Elder Davis's Mission: La búsqueda del pato (T1 W2)

Hola amigos!

I'm gonna have to keep this brief since I don't have a lot of time.

This week was absolutely crazy, and we found 16 new people!

So something interesting I learned about people from Mexico in Colorado is that for some reason, everybody has a bird. Weird, right? Elder Gibby and I went knocking doors, and a nice lady let us in. As we sat down, this bird, a cockatoo I believe, flew over to Sandra's hand. It was whistling little songs and bobbing it's head. Then it flew over onto my hand and kept whistling and it was so fun! The bird whistled really loud, and it was kinda hard to start the lesson, but it eventually calmed down and we taught them. Sandra and her son Rene are actually super awesome and I have a lot of hope for them.

So the title of the email translates to "The search for the duck". This week, I had the chance to go on exchanges, since my companion is the district leader. I got to go to Clear Creek and hang out with Elder Jorgensen. His area is a biking area, so I got to mount up and experience the biking life. I definitely got the experience, the only day I biked was the day of the zone fast. I was pretty sure I was gonna die. It was weird speaking English and not avoiding white people. At the end of the day, we decided to check up on a potential named Gena. She lived out of the way, and it took us a bit of time to bike there. Originally, she wasn't home, so we taught her Daughter, Jessica. As we were leaving, Gena was pulling into the driveway, and she told us we could come in and teach her. It was a little awkward saying hi to Jessica only moments after leaving, but it all turned out okay. Gena told us that before we taught she needed to feed her animals. We asked if we could help and she put us to work. I grabbed a huge bucket of Horse feed and we went to the barn. Now, at this time, it was like 7:40-ish and it was already dark. We went out to the barn and met her ancient horse, Brunswick, and her Donkey, Dino. Both of them were really old and Brunswick was mostly blind and deaf. We out the feed in the trough, then went to check on the chickens and the ducks. She opened the cop and counted the chickens, but was son distressed as she realized that her duck was missing. So, we set to work. We turned on the flashlights on our phones and walked in circles around her yard, looking for the duck. Gena told us that her duck has some sort of issue where it would reach back to scratch its back with its beak and fall over on its back and not be able to get up. We looked for what seemed like a long time, but we never found the duck. We did end up teaching a powerful lesson about the Book of Mormon, though, and I felt the guidance of the spirit like I never have before.

Another funny thing happened yesterday. We went over to visit some people we're teaching who have a ton of potential, Cesar and Fransisco Villalobos. We were actually about to drop Cesar, though, because he never responded to texts. As we were teaching him yesterday, he told us that he didn't know how to read! That's why he never responded to texts! We taught him how to listen to El Libro de Mormon and he told us he was super excited and would start listening as soon as we left. How crazy is that??

I have seen so much progression in the short time I've been out here. I have seen the gift of tongues manifest itself in me, and I have felt the guidance of the spirit guide me to know what to say. I love this gospel so much, and I have already seen it affect people's lives. I love the people I am teaching, I know that I was called to teach them for a reason. I hope you all have an amazing week, and I hope to hear from you throughout the week!

Con amor,

-- Élder Davís

PICTURES!

The view outside our Apartment: