..... we will see what is to happen with Brother Thomas, although he is is still fighting, it is only part of the lords plan of happiness, and thats how we should look at it, with happiness!!!! he is only to go to a better place to be greated by our savior and father in heaven!

well i love you all and hope to hear from you all this next week!










 

a 4th of July Message from Elder Davis

July 2, 2012

Hola Como Estan Todos!

Well this has been a rather uneventful week for us and its nice to take a bit of a break from all the drama and crazy experiences and just work work work!

My companion and i are together 7 more weeks and we are just fine with that! out of all my companions he is probably my favorite! we get along great and work well together! we are always joking around but teach so strongly with the spirit! i feel like we have great unity and thats what makes a companionship so strong..

We have a new mission president! We had the farewell of President Chipman this tuesday and got to take some pictures with him and sister chipman and i sent them to you! it was good to see how influencial he has been in so many young people lives here! missionaries and members and investigators alike! i hope all is well with him and will keep him in my thoughts and prayers!!!!

A funny story for this week, we were in zone meetings this week and they are starting a new thing taht each companionship makes a goal for how many baptisms they are going to have in the transfer... this was how the numbers went.... 2,3,2,2,2,3 and then it came to my companion and i....6!!!! haha they all thought we were crazy and my comp and i just laughed knowing that it is very possible to do! They asked us if we were serious and if we wanted to change our minds we just laughed and said oh ye of little faith!!!! my companion and i have deceided we are going to baptise 6 people or a family of 6 this transfer and are wokring harder than ever to do so! we know that if we put in our part and wokr hard and are obedient the lord will provide a way for us! we will see!!!!!

another great thing is that my pld President, President Chipman organized a mission reunion in salt lake for all the Returned missionaries from this mission and thier friends and family and all those who are currently serving, well thier friends and families too! so you are all invited to go and meet him and hear all about the mission!

july 14th
6:30 pm
yelcrest ward
1035 south 18th east
salt lake city!

hope you all have fun if you go! tell papi chipman i love him and miss him!

well i havent yet met President Rowely but i imagine he is a really good guy and going well to guide this mission in the direction the lord would have us go! so with time i am sure i will come to know him!

we went to a PERUVIAN KFC today with a bunch of my buddies! it was the first time i have had fast food in such a long time! and the greatest part about it was i didnt have to eat rice for once! haleluah!!!! haha i sent you all some pictures about that too! so i hope you enjoy them....

My comp and i are making plans so that i can come back to chiclayo with him when i return from the mission to visit and we are going to go visit our areas and go to the beaches and go dancing! haha gonna be fun!!!! well if i ever get the money to do sed activity! haha

well i love you all and i think thats about all i have for you this week!

love you lots!

June 25th, 2012

Hola Como Estan Todos?!

Howdy everyone! well this week has been full of lots of exciting things and some others haha

Well My companion and i had an interesting week working with a few of the Rumors that are still going around about us, they are so very frustrating as a missionary! People are always judging you trying to find the bad and not seeing all the good that we are doing! We have had a week full of confrentations with a few members in the ward who are trying to destroy our desire to work here in the area. We know that we are not and have not done anything wrong and will keep working hard to advance the work here. Unfortunatly Satan has his many ways to combate the work and this time it is with rumors and bad taking the missionaries.

We had Transfers today and seeing that there hasnt been a missionary here in the area that has stayed longer than 3 transfers i was bags packed all ready for the new, waiting to go to an area where i could work hard from morning till night and see some results.... like all good comedy God knows better than to let me off the hook that easily and deceided i needed to learn something else here in Micaela BAstidas! thats right my comp and i are staying in our same area for 7 more weeks! we are done training and yet are staying together! i dont mind that i am going to be with Elder Arboleda for another 7 weeks we get along great!!! and we have never had anything close to a problem, but it is going to be a challenge staying in the area, i love the people and i love the members, we just need to keep pressing on with faith and hard work and i am sure everything will all work out!

Another fun thing that happened this week was that i was asked by president to be translater for a group of opthamologists who were going to be in town doing a free clinic for 2 days here in piura, since they are from utah and dont speak spanish they asked the mormon missionaries to get the job done! it was amazing being a translator!!!! i loved every single second of it! I met a lot of great people! Suprising to me i met a group or family named the Crittles, Richard and yoan crittle they are from cache valley utah!!! woot woot! go logan! i also met another young man they is 17 from logan that went to logan high school he was a service volunteer and we became good friends over the 2 days that we were there! his name is Jacob Hogan and i got all his information so that when i return we can hang out! I also met another great guy named Chris who is actually from day break utah and lives within minutes from my house and knows where i live too! cool huh! it was a fun few days translating and learning how to run all the equiptment and doing a bunch of eye exams! it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about one of the feilds i am thinking about persuing! (opthomolagy) which is just an eye surgeon!

