Good Start Here in Dillon
Hello Everyone,
Thanks to all of you who sent Christmas gifts or cards the past
few weeks. It made my Christmas morning better than I ever thought
it'd be away from home. The best part of Christmas of course for a
missionary was calling home on Christmas. For those of you who didn't
hear missionaries are now allowed to use Skype web chats to talk with
family. This was the first time I have ever done this and it worked
great. It almost brought you back home to your family when you are not
only able to hear them but see them. I really appreciate the mission
dept. for allowing this. What a blessing to me, my family, and a few
others I was able to quickly talk to. Definitely one of the highlights
of the week.
The other highlight of the week was the arrival of the new greeny
Elder Hineman. Elder Hineman is from Mesa, AZ so once again I'm
training another AZ boy! I'm pretty excited to get a fresh start in
this area. I think this area has a lot of potential we've just got to
work hard to find it. Elder Hineman is already liking Dillon. He's
from the Lehi area of Mesa so he fits Montana perfect. I almost feel
like I'm with Elder Child again which is pretty cool. Before Elder Hineman
got here Wednesday night I was in Butte for a day
and a half with four other Elders. Two of them were also waiting for
new companions. Wednesday morning we went and volunteered
at the food bank. They were amazed at how fast the five of us got things done.
It was a lot of fun to be there helping. We are probably going to go see if the
food bank here in Dillon needs any help. It's definitely a good way to
get out into the community and do some service.
Christmas day was pretty good. We got up and opened presents, then
we headed off to the J's for breakfast, then we Skyped home, and
then we went out to President S's. He's in the stake presidency here and
they are a pretty big family here in Dillon. They had a bunch
of family out to their ranch. It was a lot of fun. They fed us
probably the best steak I've ever had. It was very fitting to be
eating a steak in Montana on Christmas. haha After we hung out there a
while we came back into town and went caroling at the old folks
apartments. There were a few grouchy old people that despite us just
wanting to sing them a Christmas song didn't want to listen because we
were Mormon but most really enjoyed it. I'm glad we decided to do it.
It's something I think both of us will remember for a long time.
Sunday unfortunately didn't go as good. I wasn't feeling good at all
in the night or Sunday morning. I was cold, tired, and I had a fever.
I wasn't even feeling good enough to go to church. I felt so bad for
Elder Hineman that he had to miss his first Sunday in the mission. I'm
grateful this sickness didn't last too long though. After a full day
of rest I feel just fine today. I'm glad we aren't going to miss any
more days of work.
One thing I did yesterday while laying around was to go back and
look through all of my planners. It was interesting to see how some
people progressed and some didn't. And some that seemed to have
promise fizzled out and some that didn't seem to have promise
prospered. It really taught me to never give up on anyone.
Well I better get going. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and
is lookin forward to a Happy New Year. Enjoy spending time with
friends and family and be safe. I love you all and I'll talk to you
later.
Love,
Elder Davis
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
December 20, 2010
Transfer New and More
Hello Everyone!
First off a Merry Christmas to All of you! I hope you all have a great day with family and friends and I look forward to hopefully getting to talk to a few of you over the phone on Christmas!
Transfers were this week and believe it or not I'm Training Again!!! I'm So Excited!! Training has been the most fun and most productive times of my mission. I can't believe I'm training for a third time! I'm am so grateful to Pres. Gardner for giving me this great opportunity again. I think it will do this area a lot of good to get some Greeny fire in here and it will do me a lot of good. Elder A despite still having 6 months left is pretty trunky. It kind of bugs me how trunky he is already so I'm excited to get a new fired up comp. Elder Askey is being transferred to Lander,WY. He was pretty bummed at first but there have been a lot of people telling him how nice Lander is so I think he's warming up to the idea. We will be heading up to Butte on Tues afternoon where Elder A will get on the transfer van and then I will hang out in Butte till Wed. afternoon when the new missionaries come in with Elder Weight who is also training. They have split the Butte area into two companionships which caused our district to be split. So now I'm back in a four Elder district which is fine with me. That's what I've been in pretty much my whole mission. So it's Dillon and WhiteHall/ Sheridan in a district. Elder Mortenson is the District Leader and Elder Owens who is pretty new is his comp. They are both from AZ so the thought has been recently that it would be cool if my new comp was from AZ and we'd have an all AZ district. hahaha Also some other exciting transfer news is that Elder Heywood's new AP comp is Elder Goff! That means two of the Elders in my first Helena District are AP's! I look back at that district and that was a really good district with some really good Elders in it. I think 7 of the 8 have either trained, been district leaders, zone leaders, or now APs. That was definitely a great district to start off in.
