Email Dec. 28th 2009

Hey Mom Merry Christmas Mom and hope you have a happy new year as well I didn't have too much happen this week after we talked other than we saw a fight and a guy pulled out a gun, but he was drunk and couldn't do anything with it before he got the snot kicked out of him by a store owner. The Christmas party was pretty good it was fun and one of the families actually the same one that let me use their phone gave a little Christmas present so I got something for Christmas. Anyways tell me how the parties go and how everyone is doing oh and tell Cha Cha happy birthday for me I forgot to say that last week.

Mission home address:

C. Sierra de las Vertientes No. 310

Col. Lomas de Chapultepec

Del. Miguel Hidalgo

Mexico, D.F. C.P. 11010

Elder Davis

Hey Mom Not much to say this week it was pretty slow. We had the Christmas party later the same day I called it was pretty fun we had Carne asada and some other stuff it wasn't a bad little dinner and devotional thing we had. That same night we were out looking for Christmas lights and we saw a fight and a guy pulled out a gun, but he was too drunk to do anything with it before he got the snot beat out of him by a store owner. Anyways I attached a couple pictures of our little bathroom/shower hope you enjoy. Oh and I will give you the address of the mission home too. Talk to you next week Mom.

Love you

Elder Joshua Lamoni Davis

(Love the bathroom pictures!?... I need to have a serious take with this boy!)

Christmas Phone Call

We got our call from Josh on Dec. 24th at about 2 pm. He sounds great, at peace and enjoying his mission. We are grateful for his safety and look forward to our other calls that we get with him. Some Info that we were able to extract from him were:

His companion's name is Elder Javier and is from Tabasco, Mexico. He told us that a family from the ward is from Veracruz, Mexico and that they knew some of my family on both sides, small, small world. He has to walk and take the Metro everywhere (I'm not going to think about that too much) and he has about 10 investigators they're teaching right now.

It was great to hear his voice even though its only been a few months that he's been gone. We enjoyed every minute.

News from Mexico....FINALLY!!!!

Well after 3 weeks of being in the mission field here's what we have:

2 emails and our first pictures!!!

Email from 12/21/09

Hey mom Here is the baptism. His name is Luis Alberto and he was a golden investigator. Not many people came it was small and kind of quiet but I know the Spirit was there so it was amazing! I call home the 24 or 25 so keep your cell phone on you in case you aren't home. Bye love you all and I will talk to you next week.Love Elder Davis

Hi mom here are the pictures of the mission so far and I had my first baptism yesterday it was awesome and supposed to have another one next week. I get to call home the 24 or 25 I'm not sure which one so keep your cell phone on you just in case your not at home when I call.

Feel free to caption these photos since there were no particulars provided such as who, where, what, why and how. We're working on that.

Last few emails we have recieved from Josh

Emails from November 20th, 2009

Hey dad I got your letter from dear elder means a bunch thank you. I hope you have been enjoying your reading time I know I do it's the best thing I get to do here so it is precious to me. I heard about Bishop Edgley talking at stake conference and we had him here it was a great talk. I also heard Elder Taufa that Duce Latui's dad died so I thought I would tell you that. Tell me how the Bulldogs are holding up if they are out or in still just let me know and tell Dallin I'm waiting for that letter i want to talk to him before he starts wrestling season now that he is big time now with Lane hurt and what not. Anyways I have to go but i will talk to you next week. Bye dad I love youlove Elder Davis the younger

Hey mom, I got your dear elders and I also got Dad's too. Thanks for sending those I felt better we got our flights plans last night and I fly to Georgia then to Mexico city but there is a 4 hour lay-over in Georgia. I guess the plans don't mean anything unless we get our visas but I have been praying for it to come in. I hope all the kids are staying focused in school and that they are behaving bien. Anyways we are supposed to get Elder Oaks for Thanksgiving and I am excited to go to that other than that we just have one more week left. This next week will be our teaching week so we plan on having tons of lessons next week so to prepare for teaching out in the field. As far as necessities come I am fine here but if there is anything that you think I might need then you can go ahead and send that anyways that's it for this week and I'll be sending an e-mail next week with more info on travel so you'll be hearing. Love you all so much and you're in my prayers.Sincerely,Elder Davis

Emails from November 27th, 2009

Hi mom Got all your letters and the package this week thank you I neededthat. Thanksgiving here wasn´t bad we had Elder Holland yesterday morning and Elder oaks came earlier this week on Tuesday so it´s been a good week. I hope thanksgiving went well for you guys at home and that everyone is enjoying time off school. Well don't have much to say other than we got our flight plans and visas alright. I will be calling home Monday so be ready for it. I fly to Atlanta and have a 4 hour layover there so that's when I'll be calling talk to you then. Love you Mom and tell the family I love them. Elder Davis

Josh finally transfered to Mexico City he's been there 2 weeks. We didn't hear from him for what seamed an eternity, there was a long silence - 2 weeks to be exact, Can you ground your missionary?

This is what we got:

Hey Mom Don't have tons of time but I forgot to write last week. I got all the Dear Elders and even got some when I got here Shelem told me she called you so I hope you're not too worried. We have had so much success and we'll even have baptisms before Christmas! I miss you and love you all and tell the kids I'll write next week. Les Quiero mucho Elder Davis

We found out a few days ago that my 1st cousin Shelem Mora is in one of the wards that Josh is in, she's up there studying. Can you believe that?! We are just grateful for small coincidences that keep us in touch with Josh. We would have gone crazy had we not heard from someone he was okay.

Week 7

Hi mom,

I missed you too this week, I got zero mail! People here are sick too, my comp had the flu this week and he was put into quarantine for the rest of the week so I have to stick with other people in my district. The nurse gave us all medicine to take so we wouldn't get it either and apparently it's expensive stuff so thankfully it was no charge to us. So Ammie was Rambo? Did he walk around with his shirt off and you painted on fake abs :)?! I knew Kenyon and his friends would do something like that, that's the typical nerd thing to do. I heard that the cops came to the house because the band was making too much noise. That was cool about the Fear Factor things with actual gross things, that sounds pretty amazing fun and Danjee would be able to tell what they were because he's a "farm-boy." We've only gotten area authority seventies and other not as well known GA's here except for Elder Perry so that's sweet about some one from the Presiding Bishopric spoke at stake conference. I wonder if President Lawes saw that we had to write in-prompt-to talks and thought it would be a good idea to do that for stake conference?! If he did that's too funny. I have gotten better about eye-contact, but I can still improve. I still look away a lot still so I'm trying. The Spanish helps with my speech as well, it forces my mouth to not be lazy so I haven't been mumbling. I sent a letter to the boys, hope they liked it and I also wrote Abuela this week too and it was in Spanish I hope it was all correct I look forward to being able to converse in her native tongue. we didn't do much stuff for Halloween all we really did was play around in our rooms with some of the stuff the guys in our zone got from packages and such. I got the package from Adriana and Onca I need to thank them both for the stuff it was a nice surprise. That address book would be nice so I'll be waiting for it this week. As far as mail goes I don't care a whole bunch, but it would be nice to get letters during the week as well, instead of waiting until Friday to be able to read it. If there is anything that you want to tell me either the Dear Elder letters get printed every night so it's all good which every way works best still I don't want to impose I know how busy you are. I'm working my hardest and trying my best to learn everything I can. Keep Brother Ashby updated as sell, he wants to hear from me so he can tell the mission prep class. I hope everything is going well finance wise as well, remind Dad to take that real-estate test he invested a lot of time into that, it could be a good thing to have. I love you Mom, hope it gets easier for you as time goes on, it does for me, be strong for me Mom. I hope to hear back soon.

Love your son,
Elder Davis

Week 6

Hey guys,

How are you all doing? Are you helping Mom and Dad out around the house and other things? I miss you all so much, but I'm happy missionary work is hard, but it's really fun. I hope you guys are reading the scriptures everyday and praying, it is really important! I love you guys and thank you for the letters, I really loved them. So what were you guys for Halloween? Did you have lots of fun? Did you get a lot of candy? Tell me what you guys are learning in school. I watched conference there and it was cool, and when we all stand up and sing it's amazing to hear all the missionaries singing the songs. Which talk was your favorite? My favorite talk was by Elder Holland and the Book of Mormon and it's cool because I get to tell people the same things and so do you some day! Did you guys like President Monson's talk about the "warm-fuzzies"? On Monday for family night I want you guys to put "warm fuzzies in the jar you made at Dyna's house for all the service you guys do during the last week. When the jar gets full tell me so I can send you a special card or something.

I'll tell you a little something about what goes on here. We wake up every morning at 6:30 and we wither have gym or MDT which stand for Missionary Directed Time or we have a service assignment, luckily we don't have to do service on our p-day sorry Dad ;)! We have breakfast which is like cafeteria food so it makes you fart all day long? (Sorry about the f word, and for the ones about to come..) Then we usually have class or more MDT to study in the scriptures or Preach My Gospel. Then we have lunch which is more cafeteria food so we fart some more, it gets really stinky in our classroom sometimes! Then we have class some more with a different teacher usually till dinner. Dinner is the same, you know what that means, and then we have more MDT or a devotional or some big meeting like that. On Tuesdays we have a general authority come and it's awesome to see people that talk in General Conference and stuff, like we had Elder L Tom Perry come and he was so cool to watch in person. I hope we get the prophet here soon so I'm crossing my fingers hopefully! We also do this thing called Referral Center were we talk to people about the Church on the phone or on the Internet on chats and it's cool because they are real people in the world not like when we practice with each other or thinks like that. We also do something called the TRC where volunteers come in, they are usually members, that act like investigators and we teach them, we have to teach only in Spanish now so it's just a little bit scary, but I'm learning so it's all good. Then sometimes on Sunday we walk to the Temple and just look around and talk. The Temple looks so pretty against the mountains, it's really cool looking. Other than that, that's pretty much it that we do here.

Be good OK? Listen to Mom and Dad they know what's good for you even if you don't like it sometimes, do it anyways and you'll feel good. Lala that means you too little girl! One more thing I want you to do is go to school and make one new friend, can you do that? I'll be writing you to find out. I love you all so much I hope to hear from you soon!

Love your older brother,
Elder Davis

Week 5

Hi Mom,

Sorry I sent Dad a letter before you, but I said I would write him and didn't get around to it so I did it this week. How are you? Is work still busy? Anyways it's going really well here I've never had such a short month in my life, it was crazy fast. I only have one more month and then it's off to the biggest Spanish speaking city in the world, which is full of crime and all sorts of worldly vices, fun hush?! Just kidding mom I'll be fine I don't want you to start breaking down and crying (I just want to hit him right now, not cry). I just started the lessons in Spanish this week a whole week ahead of schedule so the language shouldn't be a problem. My teachers have been pulling me aside and been telling me that I probably speak the best in the whole zone, so it's been a bit of pressure having that kind of example on others. I just hope they don't put me in a leadership position I don't like the attention already. I keep seeing more and more people from Arizona and Queen Creek, it's a Small world here at the MTC so I've been not so lonely, it's not so bad. In a week and a half we'll be the oldest district here in our zone so a little more added pressure at that point. Other than the email I sent should just about cover it for now, so I'll give you a little more Spanish now:

Me gustaria compartir mi testimonio a ti. Yo se que mi madre es la razon por todo que me he aprendido hasta ahora. Yo se que la familia puede ser eterna y que la familia es ordenado de Dios. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta de Dios y el se vio a Padre Celestial y Jesucristo. Yo so que el evangelio restaurado esta en la tierra hoy y soy un misionero de esa iglesia. Se Que tenemos un profeta en la tierra hoy, Thomas S. Monson y que eso hombre fue llamado de Dios. Se que podemos una manera ser como nuestro Padre en los cielos mediante la expiacion de Jesucristo. digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

I love you mom hope all this stuff is written right(it's not, but pretty good start) I'll be writing a letter for the kids this week too, sorry it's taken so long.

Love,

Elder Davis
"Joshie"

Week 4

Hi mom this week went pretty good another district in our zone left so now we're the next oldest district. Time has gone so stinkin fast it's insane. We got some papers for our visas yesterday so I think we'll be leaving on time I am so ready to leave and start the work! On Tuesday L. Tom Perry visited and gave a great talk it was so cool to hear an apostle talk and be able to see him in person it was very up-lifting.

Today in the Temple we did sealings and I felt the presence of the child I was a proxy for it was so amazing to feel that your work is accepted I just about cried and the other couple that was doing it was crying so that is definitely going into my journal tonight. Elders McCleve and Fager have already been here and left, but there are still a few other Queen Creek Elders here so I'm not a loner here and I think the Clair's daughter is here because she's also from Queen Creek and their sons are in our stake so I'll have to ask her.

Anyways that's all that happening here this week. I'll write home to the little one's this week and give them a little taste of missionary life. I love you all stay safe and you'll be in my prayers. I'd still like every one's address too so if you still send that, that'd be great. Bye

Love
Elder Davis


Hey Dad,

Mom already got an email so I'll write you. (Hey I want both!) I didn't get a change to do it last week. 1 Ne 15 that's a great chapter I've read it many a time here and I swear we've had this talk in class so it's funny you bring it up. That's a good idea about the "warm fuzzies" my belly button lint is no longer colored, it's since been white, for obvious reason, but I had heard from Nellie about FHE even though she wasn't there. Adriana sent me a package, but I forgot to save her address so if an address book in in the working that'd be much appreciated. I have to write her a huge thank-you letter she's way too good to me.

It turns out that Elder Taufa is a distantly related, but that he does know them and is friends of that family. Ooh nieves, that sound so good right now there isn't anything even close here, which reminds me it started to snow already, none of it has stuck, but it's cold as snot here. I hate it. I'm glad we don't live here it would be so miserable to deal with it and I don't plan on returning here again.

Hno. Oswald served in Panama and Hno. Memmott served in Cali, but didn't speak solamente espanol, he was bi-lingual. I've been better about staying awake in class, but have switched to falling asleep during devotionals. However we did have 2 good devotionals this last week one was one of the district presidency members talking about the facsimile #2 in Abraham and what some of it meant and that even recent science has proven some of it true. It talked about borrowed light how the sun borrows it's light from Kolob and how we borrow our "light" from Christ, it was really quite interesting. The other was from L. Tom Perry, listening to an apostle in person is so cool. His was what we need to do to teach, it truly is inspired stuff, it is way sweet. It kinda helps things "click" in your head and gives you a bit of motivation. We sang Called to Serve and it is cool when it gets sung.

Elders McCleve and Fager have both left and Elder Fager was in my residence hall, same floor so I saw him a lot. Elder McCleve got here and had the most confused look on his face, but he turned around pretty quick and is already in the field, lucky terd. (I really need to have a talk with him about his adjectives) I also ran into the Speakman's son, the one father in the Hobson ward who passed away, he looks exactly the same it's hilarious because he looks like a 12 year old walking around. I also saw a sister Clair from Queen Creek and I think she's related to Fred, I have to ask her. There are more Queen Creeker's than I thought here.

Anyways that's pretty much what I've got for now I'll be writing home a letter for mom (yeah!) and the kids real soon so I'll have a little more for them in that letter too. I love you Dad, thanks for the support you give I know I was a hell raiser for you and mom so I know I don't deserve the stuff you guys do for me. The Temple's really put things into perspective so I'm glad I get to go often. Till next week

Love you son,

Elder Davis

PS Elder Checketts is related to Dave Checketts distantly, but he does know exactly who he is.

Week III Part Dos

We got a bonus email in addition to the hand written letter Josh sent, woohoo!!!

Hi mom,

Coming up on a month already. Wow, time flies hope everyone at home is getting excited for Halloween without me this year. This week we've really picked up the Spanish speaking and been doing class almost exclusively in Spanish I'm really glad I understand all of it some guys are completely lost. The Lord has really blessed me with understanding the language. I heard FHE went pretty well without Nellie and I but that it was weird not having us there. We start teaching completely in Spanish starting next week so hopefully by then my tongue will be loosed and the language will just flow from my mouth. Nothing real exciting happened this week so that's all I have for this week. Oh but in 2 weeks we go to the Spanish consolate in Salt lake to do our visa work so I'm super excited. Can't wait!

Love,

Elder Davis

Week Three

Finally some substance from Elder Davis. I need to start teaching the rest of my boys how to type, having to type a two page letter... can you say carpal tunnel, but I'm not complaining.

Hi mom,

Sorry I didn’t get around to the letter sooner. I miss you, but I’m fine here it’s starting to get better. During the week we do a lot of studying and reading. I fall asleep a lot, but I’m trying not to I want to b e a good missionary and son so I’m trying my best to make you proud. I’m so happy that you’re getting a lot more business, now I know that Heavenly Father wants me to be here doing his work. Right now I’m back at my apartment with my companion he’s not feeling well so we’re missing our meetings. I haven’t really had any other time for anything I’ve been so busy, so I guess in a way this is a blessing.

Well, I guess I’ll give you a little bit of my schedule so you can have something to put on your blog because I can only peck at best on the keyboard. We wake up at 6:30 every morning; I wake up at 5:30 to go to the bathroom because the food here sucks eww! We either have MDT, service, or gym right after we wake up so there’s always something to be awake for. MDT is Missionary Directed Time or basically study time. My companion likes to waste it most of the time so I have more personal study more than anything. We’re supposed to have everyday at least one hour personal, one hour companion, and one hour language studies, but my comp likes to do his own thing and hasn’t gotten into his head he’s stuck with me so he lays a lot of the time when we have teaching appointments, but I’m being patient with him and trying to be a good example so we’ll see what happens.

We have service once a week, it’s usually cleaning the apartment building its right after we wake up so it’s a good wake up activity so we all usually are falling asleep again by the middle of class again. We have 5 gym periods a week the only days we don’t are Sundays and P-days. We usually work up a good sweat at gym and we only get 1 laundry period a week so our room smells pretty ripe the day before P-day. My roommates are my comp and another companionship Elder Phillips and Elder Taufa. I went to Franklin with Elder Taufa so it was weird seeing him in the same room as us. He was in the 67th ward in our stake too so it was even weirder. My district is as follows: Elders Degearge, Taylor, and Cordon they’re going to Mexico City with me. Elders Checketts, Taufa and Phillips are going to Veracruz. You should write a letter and tell them what to expect there. Elders Kleven, French, Lee, Wood and Cridle baugh are going to Lima, Peru; 4 to the North Mission and one to the Central Mission (Kleven). The Peruvian Elders leave on Wednesday so our district will be smaller by 5. They are going to the MTC down in Peru and for some of their training they actually have to go out and proselyte while they’re still learning the language HA! It’s going to be sad when they leave we’ve gotten so close in these short weeks, but that’s life.

My teachers are Hermano Memmott and Hermano Oswald they’re spiritual giants and they teach with such conviction even without the missionary mantle, I can’t imagine how they were on their mission. Hemano Memmott is very calm and is a very lovable teacher; he just got off his mission in June. Hermano Oswald knows the scriptures and gospel doctrines like the back of his hand and teaches with a lot of power. They both are excellent language teachers too. My branch President is President Walker and his counselors are Bro. Johnson and Bro. Warren. President Walker is a little on the strict side, but he is very wise although he can’t speak Spanish so that’s a drawback. Bro. Warren is like and old cowboy and he is real laid back. Bro. Johnson served in Peru so he speaks Spanish and is very wise through his years of experience. Sister Johnson is also very sweet, she reminds me of Grandma.

Every Sunday 2 people from our zone have to give a talk in Spanish, but the catch is you don’t know who they are until sacrament meeting so they give you a topic that week and you have to write a talk every week just in case. I haven’t gotten called on and I have my fingers crossed, I don’t like public speaking as you already know. On Tuesday and Sunday night there are devotionals usually there is some sort of general authority there. The night before I got here I heard that Elder Holland was here giving a talk AW! That would’ve been so cool I’m mad I missed it. Every Thursday we have a large group meeting on how to become more effective missionaries, they’re pretty helpful and insightful. So that’s just a little bit of what goes on here, if I sat here and wrote all about it there’d be a whole book just on the MTC. I’ll write you next week, tell everybody I love them and I appreciate everything they’ve done for me. You’re all in my prayers at night and I can’t wait to hear from you.