I have been reading a lot and memorizing my patriarichal blessing and it talks a lot about my professional service and what it is that i should do with my life, i have been praying and pondering a lot about waht i would like to do with my life and as of so far 3 things really come to mind as things i would like to do or one of which i mean.. they are as followed but in no particular order...

firstly, this experiencde translating for all these doctors has been a great chance for me to learn all about eyes and being an eye doctor thats great because thats always been something that i was interested in and it is a very good job...

secondly i have been thinking in somehting new, being here in Peru i see sooooo much potential for international business and exportation! there is so much that can be done here to make a profit and also benifit the lives of so many poeple! i am finding new ways each and every day that i can find a way to use international business here...

Thirdly, and right now it is what i am leading most to is...... Neurosurgury!!! haha i know it sounds crazy but there is something that facinates me about the human brain and i have been thinking and praying alot about what would be a good job and i always come back to thinking about becoming a neurosurgeon! It takes a lot of studying and a lot of dedication but it also is a great job pays very well and i get to do something amazing, well if i deceide to do it and that would be saving lives! i dont know yet there are still so many possibilities that i could do i am just favoring that one for right now! we will see how things turn out in the future!!!

well this week the 29th Presidnet Rowely is coming into town and the 30th president chipman leaves with his wife and they finish their missions! it is so crazy to have a chane in mission presidnets! but i know that president Rowley has been called of God and will do great things here in the mission over the next 3 years! Tomrrow is the farewell for Preswident Chipman and its going to be a sad experience but its also going to be great to see how things change in the mission!

I will let you all know more about that change this next week when it really happens!

If you would like there is a song here that is actually evangelica but its has a good message about religion and things like that, you can try to find it! i love it personally... its called.. Aqui estoy yo by Jesus Adrain Romero

well i will write you all later in the afternoon and reply to your personal emails right now we have to go to meet with some members!

i love you all and hope to hear from you very soon!

June 18, 2012

Hello Everyone,

this is going to be a short letter we dont have time today for internet, sorry.

Things are going great we are working hard and this next week is transfers so i will let you all know about it the next week.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!! to all you fathers out there i love you so much dad and you are the greatest! i am truely sorry for all that i put you through and i did to seperate and destroy the family. i didnt understand how truely painful it was to you all...

We had a great activity friday and we sang and played the peruvian flute in front of 500 people! legit i know! haha i was a bit nervous but it all worked out!

well thats all i have for you i am sorry so short i am fine!

love you all

 

 

June 11, 2012

Hello Everyone,


first off....

CONGRATS ON THE WEDDING ZACH AND KELSEY!!! I LOVE YOU BOTH TO DEATH AND WISH YOU ALL THE BEST!!!!

Well i can not beleive it but my oldest brother finally tied the knot! And i must give a lot of credit to my new sister in law Kelsey who vowed to put up with him for time and all eternity! Heaven knows that aint to easy task! haha just kidding! i love you both so much and wish i could have been there, but there are other things i am currently doing that are some what of importantce as well. I know that you both will make an amazing couple and will be blessed with many happy and wonderful years! Saturday was a day full of reflection for me here in the mission, knowing that thousands of miles away that this wedding was taking place and that i am here. I congratulate you will all my heart and wish you all the best in the years to come, let they be long and joyful. here is a poem that i like that i shared a while ago but i thought it applied in this case as well... always remember these words and you will never have a bad day.

What is Love?

Love is always paciente and kind,
it is never jealous.
Love is never boastful nor conseded,
it is never rude or selfish.
Love does not take offense and is never resentful,
Love takes no pleasure in other peoples sins,
but delights in the truth.
It is always ready to Excuse, to Trust, and to Endure....whatever comes.
TRUE LOVE NEVER ENDS!

1 corinthians 13: 4-8

Again i wanted to tell you that i love you both and wish you all the best! Kelsey welcome to the family sis and i look forward to meeting you here in about 14 months! All i can hope for you now is that you make me an Uncle!!!!!!! hahahahaha get on it!

Well Friday we had a rough day, we met with a young man named Alexis Montero Coico who has been investigating the church for more than a year now. He has attended church more than we can count and still he is hesitant to be baptised. We have worked and worked and worked at helpping him recognize an answer to his prayers but to no avail. This friday was the do or die lesson with Alexis, there comes a time in the relationship with an investigator where you have to make the painful decision to focus your time else where if they arent progressing in the gospel. Firday we met with Alexis and finally got the root of his problem, he didnt understand fully the book of mormon and had not yet gained a testimony of its teachings! We spent a long time with him answering his questions and reading different passages with him to help more fully explain what it is that the book of mormon is and what it teaches us. At the end of it all we told him that we would give him a second to ponder what it is that he had read and understood from us and then to kneel down and offer up a prayer to our heavenly father to ask to know if it is true. He did so and i felt the spirit so so strongly that i was sure he had received his answer! when he finally spoke he told us that he didnt feel anything and he didnt think the church was true! i was shocked!!!! i didnt know what to do! i was sure he was going to receive an answer! we couldnt have done anymore. and with a broken heart and so much pain we had to let him know that he would need to continue his search without us, until he felt ready to really search honestly to know if it was true.....we pray for him everyday.

