Sa Philippines (Travels to the Manila MTC)

A few blips of his emails directly to me...

Hey from The Manila MTC things are beautiful here. I am very limited on when I can take pictures right now so I'll send them as I can. I can tell you, you can see the pictures of the amazing Manila MTC online though at LDS.org
  (Google Drive is blocked in the Manila MTC so he can't add pictures to the drive until he is out of there. So we should get some pictures once he is out of the MTC and serving in the field. Picture at the bottom provided by Elder Britton Hemmert. He is our friends son who flew to and entered the MTC the same day as Ethan. He is also serving in the Philippines but in a different mission.) 

Hello everyone!

So I am now in the Philippians MTC. That means new -PDay, also means I am almost a full day ahead of you. Yesterday I arrived at the Philippians air port we went through immigration got our bags and just walked out of the airport there was literal no customs at all. We met some representatives from the church who helped us fill out an application for an extended visa then met the MTC president. We then jumped on some buses and were taken to the MTC. The rest of the day was pretty similar to the first day at the Provo MTC, with an introduction an everything.  If you think traffic is bad in the states, here "no traffic" is just about as bad as rush hour in Portland, but add motorcycles dodging between cars and everything else. The weather here is amazing yesterday it was warm we had some rain, but it still was warm, then was almost immediately went back to sunny. It is very humid but I actually really like It. 

     Yesterday on the plane ride I had several experiences that reminded me that the Lord knows me and knows my need. The elders and sisters going to Baguio mission left from the travel office and went to the airport. We were at the airport about 2 to 2 and a half hours before we started boarding. I and about half of the other Baguio missionaries ended up having issues with our tickets that meant we needed to go through a longer check in process. I was blessed to be there early enough that I was able to make it through everything with plenty of time to spare. This showed the fact that the Lord knew me, because if you know me I tend to stress when things aren't going as they should, and how I was told they would. Especially if it involves something new and unknown to me like traveling internationally.  But because I was there early enough, I had plenty of time and my stress was far decreased. Then another time I saw the Lords hand in the travel is on the flight to LAX from Provo I was first sat behind a returned missionary who had served in Manila speaking Tagalog and he was more than willing to answer our questions about the language and the culture of the Philippines. Also one of the flight attendants on the Delta flight to LAX was a Filipino from Manila. He was wearing a Philippines flag pin on his vest. He was very willing and exited to answer questions about anything we asked him. This very much calmed me because it showed me that although I still had a lot to learn I knew more than I thought I did. Then when I got to LAX we had a 7 hour layover. Yet again this I know without a doubt the Lord had his hand in my life because with all the craziness of working with a different airline working international flights trying to call home, me and my district ended up going through TSA 6 times. With out this 7 hour lay over I probably would have just about blown my top. Then one of the other flights from Provo to LAX ended up getting delayed. The people on that flight literally got there as everyone was lining up to get on the bus that would take us to the plane. The only reason they made it was because our flight from LAX was delayed departure, because the Manila airport had a scheduled closing time.

This week i leave you with a verse from Moroni 10; 45

32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. 

I would encourage you to do what this verse says 

Elder Davis

MTC Week 4 Malaki pagbabago

Hey everyone 

         So many big events this week!!!! So I'll start with the big thing because I found out Saturday. This week (Saturday) I found out my departure date was moved up so I leave in 3 days on the 24th so this is my last P day in the States! Supper exited to get to the Philippines. When I get there I will spend 2 weeks in the Manila MTC and then enter the field. So as my title says big changes! 

