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Mesquite Nevada Stakes

Elder Kiera Davis

My First Transfer

Sorry guys, we have tranfers this week so my P-Day was today. Just for this one time though, so still hit me up on Mondays 🙏

Transfer news: Im going to Cárdenas A!!! Its apparently a really bougie area and I'll get a car.... but I didnt do my drivers license stuff 🙈 so I aint driving dawg. Its also by the temple! AAAAHHH!!! My comp is Hermana Veliz from EL SALVADOR (shout out to my mtc peeps that are there rn) and she does NOT speak English, amigos. Buenoooo. Im a little bit terrified. That also means I have to dragón my two 50 lbs suitcases all around Panamá again.... comment down below which cuss word I should say in my head tomorrow.

Monday, Monday. Such an iconic P-Day!! We left the house around 10 so my comp could get her finger nails done by the lovely miss Valentina, and that took like 2 hours. BUT sis was bumpin the Weeknd the whoooole time so I was feeling myself. 🎶Baby I would die for youuuu🎶 La verdad? I would die to be able to listen to the Weeknd on the mish!! After that we got some Wendy's at the mall and I ordered all by myself (¡kachow!). After, we went to go get pedicures!!!! Lets gooooo. Such an out of body experience. A missionary's crusty feet are no joke because all we do is walk yk?? But this chica meant business. She went to work and I got pampered. It was kinda like the time me and Cam went to Bath & Body Works and our  bestie said we needed to treat ourselvessss. I'm talking gel foot bath, exfoliation, massage, nail polish. Beforehand, I had to give her a proper warning about my toe too.... My CCM crew knows all about my less than cute toe from the Suitcase Accident of 2024 right before I left on my mission. But I am here to say, shes back baby. This lady looked at that thing and said "uhhhh... im going to make it pretty..." Say less. Now I'm walking around with a prosthetic toenail and my dawgs have never looked better.  Needless to say, I felt like a princess after, even if my comp said it was the worst pedicure experience of her life😂 To make me feel even more like a princess, when we were walking home after all our lessons that night, I see a little movement in the grass. Its a freakin FROG. I snatched that thing up in two seconds and told that sucker to pucker up. But instead he peed on me.... Not chevere. My advice? If you want a girl to kiss you, probably dont pee on her.

Tuesday was just soooo much traveling. We were going to have a Mission Conference on Wednesday so we were going to stay at another companionships house because it was "closer." That was such a joke. We caught a two hour bus ride which was crazy because me and Reyes fell asleep for like 45 minutes and when we woke up, we hadnt even made it out of Arraijan yet!!! Five thumbs down. Then we rode the metro for probably another two hours. But it was all worth it when I start walking down the street to our sleep over casa and I see freakin SHELLY. Literally the savior of my sanity. In my head, I totally ran to her arms in slow motion. Nah, it was more like a confused, sleep deprived couple of steps, but we spent a good long while talking and catching up about all things missiony and it was so refreshing. I've been thinking that I've been going crazy here, so it was quite lovely to exchange some trauma. And to be honest... she might have it worse than me out there in the jungles of Nueva Esperanza. Im prayin for ya Shels. You and your way too blue outfit lol.

We were up at 4 the next morning to get ready and such. I was quite refreshed after my four hours of sleep on an air mattress with a pillowcase stuffed with clothes to lay my head on and no blanket. NOT. Just call me a minimalist🙏Then we left the house to get on a subway for two hours again. The metro in the morning is NO JOKE. Brutha. I have never been touched like that in my life. Maybe their moms didnt hug then enough as kids or sum, but there aint no love in the metros of Panamá. Aside from the 60 year old rando that stared at me quite literally the entire time. Cant you see this ladys a nun?? Plus it was soooo sweaty. When I left the house in the morning, my hair was all curled and almost cute. By the time we pulled up to the mission offices, I was pre-glowup Hermione. Big yikes. And of course we took a picture as a whole mission while I was looking like that. Que bendición! But that Wednesday was actually such a party!! We had a mini 12B reunion with all the girls and Elder Prince Charming. It was soooo so good to catch up with everybody and talk about how we still cant speak spanish. We had subway and brownies and after that, we had our special devotional. The first part, I definitely fell asleep. And I was in the front row. Awkwarddddd. But after that I was locked in and we were able to hear from Elder Olsen from the 70 and his wife!! He actually gave a talk in General Conference in 2022 that I love called "The Answer is Jesus." They are both super super cool people though. They gave very powerful talks and I'll have to include some of it in my spiritual thought. But one thing I have to mention right now is that this guy, this man of God, went up there and said "I wont tell ya how long to wait to get married after the mission, but it shouldnt be more than 6 months!" Mmmm.... listen. No puedo. Como se dice scary?? He was kidding for sure but still... huhhhh😂😂

Thursday was ultra boring and all I did was lessons and laundry, so this is an extended Wednesday. Remember how I mentioned we've been teaching Lloyd for a couple of weeks? Well, his dad and little brother have been there for every lesson. But Wednesday we go and first of all, their entire front porch area is filled with open red umbrellas. Like you cant even see the floor, it was hilarious. But anyways, we start teaching and while I'm asking questions during the lesson the dad stops and just casually goes "Davis... you know, the guy that baptized me was named Davis. But that was a really really long time ago." And I was telling him thats so cool and that my dad had served here too. I could tell he still didnt think it was the same person and I wasnt completely sure either but he said "....Joshua Davis." To which I nodded my head, and then he said "Joshua Maika'i Davis??" And then we both got super excited cause what the heck!!!! How cool is it and how much of a blessing is it that my dad was able to baptize Abdiel in his first área and now I have the opportunity to baptise his son in my first área???? I literally almost started crying, but it made me so happy. I wont lie, there are a lot of times that I wonder why I decided to ever even come on a mission, but its moments like that that make all the sucky stuff worth it.

Friday Im in Love. Great song by the Cure. The weather was freakin amazing on Friday, very breezy, a tiny bit rainy. Perfect missionary weather. First we went to see Camila guys and Thiago gave us some sparklers. Later, we went to this members house, Hermana Guillen, and after the lesson they said my spanish is much better than when I first came!!! So thats sure something. After that, we went to my favorite bench to study the lessons and the cutest coincidence happened. While I was studying the law of chastity, a little chastity packet was on the floor next to me, if youre pickin up what im putting down. Nastyyyy. Im sure somebody was looking everywhere for that thing earlier. But anyways, we taught a lot of lessons, but nothing too crazy.  That night, we lit the sparklers from Thiago and I know for a fact I gotta have those at my wedding and every birthday party for the rest of my life. Hashtag I love light arson and playing with matches.

It was also fantastic weather on Saturday. During cosechas there was a light breeze that made my life ten times better and me and Hermana Reyes talked about the beach and pools and stuff. And... look I knew that people would be different than me on my mission, but this girl said the beach is boring!!!! 🤯 I dont know if I knew it was possbile to think like that. She said for her, the beach and the pool are only for little kids. Oh well, more pools for me 😈 We played superheroes with Alex David again last night and I dont speak spanish very well, but I do speak gun shot and explosión and super power noises. He also made me pinky promise something, but I have no clue what I agreed to. Might wind up in jail soon.

Sunday was another day of me trying not to fight certain people. Guys, trying to stay positive while being up in this joint is a struggle!! I am learning patience, thats for sure... which is crazy because I thought I had some before, but I am being HUMBLED.

We had an amazing Monday. Instead of our P-Day, it was chalk full of lessons and a baptism!!! My first one of the mission 🥹 it was a ward baptism because hes still 8, but it was a special day for Abner David! We have been teaching him since I've been here because his mom wanted him to fully be prepared and know the importance of what he was going to do. And he is so smart!!! At the end, Bishop asked him if he wanted to bear his testimony and when he did, He started crying. His mom was sobbing and I had tears in my eyes, but it was so so sweet. I just had the strongest little feeling that this is right. This is the right church and this is the right decision. And just to see how much he loves his Heavenly Father and knows his Heavenly Father loves him was such a blessing. Another experience that was cool was a recent convert had the opportunity to go to FSY this last week. She said it changed her life and now she knows she wants to go on a mission when shes old enough. She said shes even planning on selling her dog to save up enough money. It was a testimony building kind of day for sure.

OK, this spiritual thought is going to be a banger. I feel it in my nuggets. Its long too. Sorryyyy

I have been searching my soul for some peace because I knew a mission was going to be hard, and everybody tells you that up front too. But it is hard in different ways than I expected it to be. I can handle the heat, the walking, and the rejection without wishing I could be home. But I dont know if I expected to feel this alone out here. Being so far away from your family and home and having everything just the way it should be is HARD. Especially in the moments you realize that some things arent going to be the same when you get back. Its hard being with someone every single second, that you may not always get along with very well and having them be the only person you can talk to because you dont know the language. Thats hard bro.

But there have been times where I just can't figure out why I have to go through this when I made suuuuch a good righteous decision to serve the Lord. Im doing exactly what He wants me to do, so why cant it just be easy??? I have found some pretty stellar talks to shut me up. My mom and the lovely Isela sent me some quotes from a talk I read earlier this week that said "Faith is not faith if never tested. Faith is not strong if never opposed. So dont despair if you have trials of faith or unanswered questions... faith is beautiful because it persists even when blessings dont come as we hoped for. We cant see the future, we dont know all the answers but we can trust Jesus Christ as we keep moving onward and upward because He is our Savior and Redeemer." Faith is powerful not because of what it knows but because of what is does. And faith is not just about believing, its about trusting completely in Heavenly Father, knowing He has something greater in mind for you than you can see. That is where true peace comes from.

Elder Dale G. Renlund dropped a bar that said "Believing that life will treat you fairly because you are righteous is like believing the bull will not charge because you are a vegetarian." Similar to that, Elder Neal A. Maxwell said "How can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, 'Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences that made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!'" When we go through something hard and something that totally sucks, we need to have an eternal perspective. If theres a little black dot on an otherwise blank sheet of paper, and we assume that the paper goes on for eternity, we cant be blinded by the dot. Thats kinda like mortality. This is such a small part of our existence, and even though its difficult, its for our experience and will only help us to grow. Things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things that matter least. Sometimes, peace is more valuable than being right. Sometimes, theres no point in dwelling on one thing that drives you crazy. Whenever you ask yourself why, take a step back and figure out what matters most. Learn what is eternal and what is not. Trusting in Jesus Christ will give you purpose and direction. Yoke yourself to Him. Know that you are exactly where you are meant to be and the best is yet to come.

"There is a connection between heaven and earth. Finding that connection gives meaning to everything, including death. Missing it makes everything meaningless, including life." (Thats from the Other Side of Heaven because you know I like me some polynesian spice up in here 🤭)

Also, if it ever seems like I'm ever being dramatic on here, take it with a grain of salt  😂

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