This week didnt end on a sour note though, we had the amazing baptism of a young man named Isaac Leonardo Garcia TImana! he is a young man who has been attending church for a few months! he was always very excited about the gospel and progressing very well. The problem with this situation was that his mother was a less active and was not interested yet in returning to the church! We worked and worked and worked with the family to try our best to rebuild the excitment they have for the gospel. It was an interesting experience because his aunt who is also less active but lives in the same house is deaf and mute, so i learned a bit of spanish sign language to communicate with her! its super fun! Yesterday we had the service of Isaac and it was the first time his mother has attended church in years! she bursted into tears and bore a powerful testimony during his baptism! not only are we being blessed with a baptism but we are also reactivating an entire family! it feels really good.

We are still working with a few of the nasty rumors that are going on about us, but we know that we arent doing anything wrong and we are working hard to prove that to one and all, but at the end of the day it doesnt matter to me, because i know my lord and savior is proud of me! I didnt ahve a run in with the president of the young womens organization the other day, we were speaking with her councilor in church and she came up and tried to tell us that we werent allowed to counsil with here organization without her, then she got angry because i ignored that comment and told me i was welcome to leave. and then promptly esscorted us out of the room in church.... you would be very happy to know that i kept my tounge and didnt say a single rude word! in fact i apologized for causing hard feelings and expressed that it wasnt my intention to do so. i think she felt a little dumb because she didnt know how to respond to that. But at least i can say i didnt react badly.... PROVERBS 13:29 and PROVERBS 21:23! thanks to these 2 scriptures! woot woot!

WEll another fun thing happened this week, President is having a going away partyish thing because he is finishing his mission the 26th of this month! We invited the 3 stakes that make up all of Piura! He asked me and 4 other elders to sing a special musical number in front of EVERYONE!!!! i am super nervous! haha i dont sing!!!! but i am very excited knowing the lord will provide and i hope it will be spiritually edifying! who knows... it is this friday at 7!! yikes!

well i think thats all that i ahve for you for the week if i have anything new to tell you i will write it down for the next week!

i am off to singing practice right now but will finish my internet time in the afternoon so if you want to send a response i will try and get a quick letter out to you in the afternoon!

i love you all and miss you all!

pictures from 6-4-2012

June 4, 2012

Hello Everyone,

Interesting week we had here in our area. First off i sent a lot of pictures of us doing some service! haha we had to strip paint of a much of metalic windows and doors!! we had to do it all with sand paper and was a pretty messy job but it did make for some good pictures! i hope you all enjoy them.

This week i started something new... its a book more like a scripture journal i have called... quien soy yo?... which means who am i. When i am reading the scriptures and i find a christ like attribute i like or a scripture that i like or would describe the person i want to be i write it all down and memorize the scripture... i have some like... proverbs 14:29, proverbs 21:23, proverbs 16:16, 1 corinthians 9:14 things like that! but one of my favorites comes from 1 corinthians 13:4-8 there ius a poem that comes from these verses that i really like...it talks about charity.

Love is always pacient and kind,
it is never jealous,
Love is never boastful nor conseded,
it is never rude or selfish,
it does not take offense and is never resentful,
Love takes no pleasure in other people sins,
but delites in the truth
Love is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure.....whatever come.
True love never ends!

its a good set of scriptures...

We had enterveiws with the President this week and it was very good to have our last enterviews with him. He will be finishing his mission in less than a month and we will be receiving a new President, PResident Rowley from santiquin utah! I am going to miss President Chipman and all he did for me as a missionary. I have learned so much from him. He told me and my companion that out of the entire mission we are baptising the most! it felt so good to be able to know that the lord is happy with the work that we are doing. IN 7 weeks that my companion has as a missionary he has 6 baptisms... this was the first week we didnt ahve a baptism... but we have 2 next week and 2 the week after! keep us in your prayers!

we did have an unfortunate event happen this week, yesterday the buishop call us into his office and tol dus that there were rumors going around in the ward about us. This caught me by suprise and i was shocked at what he was about to say next. he told us that many of the members have been saying that we are corrupting the young mens organization, that we have fallen in love and done inappropriate things with the young women, have been inappropriate with the primary of the ward, and that we arent working and taking our calling as missionaries seriously! He told us that we are doing our jobs and that we need to change! i cant beleive the bishop accused me of being imappropriate with a child! i have never even picked a child up!!!!!!!!


I WAS SOOOOOOOO UPSET! i began to loose my pacients with the bishop! i wanted to klnow who was saying these horrible things and figure out what it was that they were saying them! apparently we have lost the support of the leaders of the ward, we figured out that it was the president of the young womens organization that started many of the rumors, she found out that apparently one of the oyung women has feelings for one of us and started these so taht we would get transfered out of the area!

out of the entire stake our ward has had the most baptisms and converts for 3 months straight and the bishop is going to make all these false claims at me! i was so hurt and so frustrated that i had to leave, my companion and i left to our room and knelt down to pray and plead pacients and help from the lord. i do not know what is to become of all these rumors but i am informing the president so that he knows that this is going on and we can get it worked out without any problems....

i realize that we have nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to get down, it just hurts to know that we are doing all we can to help and serve these people and they would say these things about us! as a missionary you come to love the people so much that to see this happen really is hard on a missionary and you do loose a bit of focus, because you feel so terrible. but i do know care what people think about me and my companion! i know the lord is proud of what we are doing here and we have never ever ever done anything to unbecome a missionary! we will continue to press forward with a firm faith in christ and do all we can here, at least for the time we have left!

well please keep us in your prayers for these things! i have an upsetting feeling like satan is really trying to stop the work we are doing and has been successful in hurting our ward, pray for them and pray for us! i hope lal this gets worked out!

love elder davis



 

photo's from 5-28-2012

May 28, 2012

Hello Everyone,

Well this week has been like every other full of ups and downs!

First off, i would like to explain a little about Pedro the young man that we were helpping. Pedro is a young man very special to us, he is not completly mentally capable of understanding the consequenses of his actions and what he does due to his disability. This week we encountered Pedro sitting on the corner of the street crying. We approached him and asked him what had happened and he related a story that he had had a fight with the family that was helpping to take care of him. As a result of sed argument the family had kicked him out and was no longer willing to take care of him. The family with whom Pedro was living is not the best example. The brother was recently released from prison and he and the father are members of the local gang here, envolved in robbing, assault and other crimes. We were very worried for Pedro and his well being, we took him to the house of a member and got him something to eat, because he had not eaten that day. We left immediatley and went to the house of Julio which is the father with whom pedro was living, it was late and everyone in the family was heavliy drunk. We could not find a better solution, so we took the few clothes that Pedro posses and left without having the chance to speak with the family.

We got pedro settled in with a Sister in the ward who has 2 specail children and was willing to take him in and give him a home. One of her kids is a very specail young lady named stacy, stacy is 13 years old and can not really speak and is partly deaf, but she has a great spirit and everyone in the ward including us as missionaries love her to death!

About an hour later we deceided that we could not help Pedro leave without speaking with the family. After kneeling and offering a prayer of protection we left to confront the father of the family, who unfortunatley was a bit intoxicated. We conversed with him keeping our distance and being aware of what could happen. He told us a completely different story than that which Pedro had told us. He told us that Pedro was a misbehaved young man, he couldnt control his sexual desires, and was very violent at times. My companion and i couldnt beleive and didnt beleive what he had told us, judging him to be and angry drunk. He told us that because Pedro left from an orphanage we would have to go there and speak with the director to let them know pedro was in our care.

We had gotten to the home at about 8 pm and met with the director, he informed us all about Pedros past, why he was in the home and what things had happened while in the home. Sadly we had Judged Julio without taking the time to fully learn each and every side of the story and we had acted very swiftly when we shouldnt have done so! the Director confirmed that as part of his problem Pedro can not control his desires and had attacked 2 workers while in the home, also he is a habitual liar and is very convincing.

All at once it hit me like a train! my own self pitty and guilt for what i had done. We had removed Pedro from a family, although corrupt as they may be, a family who was willing to put up with him and take care of him! We had put him in a home where he was able to put at risk a family that we love and care about and had made a complete full of ourselves thinking that we were doing whats right for him, and him knowing this entire time that he was lying to us and fooling us.

as hard as it was to do, we swallowed our pride and immediatley returned to Julio and his family, who at this point were all drunk and all furious! Where they live is called an invasion, where people just build shaks and there is no light and its in the middle of nowhere. We were worried that things were going to become violent with this family and kept a prayer with in our hearts!

We went and asked forgivness and told them that we were wrong and that we owed them an apology and did all we could to bare out our hearts and ask forgivness. IN the drunkest state that he was, Julio forgave us, just like that and told us that he was willing to do what he could to help. We RAN to the sisters house in the ward with whom pedro was living and pulled him out of there! we had him confess it all and had to have him be removed from the house because he had thoughts about stacy, and if anything happened to her i would kill Pedro! Anyway... we gathered all together the two families us and pedro at about 9:30 at night when we should have been in our room, we didnt know what to do with Pedro and niether one of the families would take him in knowing of his past....

Pedro was furious with everyone and wouldnt talk to anyone, he just got really quite and said he was fine and wanted to leave and live in the street, we did all we could to try and convince him to come with us and we would take him back to the orphanage... he wouldnt go. he was mad, he had been found out and he had been thrown out again....

At this point my heart was breaking to see him like this, but he would no longer accept our help. IT was very late and we needed to get home and eat dinner and plan, we had no other chice but to give him his clothes and let him go.... i will NEVER forget the image of him walking alone in the dark down the street as we walk in the opposite direction, and then turning back to see him sit on the corner and cry... i could do nothing to help him, i had done all i could and more, and he yet lied, deceived and put at risk the ones i love..... i wanted to turn back but my comp kept me strong and we pressed on.

We got the the pension very late and we hadnt said a word since we left pedro, she asked what had happened why we were late and told us we looked like a train wreck. i sat down at the table and my comp offered the blessing on the food and then i lost all sense of self control and just cried...... my pension realiezed what was going on and asked my comp for an explaination.

i couldnt help it, i felt so terrible for having to leave him and yet i knew i had done all i could do within my power to help this poor young man.... that night i didnt sleep much.. to this day i do not know what has become of pedro but i know he is out there and i keep him close in my thoughts and prayers.... he needs help more than we could offer but mentally, so that he can straighten out his life....

i learned a great deal from this and 2 things stick out to me.... as a missionary you have so much love for the people you serve you are willing to do anything for them.... and to see them fail, or fall, or be let go breaks your heart. But more importantly, i learned to never judge.... i took Julio, a drunk, rough gang member to be someone he wasnt, when all reality he was giving of his house, food, time and clothing to help a poor young man. And i took pedro a poor homeless 19 year old boy for just that, when in all reality he had played me and everyone else like a deck of cards.

The week didnt end on that sad note though, we did have an amazing baptism yesterday and are being very blessed here in our area! we have been really focusing on Preisthood holders and are preparing 5 young men for the mission! Andy Inga is the younger brother of another recent convert Darwin, who was baptised 2 weeks ago. Andy was never interested too much in the church and only recently started to attend church, he was very unsure about baptism when we extended the invitation to be baptised, we knelt in that same moment with him and he offered a pray, and received his answer. Yesterday i had the amazing blessing to preform the service and i will never forget after leaving the water, they shut the doors to the font and andy hugged me and thanked me for not giving up on him, when he had given up on himself we didnt and that made all the difference in the world to him.

The mission is truely the greatest and shortest 2 years that you will ever experience in your entire life, and you learn more about people and yourself with each and everyday! i know that the lord is walking where i have walked and inspiring me to say the things that he would have me say! this work is real and i can not and will not and never will deny that i have a father in heaven who is there for me and my lord and savior Jesus Christ knows me and loves me, and my job know is to show that same love to the people here in Piura Peru... its a great task, but with God nothing is impossible!

i love you all!

May 21, 2012

Hello Everyone,

This week i would like to inform you all of a change that was made in the mission in order to send a package to the mission you will need to put this address!

deleted and added current mailing info

just fyi, since I am behind the mailing address is now

Chad Alvin Rowley
Elder Skyler Davis
Misiòn Perù Piura
Mz. H Lt. 4
Urb. Los Geranios
Piura Peru


if you dont put the name Andrew Stephenson it is dificult for me to receive them because he is the office elder who goes and receives our pachages so they need to be in his name. for future reference...

Alrighty then this week was a great week, we had many ups in the spirit and like usual it just proves to me that this is the work of Heavenly Father and he is proud of the work we are doing here in Micaela Bastidas!

About a month ago we were meeting with a young man named Grover, he is 22 years old and lives on his own and works in his house a carpenter. He was raised Catholic and was eager to hear the message we had to offer. We taught him 2 lessons and things were going great! When we introduced the Book of Mormon he was a bit hesitant to accept it, he had always beleived in the Bible but was very closed minded to new scriptures. We continued to visit him for a breif time when one day we went to visit him and he told us that he could not accept the book of mormon to be true because he had not received an answer from God. We deceided to leave him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and told him that if he read it and prayed to God he would receive his answer! He told us that it would take a miracle for something big to change in his life to know that it was true, my companion and i bore the most sincere testimonies we could and left it in the hands of the lord... We didnt visit grover for several weeks knowing that the lord would tell us when it was time to help him once again. This week my companion and i had an appointment fall through and we stood on the corner of a street and offered a prayer to know where to go, we both looked at one another and just started to walk, when we arrived at Grovers house we knocked the door and he welcomed us in. When i entered the house i knew something had changed! i could feel the spirit so strong and i knew that he had changed. He told us that he had read the chapter we had left him, he prayed and received his answer! We didnt know but he used to be a heavy smoker waiting and trying to quit! the moment he offered his prayer he told us that he had lost the urge to smoke and for 20 days now he had been smoke free! he told us that with our testimonies and his prayer he knew that he had received his miracle. He told us that he would like to be baptised but would like to wait and resolve other problems he is facing with his family right now! I know that the lord answers prayers and that he is here walking where we walk and filling our hearts with the words that we are to say to help reach his other children!


We are working with a young man named Pedro, he is 19 and is a special soul. He is partly handicapped mentally, he is socially very open but does not understand or retain information. When he was a young kid, his father used to beat him and one day through him out... he lived in a place named casahogar which is to help young people that didnt have families and needed somewhere to go. When you complete 18 years they kick you out and you are required to live on your own, we encountered him sleeping in the street one day and my heart broke to see him like he was. He is very short and with his disability he looks just like a child. When we found him he didnt have clothes or shoes or where to sleep or food to eat. The mission rules are very clear about what we are supposed to do and the things we are should do to help the less fortunate, but following the rules wouldnt be enough to help young pedro, he needed somewhere to live something to eat and someone to help him overcome the life he has lived.... We gave him all that we had in that moment and found a family who would take him in and feed him and clothe him... that night i dont think i slept more than a few hours, my companion and i got up in the middle of the night and just talked about all that we could do to help him.... we deceided we would do all that we can to help him, it brings me to tears seeing him like that knowing that i can do something to help him. He is now living with a family, he has 3 square meals a day and is clothed and working! Pedro is so specail to me and i know that even though we broke a mission rule by giving him money to by food, we kept the commandments in serving those who are without.