          Second every Tuesday in the MTC we have a devotional and there is a missionary choir that I have gotten to participate in. We had been told Sunday that this devotional was going to be broadcast world wide to all the MTC's in the world... so of course there is all this speculation. And guess what! We were right! Elder Neil L. Andersen of the quorum of the 12 apostles was there. So I got to sing "Hope of Israel" with over 1000 missionary for Elder Anderson, and every missionary in the MTC. Let me tell you Elder Anderson's talk was amazing. The spirit was so strong in that meeting. I learned so much. He talked about the temple endowment and the blessings of it and I learned so much. Then at the end he walked out into the congregation of missionary and started to shake hands with the missionary's, and I was in the front row of the choir right in front of the aisle of chairs he walked down.  He walked right up to me and my companion and shook my hand. As he walked around there was organ prelude music playing. everyone started singing completely without any planing. The singing started out quiet and by the time Elder Anderson left It was full out.  Me and my companion, for choir, kinda geeked out the rest of the way back to class about shaking his hand. Then geeked out even more about what a good talk it was because it was amazing. Then Monday. Boy what a day Monday was. Monday was literally probably the craziest day at the MTC so far. So first Me and my roommates get locked out of our room because they were showering and don't shower with the key and I was studying and didn't have a key so we go chasing the building maintenance person up and down stairs to try and get in our room  (I did because they were just in towels.) Eventually we got into the room. Then we find out that one of our sisters (from my district) who has been sick for the past couple of days was in the health clinic being tested for two different Illnesses, both which could have ended up affecting whether she would go to the Philippines. (We found out the next day that it was just a bacterial infection and she is doing better.) Then finally after dinner me and my companion go to swing by the residence hall to pick some things up and for one of the other elders, and to drop of a package only to find out that our buildings fire alarms was going off and that we weren't aloud to go into the building. After class everything was good and we were able to go into our building. So ya Monday was an interesting day. Today I went to the temple. I always love going to the temple but today I learned so much from it and had such an amazing spiritual experience. I absolutely love being able to visit the temple. I have seen the Lord bless me so much as I serve him and the spirit has helped me so much. I have progressed so much in the language. I have come so much closer to him. Tonight I have my First Skipe TRC where I will skipe a member in the Philippines and teach them so I'll tell everyone how that goes next week.

This week My message comes from Alma 5: 12-13

12 And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.

13 And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved . 

   I would invite everyone to find a small seed of faith and to exercise it to do that which our Heavenly Father would have you do

 The two best flags flying next to each other.

 Some kind of on going prank with pennies on one of the Elders.

 The smoke from fires burning in Utah has been pretty bad, but makes pretty pictures...

 The line waiting for breakfast

 Elder Adams is a drink scientist. He has learned how to layer the colors of drinks based on sugar content.

 Morning walk to the temple.

 Emailing with the district.

 Bumping into people you know from home! Sister Brook! (Ethan says his companion and district know a lot of people because there are so many there from Utah. This is only the second person he has bumped into he knows! Elder Hemmert doesn't count as bumping into, since they flew there together but I don't think they see each other very often either.  So it is nice to feel like a little bit of home is there and it's not quite so lonely. I know her mom and actually spoke to her just a week before she went in! So fun to see a friendly face there.) Ethan said he saw her the week before and thought, "I think I know her" but didn't say anything. So when he saw her again they talked and her companion said she had said she knew him and wondered why he hadn't said anything to her. HA!

 Fire alarm on Monday!

 Temple trip group.

What Elders do when they get board in between study sessions... (Probably a good brain break I'm thinking)

MTC Week 3 Bago Missionarios!

Hello everyone 

So this week has been crazy busy with nonstop classes as always at at at at (Tagalog for and and and and.) So this week in class we have been learning a lot about the grammar of Tagalog which is absolutely amazing. Get this THEY ACTUALLY FOLLOW THE RULES!!! So basically I love this language. This week I was part of the missionary choir in for the weekly Tuesday night devotional. This week Elder Gay from the presidency of the quorum of the 70. We sang "Nearer my God to Thee". It was a new arrangement that I have never heard and I love it. Wednesday we got Bago Missionarios (new missionary's in Tagalog.) A lot of which are going to the Philippines speaking Tagalog. Unfortunately none of them are going to Bagio with me, but a lot of them are going close. So now our entire 4th floor of the residence hall is all Tagalog almost. Also one of their last names is Davis so now we have 3 Elder Davis's on the 4th floor. We are considering having and Elder Davis conference. We are having a great time getting to know them. So this week we also got a new teacher. Up till now we've had two, one for the evening and one for the afternoons. We used to have Sister Spears and Brother Hulick but unfortunately with Sister Spears and Brother Hulick's college classes they both were not able to be our teachers. So we got a brand new teacher, like she was rushed through training new. Her name is Sister King. She has been great so far. To be honest we haven't learned much culture of the Philippines just little bits sprinkled in here and there. I have come to absolutely love wearing my white shirt, tie and the badge. It has pretty much become a part of me I feel like I'm missing something when I don't have it on. It was kinda weird 9/11 came and went with just barely any mention of it. I don't remember it happening but I still keep it in my mind as it comes close I brought it up with some of the other elders and they had completely forgotten about it.