This week was a decent week. A lot of people are pretty busy with Christmas coming up. Bro.C our recently reactivated member gave us a ride to Butte to help save some miles. It's amazing to see how the gospel changes people. Before he wasn't even coming to church or reading but now he's read the Book of Mormon and D&C, coming to church, and now even giving the Elders rides. haha We had a really good lesson with him and his wife Sat. night. Her Mom recently passed away and we taught the plan of salvation. She loved it! I think she is our investigator with the most potential at this point. All of our others have kind of fallen off of the wagon in a sense. We'll keep working with them though. You look at all the people I worked with in Havre and it takes time for some people and now look at them all getting baptized! I was informed this weekend that K was baptized and that J B is getting baptized next Sat.! So Havre like I said last week has just exploded since I left.
We've had a few snow storms this week. Nothing like the one a couple of weeks ago. I will be driving for the first time ever in the snow Wed. Pray for Me! I'm just going to take things slow. We'll have to talk more on Sat. about how to drive in the snow. haha
It was good to hear from a few different people this week. I also received the package from home, and one from G and G Gwynn. Thanks to all those who sent things this week.
Oh one other thing that happened this week. So we meet this Presbyterian Pastor named D. He wanted to meet with us and teach him the lessons and he says he's in search for truth. Well this week we talked about priesthood for like 3 hrs. Pretty much I layed a truth bomb on him as we jokingly call it in the mission. I told him in a round about but yet direct way that without the priesthood of God you can't perform ordinances like baptism. He then asked If I was telling him that without the priesthood that baptism wasn't whole and I said Yes, That's correct. So he was all ticked off because we pretty much threw it down to him in a round about way that without the priesthood his work and livelyhood isn't valid. He didn't like that. hahaha It was the calmest I've ever felt with or around a pastor. You could feel the spirit there testifying we were speaking truth. It was amazing. I guess he wasn't too upset though because he took us to breakfast today because Elder A is leaving and gave us both a New Testament cartoon book. haha It was pretty cool though to throw out truth and see how the learned take the truth to be hard.
Well I better get going. I hope all of you have a great week and a great Christmas. I wish I could be there with all of you but I'll be fine. I know I'm were I'm suppose to be. I love you all and Merry Christmas!
Love,
Elder Davis
Hello Everyone!
First off a Merry Christmas to All of you! I hope you all have a great day with family and friends and I look forward to hopefully getting to talk to a few of you over the phone on Christmas!
Transfers were this week and believe it or not I'm Training Again!!! I'm So Excited!! Training has been the most fun and most productive times of my mission. I can't believe I'm training for a third time! I'm am so grateful to Pres. Gardner for giving me this great opportunity again. I think it will do this area a lot of good to get some Greeny fire in here and it will do me a lot of good. Elder A despite still having 6 months left is pretty trunky. It kind of bugs me how trunky he is already so I'm excited to get a new fired up comp. Elder Askey is being transferred to Lander,WY. He was pretty bummed at first but there have been a lot of people telling him how nice Lander is so I think he's warming up to the idea. We will be heading up to Butte on Tues afternoon where Elder A will get on the transfer van and then I will hang out in Butte till Wed. afternoon when the new missionaries come in with Elder Weight who is also training. They have split the Butte area into two companionships which caused our district to be split. So now I'm back in a four Elder district which is fine with me. That's what I've been in pretty much my whole mission. So it's Dillon and WhiteHall/ Sheridan in a district. Elder Mortenson is the District Leader and Elder Owens who is pretty new is his comp. They are both from AZ so the thought has been recently that it would be cool if my new comp was from AZ and we'd have an all AZ district. hahaha Also some other exciting transfer news is that Elder Heywood's new AP comp is Elder Goff! That means two of the Elders in my first Helena District are AP's! I look back at that district and that was a really good district with some really good Elders in it. I think 7 of the 8 have either trained, been district leaders, zone leaders, or now APs. That was definitely a great district to start off in.
This week was a decent week. A lot of people are pretty busy with Christmas coming up. Bro.C our recently reactivated member gave us a ride to Butte to help save some miles. It's amazing to see how the gospel changes people. Before he wasn't even coming to church or reading but now he's read the Book of Mormon and D&C, coming to church, and now even giving the Elders rides. haha We had a really good lesson with him and his wife Sat. night. Her Mom recently passed away and we taught the plan of salvation. She loved it! I think she is our investigator with the most potential at this point. All of our others have kind of fallen off of the wagon in a sense. We'll keep working with them though. You look at all the people I worked with in Havre and it takes time for some people and now look at them all getting baptized! I was informed this weekend that K was baptized and that J B is getting baptized next Sat.! So Havre like I said last week has just exploded since I left.
We've had a few snow storms this week. Nothing like the one a couple of weeks ago. I will be driving for the first time ever in the snow Wed. Pray for Me! I'm just going to take things slow. We'll have to talk more on Sat. about how to drive in the snow. haha
It was good to hear from a few different people this week. I also received the package from home, and one from G and G Gwynn. Thanks to all those who sent things this week.
Oh one other thing that happened this week. So we meet this Presbyterian Pastor named D. He wanted to meet with us and teach him the lessons and he says he's in search for truth. Well this week we talked about priesthood for like 3 hrs. Pretty much I layed a truth bomb on him as we jokingly call it in the mission. I told him in a round about but yet direct way that without the priesthood of God you can't perform ordinances like baptism. He then asked If I was telling him that without the priesthood that baptism wasn't whole and I said Yes, That's correct. So he was all ticked off because we pretty much threw it down to him in a round about way that without the priesthood his work and livelyhood isn't valid. He didn't like that. hahaha It was the calmest I've ever felt with or around a pastor. You could feel the spirit there testifying we were speaking truth. It was amazing. I guess he wasn't too upset though because he took us to breakfast today because Elder A is leaving and gave us both a New Testament cartoon book. haha It was pretty cool though to throw out truth and see how the learned take the truth to be hard.
Well I better get going. I hope all of you have a great week and a great Christmas. I wish I could be there with all of you but I'll be fine. I know I'm were I'm suppose to be. I love you all and Merry Christmas!
Love,
Elder Davis
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Week Flys By
(Sorry for the delay in getting this posted this week. The Editor has been busier than usual. Any surprise? It's December!)
Good Morning Everyone,
I hope you all had a great week! This week went by pretty quick for us. We had teamups with the district leaders Elder Weight (from Kaysville, UT any of the Gwynns know of him?) and Elder Elmer (Gilbert, AZ) in Anaconda. It was fun to walk around with Elder Elmer all day long. We didn't have much success but it was fun to be outside walking around in pretty nice weather. Elder Askey doesn't like to walk so we never walk so I told Elder Elmer I enjoyed being out and about with him all day. It was also fun to talk AZ and sports with him. Like I've said before I think I'll never be put with a companion who likes sports like I do but at least they exist in my district. hahaha We ended up teaching a part member family that night and it was pretty funny. The non member is this sweet old black dude who kind of looks like Don King. hahaha His name was W and he sat there the whole time smoking this big ol cigar. As we were talking he told us he invisions in heaven he'll have a nice cabin by the lake and sit in his rocking chair and smoke his cigar and drink Jack Daniels with his wife. He then went on to say that Christ would probably come join him and smoke a cigar and drink some Jack with him and tell him stories. His wife started to argue with him and tell him that wouldn't happen and he kept saying Hey you can't decide what my heaven's going to be like! It was funny. Some people are just so lost.
Thursday we went to Helena for a three zone conference. It was really good. They focused a lot on idea to help still accomplish our work during the busy holiday season when some people think they are too busy for us. They also had Pres. Hill from Missoula who is a biologist talk about DNA evidence and how it doesn't really hold any water in support of the Book of Mormon or against it because there is still just not enough we know yet. It was kind of deep and a little confusing but I think we all got his main point....I hope. haha At lunch we were blessed to be visited by Santa (Elder Heywood) and his elf (Elder King) haha. It was pretty funny. The stake pres from Helena also had the different shaped pipes with a number that you hit with a rod and it dings. He then put up numbers on a projector and we played through songs. It was pretty cool and he said we were better than the CEOs he does it with at meetings this time of year. The Helena Stake also gave us these really nice fleece blankets. I got a black one and I decided that I wanted to get it embroidered to set it apart. So I took it to a printing store here in Dillon and I'm having them print the state of Montana on it with Elder Davis below and Montana Billings Mission on top of it. They said it'd cost about 5 bucks. So I thought that would be a good gift to myself. hahaha So thank you Helena Stake for the blanket and allowing me to be able to do that. I think it'll be a nice keepsake.
We also received a gift from the Gardners. They gave us some candy and a Billings Temple temple recommend holder with a message from them. I was excited to receive that because I didn't have a holder. We then spent the rest of the afternoon with people sharing something they have learned from the Christ centered Christmas we have been doing. I talked about Samuel the Lamanite and how the people started to doubt his prophesies and even Nephi started to get worried so he prayed and was comforted by the Lord when the Lord told him that he would be born that next day. I compared it to us as missionaries needing to keep up our confidence in what we are doing and prepare people for Christ's second coming.
Zone conference was also really fun because I was able to see a bunch of missionaires I haven't seen in a while. Including Elder Wahl and Elder Ika. I was also able to meet Elder Ika's new comp from St.George Elder Goodwin. They joked at zone conference that everyone in Lewistown thinks they are twins because they are both brown and poly. hahaha They are a great companionship. It would be a lot of fun being in their district. Elder Goodwin was a freshman on the BYU football team last year when he got hurt in practice so he came on his mission and after will play at Snow for a year and then BYU wants him to come play LB. He's a convert of 2 years and when asked by Elder Holbrook what made him come on a mission he simply said well...I was a worthy able male so I knew it's what I had to do. I liked that answer. Reminded me of what Pres. Monson said in Conference.
Elder Wahl and Havre are doing great. He said he really misses me. Him and his comp get along but I guess not as good as me and him he said. J was baptized last Saturday. C was baptized this past Saturday and J B and K are both getting baptized Christmas Day. Also a lady Brother Pratt was starting to work with right before I left is getting ready to set a date as well as another former investigator in Chinook. It's Awesome to see all these things coming to pass! I'm so excited for the area and the ward. I'm also excited for Elder Wahl to get to experience all of this his first couple of months out.
So I hope everyone has enjoyed my Christmas cards. There are still a few I need to send out so hopefully I can finish those today. Because of transfers being closed to Christmas they are sending the group going home this transfer home sooner. So transfer call will come a day earlier on Thursday. I'm pretty sure I'm staying from some things Pres has told me but you never know. I hope I stay here. I've liked it here so far and I think there is a lot good things ahead of us. That and Dillon isn't quite as cold as the rest of the state so it's a good place to be in the winter for me. hahaha
Well I better get going. It was good to hear from those who emailed and good to read a letter everyday. It's been fun to get a letters from some people I haven't heard from in a while. I'm sending a Christmas package home this week. Don't open it till Christmas. I hope you'll enjoy it. I hope everyone has a great week. I love you all and I'll talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
GO BYU Football!!! Beat Utep! and Go BYU Bball and Jimmer!!!