We had another amazing experience this week saturday night, we had been meeting with a young man named Andy ^chino^ Inga, his brother darwin is a recent convert that we baptised this last week. Andy had been assisting church but had never known if it was true and he never received an answer to hus prayers. We met with him saturday night late at 8:30 and we taught about baptism, we told him that we knew he was ready and we would help him prepare for baptism this 27th of May, he told us he was nervous and finally told us his doubt, he didnt know if the church was true. We told him the only way he could know was to pray to and ask God and that if he did so he would receive an answer. We knelt in that same moment and Andy offered one of the most direct prayers i have ever heard from a 13 year old young man in my life! he told god that if this was his church then he would be baptised. When he said amen we waited in silence, and more silence and more silence. We were there 5 minutes kneeling without saying a word. Finally Chino spoke, he told us that he knew. I asked him how he could be so sure, he told me that he felt a purification and that the church is true and that he would be baptised this 27th!

Viton is a young man who we had the great blessing to baptise this week!!!! he is 15 years old and was a very strong evangelico when we found him. we met viton playing futbol one day and he told us that he would be open to having us come and visit. We did so and he was very receptive to the gospel and as soon as we said the words he knew they were true. The only problem that we had was his mother would not permit him to be baptised. A month ago we met with his mother and asked her permission to preform the service and she told us that she would not allow it! he was welcome to attend church but could not be baptised. We continued to try and make small talk with her each and every time we visited! This week he told us to stop by his house and that he had told his mom that he was going to be baptised but she accepted because he knew it was true. We went to visit her and speak with her again. She told us that Viton had spoken with her and that she didnt think he was ready to be baptised still. Worse yet his older sister came in and started to tell us that he was misbehaved and she doesnt want him to be baptised either. I kept a silent prayer in my heart and put my faith in the lord that he would give me the words that i was to say in order to help viton! He was upset that his family could not see what it was in the Gospel that he saw and when his sister told him all these he freaked out and fell into tears! he told her that he was going to be baptised because he knew that the church was true and that it was the right choice to make! His mom was suprised and he received permission! it was amazing to feel the great spirit that was in that room and i know that the lord was there and that he helpped soften the heart of his mother and that Viton will be a strong young man in the gospel

There is nothing greater than this work! i am scared to leave it and greatful that i yet have so much to do for the lord here in Peru! i hope you all remember forever all that the lord has done for you and what it is that you can do for him to show him your love and gratitude!

May 14th 2012

Hello Everyone,


Well first off i wanted to wish all you moms out there a Happy Mothers Day and tell you all that i love you!

this week we had 2 great great great baptisms! one of which was very special to me! his name is Darwin inga i have been working with him for almost 3 months and bvefore he had passed for 5 sets of missionaries, he told me that he wasnt ready to be baptised and was confused between our church and the catholic church, all we could do was tell him to keep praying and to bare testimony, after hours and hours of visiting him, praying for him and helpping him overcome doubts he toldus that he had received his answer and he knew our church was true!

he told us that a voice spoke to him and told him.... why dont you get baptised in the true church of god?... and he knew that it was our church! it was such a spiritual experience and i loved every sencond of the baptism! when he left the water we went to change and he told me he could feel the sins leave him and then he hugged me and started to cry and told me that he prayed long and hard to find someone who could change his life and the lord sent me! i felt soooo overwhelmed that i could help make this impact on someones life and now he is preparing for the mission!!!!!!!!!!

i love this kid he means the world to me and it makes me feel so good to be able to have helped someone like that change his life and to come to know the truth it is a truely humbling experiemce to be a part of this work i know that it is true and there is nothing better to wake up every morning and put on the name badge and to know that every single day i represent my lord and savior jesus christ!

well i dont have a lot of time but i love you all and hope to hear from you all next week!

May 7th 2012

Hello one and all,

well first off thank you all so much for the happy birthday wishes! that was so nice of all of you! it made me feel really good thank you so much!

Well this week was a good week, elder Arboleda and i have been working really hard to be successful and we are learning a lot about pacientce! we are seeing a lot of different struggles here but are never down on ourselves! we know that the lord is on our side and that we will be successful! this week we had 3 baptisms that all fell through again on sunday morning before the baptismal service and it was a but hard to see happen, but there was a reason for it and something to be learned from it, you will never be more humble than on the mission! you try so hard to work and work and work and serve and serve and serve only to be let down at the last moment!

we have worked a lot this week and are ready for the 3 baptisms we ahve again this sunday! we are very excited again... we will keep working and keep your fingers crossed for us!

this week is mothers day!! and to all you mothers out there i wanted to wish you a....

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!! I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!!!

Well we had a great birthday party this week with a family in the ward and here in Peru apparently there is a great tradition that they try and make a cake on your head by slamming eggs and sugar and flour and milk on your head and face! and being that we are missionaries and that the member here love this tradition with us gringos! i received a lot of destruction yesterday! i sent a few photos and we have some good video of what happened but the video is too long i cant send it! needless to say it was a good birthday! i love the poeple here they are the greatest!!!!

well i love you all and hope all is well! i miss you like crazy and wish you all the best!

April 30th, 2012

Dear Everyone,


well this week has been one of the strangest and one of my favorite weeks of my life! haha let me explain but as a precourser to this letter i just wanted to make sure that you mom do not freak out please!

well here in peru we have a fun problem every saturday morning till tuesday morning about 80 percent of the population here in Miceala Bastidas are drunk and when i mean drunk i mean really really drunk, and there are no police here to regulate so you can imagine what kind of thigs happen... drunks are driving all the time and there are always crashes, which is actually sometimes funny to see, as sad as that sounds.... but anyway. The other day (saturday) my companion and i were walking down the street at about 7 or 730 at night and there were a bunch of drunks going at it on the corner, we deceided that it wouldnt be the best idea to go that directoin and deceided to swiftly make a 180 and go the other way, well they didnt like taht too much and started shouting at us (some very vulgar things) i wasnt too pleased by what was being said and was about to turn around and say something when i heard a voice in my ear, the voice told me (run and run now!) i didnt understand what was going on at first i thought that my companion had said something to me and i asked him...he said he hadnt said anything, again the thought came to me (run and run now!) right as that voice came into my ear again i turned around to see one of the drunks pull out a pistol and point it at us shouting that he was going to kill the mormons!!!! i grabbed my comp by the backpack and shouted !pistol corre! all the sudden we heard 4 shouts very quickly! the drunks were actually trying to kill us!!!! haha what the heck is going on i was thinking! i guess his gun jammed because he shouted that the next time he saw us he would kill us and we turned the corner and just kept going, we didnt look back to see if they were following or anything.... but only after it had all calmed down and we had made it to a members house we knelt down and prayed and gave thanks to god that he had protected us in this week.... the voice again came into my head and i heard (follow me) i thought this time for sure the lord was telling me something and so at the first sign of this impression i was up off my knees and walking, i didnt know where to but i was walking, my companion was confused and we were both a little catter brained at what had just happened but we kept walking....... we got the a bend where there were two roads and we didnt know which road to take.... so i just kept walking....

my comp and i arrived at an investigators house that we had been teaching for a long time but was never really a candidate for baptism because she was alwaus really quite and never really showed that much interest... she is in a part member family and her family is less active and a hard drinker..... we knocked the door right about as it was time that we should be in our room and i didnt know what was going to happen next i was just doing as told and (following him) she opened the door and told us that she had just finished saying a prayer that we would come visit her again soon, she told us that she had been attending church for 3 months and last night she received her answer to her prayers and that tomorrow she would like to be baptised!!!! what!!!!!

That night i made a call the the zone leaders and we organized an interveiw the next morning after sacrament and planned the baptism for sunday after the meetings (yesterday).... we spent all morning inviting all the members that we could hoping to receive support.... the most members that have ever attened one of our baptisms is 13! we ended the meeting and she passed the interveiw and was all ready to be baptised... we took photos of my comp all ready to preform for the second time a baptism when we looked in the room where the font is and it was FULL of people! we had over 50 people crammed into a room for 30!!! it was such an amazing experience and i know that Maria felt the love of the ward and support for her! the spirit was so strong there and i know that the lord had quided us and protected us so that we could be lead to her door and so that she could be baptised in this week!

we had finished the service when another investigator approached us and told us that the next week she too would like to be baptised!!!! we have been visiting Josmirah for 3 weeks and she has never shown much interest! her mom is a less active and her father is an investigator!!! she told us that she had asked permission from them and that she would like to be baptised this sunday on my birthday!!!! woot woot! the best birthday gift ever! to see my comp have his 3rd baptism!!! i am super excited about what is happening in our area and i know that miracles exist each and ever day if we only look for them! we were shot at, and protected, lead by the spirit to a baptism, and because we were obedient and faithful given another this sunday!

i love this work! the lord lives and guides us each and everyday! i know the holy ghost i real!!!! he speaks to me and i can hear his voice! for some it is a feeling for some it is a thought but for me God speaks through his holy messanger and i know that he loves me and guides me! this church is true! we are his messangers and salvation never was easy or never will be! in order for us to experience salvation we need to experience a little only a small amount of what our lord and savior suffered when he bled from every pore when he was nailed like a theif and sinner to the cross, and being the only truly perfect missionary in this world! he gave his life for this work and i am willing to do so as well! for i am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ! i will run from door to door and when i am tired and my feet ache and i cant run i will crawl from door to door! and when my knees are bloody and my legs wont move i will drag myself door to door and when i can not do so anymore i will shout and i will yell until each and everyone of gods children here in micaela bastidas have heard the message of the restaured gospel and each and everyone of my brothers and sisters know that JESUS is the CHRIST! the son of the only true and living GOD!!!!

i love you all! never forget all that he has done for you and do all you can to do that same thing for others around you!

April 30, 2012

Hello Everyone,

well this week has been a bit rough here for us in the mission, but we are pressing on and never giving up.. i am called to remember quotes from a jeffery R Holland talk that i heard recently... he said... Salvation NEVER was Easy, and to help others receive what it is that Christ gave us we have to feel and experience a bit of what he felt while he was suffering for us!.... at times the mission isnt always the easiest but it is never too hard that i want to quit!