 Apparently there is a big typhoon hitting the Philippines and it is going to hit my mission so I guess I'll see what my mission field looks like when I get there.

My spiritual thought today comes from Ang aklat ni mormon ( the Book of Mormon)  Ether 12:6 

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. 

Things may be hard sometimes (I've seen it) but as we continue to press forward in faith believing God will help us, He will build that faith stronger so that we can do all things.

Elder Davis

Merry Christmas.

P.S. This is the email he forwarded to me later on Friday...

Greetings Elder Davis:

Your training at the Provo MTC is nearing completion. We hope you have found your time here inspiring and productive.

Attached you will find your itinerary for travel to your mission. Please read over the information carefully. The attachment includes your airline(s) and flight information along with luggage allowances. We recommend forwarding this information to your family so they will know your travel plans.

There is no need to print this itinerary. Please note the check out time and you will receive a copy of the itinerary when you depart.

If you have questions, please come to the Travel Office in T4-136 between the hours of 8:00am-5:00pm, Monday through Friday.

Sincerely,
MTC Travel Team

He leaves the MTC in Provo September 24th and arrives in Manila September 26th around 6 am their time! He will have spent 1 month and 2 days in the Provo MTC and should spend a week (maybe 2?) in the MTC in Manila!

MTC week 2 Malingayang Pasko!!!

Hey every one 

So this week might as well have been 3, with how long it has felt. But it was such a good week. I have been doing much better in the language and I have come to love it. So Monday we taught a real member with a real lesson. But here's the curve ball... At about 10:00 my district has exercise time, which means basketball for most of the other elders and 4 square or volleyball for me. (I don't like to play Basket ball, especially not when all of them did it in high school.) So at about 10:30 I go looking for my companion only to find that they had cleared the court he was on because there was blood on the floor. I immediately knew who it was and ran to the trainers office to  find my companion with a big old band aid on his forehead and another elder from our district with one on his eyebrow. Turns out they had collided on the court and my companion had split his head and the other elder had cut his eyebrow open... so because it was labor day the MTC was running on basically bare essentials so the health clinic on campus, they should have gone to, was shut down so they had to be taken to the one down on BYU's campus. Lucky for me we were able to call our branch president and get permission to go on splits so the two elders that were hurt went together and Me and the companion of the other elder were together. So we spent up till about half an hour before the TRC lesson not knowing if our companions were going to be back in time frantically planing a lesson between classes. My companion did come back all he needed was some supper glue and a butterfly and he was ok. The other elder however needed 7 stitches. We ended up teaching the lesson. It actually went really well compared to what we thought it would be. Our first lesson we did good but we kinda just stuck to a script and didn't even think much, or let the spirit work thru us very much, (mistake) that lesson was good however the second lesson was much better. Even though we didn't have as much Tagalog we taught by the spirit and it was much better. So any ways it was good.

 So to what my header of this email means. In Tagalog that translates to Merry Christmas! In the Philippines they celebrate Christmas from September till the end of January. So on September first I woke up to all the elders singing Christmas carols. It was so much fun we just go around singing random Christmas carols all day. Seeing as I love Christmas this Is a huge bonus for me. 

We as a district have had so much fun we just walk around speaking Tagalog. It's funny seeing the new people as well as other older elders try to figure out what we are saying (they know what we are speaking because we made speak your language stickers for our tags.) Speak your language is a cool program the MTC has that encourages missionary learning new languages to speak there language with others as much as possible. They have flyers and other reminders every where with the abbreviation of SYL. Most languages have a sticker to go on there missionary tag telling other missionary's what language they speak. Tagalog doesn't so most of us have made our own. Its pretty cool. 