Love,
Elder Davis

Week Two..

... I was told that missionary letters are usually longer and better when they first arrive at the MTC, then as they get busy out in the field they only have a short time to write so the letters get shorter... Well, we're in trouble then.

I'm doing fine I'll be writing you this week use the return address on there so the letters get here faster. If I stay busy I have fun so I'm always busy so it is fun. Going to the temple here is probably the best thing I do. Tell everyone that if they write I'll write back. I love you all and hope everything going fine. That's good you're busy I'm glad to hear that.

Me gustaría compartir mi testimonio con ustedes yo sé que Jose Smith fue un profeta de Dios y el Libro De Mormon es el libro más correcto en todo el mundo. Yo sé que Thomas S. Monson es un profeta verdadero y que Padre Celestial nos ama. Saliría estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

Proof read this I have to work on it well I don´t have much Time left tell everyone else I love em too and I pray for them every night. Thanks to eveyone that contributed to helping me get out here I´ll be writing you in the near future

Love, Elder Davis

Week One...

... Actually it was about One and a half weeks before we heard from him, but who's counting.

Hi mom P-day is Friday, but I only get half hour to e-mail but I can write whenever I get letters so if that's better you can do that. I need you to send an address book with all the addresses in it so I can write everyone. And you need to send that debit card tell the little ones I love em and give skylar my email address. My comp's name is elder Checketts and I'm senior comp. I might not send pictures home until I get to Mexico because access on these computers is really limited. I hope my patriarchal blessing is almost done I really need to read it. We went to the temple today the provo temple is really beautiful especially right up against the mountains, other than that Utah is kinda dumb and it's cold here. Sorry about the wait but prep wasn't till today so send letters if you need to they'll probably move faster than waiting until p-day. Bye till next week

Sincerely
Elder Davis
p.s. You can still call me Joshie it is my name:)

Parting....Such Sweet Sorrow

This was the first thing I saw Tuesday morning, it was kind of bitter-sweet. Josh and his friend Skylar did a great job at packing all of the stuff he needed to take. I thought it wasn't going to fit, but they did it!

by 7 am he was dressed and ready to go.

At 8 President Lawes and Brother Howell and Eric set him apart as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. President Lawes' blessing was so beautiful. The power of the priesthood is a truly special thing.

We were all very happy and proud to see him off. Dallin and Skylar even dressed up for the occasion


Had to run a couple of errands on the way to the airport and everyone was hungry so we stopped and Pro's Ranch market to get some food

Then my mom and some friends showed up to eat with us and see us off to the airport.

His brothers were all so helpful and eager to see how the process all worked that they carried all of his luggage all the way to the check in.

All of the cousins showed up to the airport to wish him good luck and give him lots of hugs and love.

Then we waited for a while until it was absolutely time to go...

...and waited a little bit more.

Then we had a few tears and lots of hugs, the little one wouldn't let him go, they would hug him then run after him to give him more hugs. It was so cute I hope Josh felts all of that love.

Eric and I were fortunate to get a couple of courtesy passes to walk with him all the way to the gate. And I do have to say that was one of the hardest things I've had to do. He had the scardest look on his face and his eyes were all welled up with tears. I gave him a huge hug and told him not to be scared and that we were soooo proud of him.



We say him take those last few steps into the plane and then Eric and I sat there and stared at the door for a second. Then all of a sudden I started to cry, so much so that I could not gasp for air, I have never had that happen. So after I started to breath and regain composure we walked back out where everyone was waiting.

We couldn't see the plane from where we were so we ran over to the parking lot where we could see his plane. It was a small one.

All the boys had a hard time with it, but especially touching was Ammon, he cried and cried. He's so sweet and they are all going to miss him so much

We stayed until we couldn't see the airplane anymore. I know he couldn't see us, but I hope he felt our love and support.



Dallin said later that night, "This is so weird, this is so weird, I don't know what I'm going to do without my best friend." I'm so glad that they are such good friends it fills my heart with so much happiness. Day one, 729 more to go and counting....