This week....

this monday after we had finished pday and had returned to our work as usual we were just leaving from dinner at our pensions house and leaving for the park to contact a reference that we had just received.... side note. where i am in peru people drink from 6 am to 6 am every saturday sunday and monday and missionary work is harder in these days....

we were just leaving from our pensions house and at the corner when we heard a moto flying around the corner... there were 3 drunks in the moto and they yelled some insults at us from a distance when we noticed that they were getting closer.... i heard the driver yell, para te, te voy a robar, which means stop i am going to rob you and when i turned around to see what was going on i saw my comp just out of the way of the moto and then it hit me! haha i got ran over by a bunch of drunks... the wheels passed over my leg and i fell. when i was down the passangers in the back of the moto grabbed me by the backpack and tried to rip it off me, when they failed they deceided to take off but still had a hold of me thinging i would let it go.... i was dragged a bit and i heard a rip then they let me go and took off...

my comp ran over to me and was came to check to see if i was alright... my backpack had ripped and they had let me go without getting away with anything...my leg hurt and i have a cut of my shoulder where the moto slammed into me but other than that the lord was looking out for me! we werent far from the house of our pension so we went back and let them know what had happened. i should have taken a picture i was covered in dirt and mud but i was safe and thats all that matters.... we took a moment to cool down and relax for a second and then got back out to work... this accident proves to me that the lord is looking out for us as missionaries. he is blessing us and protecting us from all forms of danger...

last week i forgot to tell you why i sent home a bunch of pictures that had the name mikayla!!!1 the daughter of our pension was preganant and just had her baby saturday!!!!! they told me that i could pick the name!!!!!!!!!!! haha i was so happy! they said as long as they liked the name that i could pick it! and there was only one name that came to my mind! MY BABY SISTER AND BEST FRIEND! woot woot! i love you sis! i told them that i had chosen the name Mikayla and they had never before heard that name and they loved it! so there is a new member to their family that proudly carries the name of you Mikayla Rae!!!! anyway that was why i sent those photos home last week...

this week was a bit hard for us because we had 4 baptisms all for this sunday and saturday 3 of them fell through, let me explain...

saturday we were visiting a young man named Viton who is ready to be baptised and super excited about the church. We had just finished the last lesson with him when we were speaking with his mother who is evangelica... or of a another faith and she told us that she didnt feel he was ready to be baptised and she didnt think that since he was baptised once he needed to do so again. it was a hard topic to discuss with her because i didnt want to offend her and straigh up tell her that her baptisms isnt valid, being the senior comp and trainer is hard some times... you are the one who is required to speak at times like this when your comp doesnt know what to do.....i have learned a lot to rely on the promptings of the spirit and they are so real and strong in my day to dad life.... i told her that i would like to come back and explain more to her and that we would be having another baptism this saturday and we asked if he could be baptised that day, she accepted with the fact that we return and explain more to her.... tomorrow we will be returning putting all our faith in the lord.

Vilma our other baptism for this week disapeared sunday morning when we passed bu her house to go to church with her. her grandma is really really catholic and doesnt love us lets just say, when we passed by the visit her, her grandmother wouldnt let her leave the house! she is 19!!! haha and has 2 kids and still her grandmother has so much control! she told us that she wouldnt be leaving the house with us and to come back another day!!! i was so frustrated! but i know taht these tings happen for a reason and that soon she will have her time!

Darwin another young man of 14 years that we are teaching was all ready to be baptised this sunday too but saturday night he was walking home....no one here wears shoes only sandals....and there is trash everywhere... and he stepped on a broken glass bottle because there is no lights he couldnt see, and he cut is foot open and had to go to the hospital! haha so he couldnt get his foot wet which makes baptism a little bit difficult! haha

i have learned that satan works in many ways and that no matter how hard we try he is always fighting just as hard as we are to destroy what we are trying to build... i was a but disheartened for a bit but i realized that no matter what the battle goes on and its just that we are in a battle....

well we did have one baptism this week of Nicolle, she is a young lady that was prepared before us to be baptised and it only took the right set of elders to preform the baptisms.... it felt good to see my companion baptise his first convert in the mission... being the trainer at times i feel pressure to be successful so that he does well and learns well in his mission and feels like he is being successful.... i made a goal to allow him to baptise each and every one of our investigators for these next 3 months we are together unless there are more than one at once we can do it together. but i want him to be able to experience it as much as he can so that he can continue to work with great excitement and love for this work! Elder Arboleda is a great Elder and we will accomplish a lot!

well thats all i have for you! i love you all and wish you all the best!

love always,

April 30, 2012

April 30, 2012

Hey Dad,

well sounds like you are living in Peru! haha it is always hot here and everyone is robbing everyone here! haha welcome to my life! i have a funny story to tell too! haha

well sounds like everything is just as crazy as ever since i have left... i miss you all a lot and hope all is going well...

i will keep cody in my praters i know that he is doing a lot to work hard in school and that he will be blessed when the time comes!

well i sounds like you are doing well getting out and going riding! have you lost more weight? how was the colonocapy or however you spell it??? haha i had a buddy in the MTC who had to get one and it was funny all the videos we took of him after his procedure....

well i love you and sent the photos if you need others just let me know and i will get some sent out to you!