So my message this week comes once form Ang aklet ni Mormon (book of Mormon) 

Alma 17;9-10

9 And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct.

10 And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.

God Knows your troubles and your trials. If you go to him in prayer asking for help or comfort he will give it to you as you go with a sincere desire and love of Him.

Elder Davis

PS Merry Christmas again.

(The picture is of Ethan and his companion (notice the butterfly on his forehead) and the Sister missionary closest to him is from HERE! He knew her from the Young Single Adult ward here in Salem. She left the MTC Tuesday for Florida. Her name is Sister Johnson. 

MTC week 1

Hello every one

So this week is technically week two even though I've only been here like 10 days from the day I arrived. I love the MTC. The time seams to work different here. The days are long and drag on but the weeks go by in a snap. Sundays here are really cool there are 2 or 3 zones that make up a branch and the branches all meet in different class rooms in the big glass tower. (the school house of the MTC I guess you'd call it.) Some of the pictures I included was the view from the sacrament room I am in. We then go to a district meting where our district (13 people) meet and have a lesson/ district council. We then have priesthood with our district and the sisters (our triple) go to a zone Relief Society. The rest of our days are pretty regular our district has exercise first thing in the morning then after lunch we have class until dinner. After dinner we go back to class until 9:15, then to the residence halls for bed. Classes are great they mix language and doctrine classes. I'm having a little bit of a hard time with the language. I usually can memorize about 5 words a day. (For those wondering my subject translates out to be I am Elder Davis. Also yesterday my teachers drooped a big bomb on the class... We teach our first real person on Monday we will be teaching a real member who speaks Tagalog so ya that will be kinda big. I'll tell you more about it next week. The classes are crazy because they are almost nothing but Tagalog however, I have leaned so much because of it. Me and my companion have gotten along so well so far and I am so glad to have been assigned to him. our district is amazing we have grown so close together. Those of us going to the same mission are exited because we could end up being companions there. However we are kind of sad because we most likely are going to lose track of the sisters who have become a great strength in our district in both the language and in spirituality. We as a district try to do something they call SYL here (speak your language) as much as possible we sit together at meals and we walk everywhere together speaking as much Tagalog as possible. When we don't know a word we speak English (we call it tagalish) Its pretty funny because every other word will be in Tagalog while everything else is English. Cool little fact Philippine missionary's make up about a third of the residence at the MTC right now. A lot of which are speaking Tagalog. We have more Tagalog speakers here right now than we do Spanish or English speakers so every where we go if we see a tag in English we automatically assume Tagalog and jump into Kumusta po (the Tagalog hello) more often than not we get it back in response then get asked how are you in Tagalog, but  occasionally we will get a confused look and we'll revert to English. We spend almost all day with our district all of our classes are with them so we come to love them. Our district has actually arranged district study times outside of class that we will go to our assigned class room (every district gets a class room that is just there's no one else's,) and study. We have improved so much because of it. We each teach each other  and learn from each other and it helps us so much. We have two amazing teachers Brother Hulick and Sister Spears they have helped so much and they might as well be a member of the district with how much we love them. Today for P Day our district went to the temple. Me and my companion came back and did laundry so ya pretty productive I impressed all the other elders by stitching up some navy blue slacks that were to long so now I've had like three elders ask me how much sewing I knew and if I'd be willing to take care of thier pants or shirts.

So this week I'll leave you with a verse from Ang aclet ni Mormon (The Book of Mormon)

Alma 34:39 "Yea, and I also exhort you, my brethren, that ye be watchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the temptations of the devil, that he may not over power you, that ye may not become his subjects at the last day for behold he rewardeth you no good things." I can testify of the strength of prayer and challenge each of you to some way to improve your prayers whether you are just starting to pray or you have had a great relation ship with your Heavenly Father you can find some way of improving your prayers and I  would invite you to do so/

Flags at the MTC

View from the MTC

Elder Davis' Room

Elder Davis and some of his District

Elder Davis' desk after study time

The first package mom sent (She needed to send his inhalers and figured just medicine was boring so she slipped in some goodies too!)

The district at the temple

Elder Davis