PS one quick story as I mention BYU. So I had a BYU shirt ordered for me last pday. It's a Cosmo shirt. Well I got it on Friday and they sent me the womans version even though on the receipt it was clearly ordered as a Mens L. So I have to ship that back today and explain to them what they did wrong. When I first took it out I looked at it and thought there is no way this thing is a Mens L. haha It will all work out though.
(Sorry for the delay in getting this posted this week. The Editor has been busier than usual. Any surprise? It's December!)
Good Morning Everyone,
I hope you all had a great week! This week went by pretty quick for us. We had teamups with the district leaders Elder Weight (from Kaysville, UT any of the Gwynns know of him?) and Elder Elmer (Gilbert, AZ) in Anaconda. It was fun to walk around with Elder Elmer all day long. We didn't have much success but it was fun to be outside walking around in pretty nice weather. Elder Askey doesn't like to walk so we never walk so I told Elder Elmer I enjoyed being out and about with him all day. It was also fun to talk AZ and sports with him. Like I've said before I think I'll never be put with a companion who likes sports like I do but at least they exist in my district. hahaha We ended up teaching a part member family that night and it was pretty funny. The non member is this sweet old black dude who kind of looks like Don King. hahaha His name was W and he sat there the whole time smoking this big ol cigar. As we were talking he told us he invisions in heaven he'll have a nice cabin by the lake and sit in his rocking chair and smoke his cigar and drink Jack Daniels with his wife. He then went on to say that Christ would probably come join him and smoke a cigar and drink some Jack with him and tell him stories. His wife started to argue with him and tell him that wouldn't happen and he kept saying Hey you can't decide what my heaven's going to be like! It was funny. Some people are just so lost.
Thursday we went to Helena for a three zone conference. It was really good. They focused a lot on idea to help still accomplish our work during the busy holiday season when some people think they are too busy for us. They also had Pres. Hill from Missoula who is a biologist talk about DNA evidence and how it doesn't really hold any water in support of the Book of Mormon or against it because there is still just not enough we know yet. It was kind of deep and a little confusing but I think we all got his main point....I hope. haha At lunch we were blessed to be visited by Santa (Elder Heywood) and his elf (Elder King) haha. It was pretty funny. The stake pres from Helena also had the different shaped pipes with a number that you hit with a rod and it dings. He then put up numbers on a projector and we played through songs. It was pretty cool and he said we were better than the CEOs he does it with at meetings this time of year. The Helena Stake also gave us these really nice fleece blankets. I got a black one and I decided that I wanted to get it embroidered to set it apart. So I took it to a printing store here in Dillon and I'm having them print the state of Montana on it with Elder Davis below and Montana Billings Mission on top of it. They said it'd cost about 5 bucks. So I thought that would be a good gift to myself. hahaha So thank you Helena Stake for the blanket and allowing me to be able to do that. I think it'll be a nice keepsake.
We also received a gift from the Gardners. They gave us some candy and a Billings Temple temple recommend holder with a message from them. I was excited to receive that because I didn't have a holder. We then spent the rest of the afternoon with people sharing something they have learned from the Christ centered Christmas we have been doing. I talked about Samuel the Lamanite and how the people started to doubt his prophesies and even Nephi started to get worried so he prayed and was comforted by the Lord when the Lord told him that he would be born that next day. I compared it to us as missionaries needing to keep up our confidence in what we are doing and prepare people for Christ's second coming.
Zone conference was also really fun because I was able to see a bunch of missionaires I haven't seen in a while. Including Elder Wahl and Elder Ika. I was also able to meet Elder Ika's new comp from St.George Elder Goodwin. They joked at zone conference that everyone in Lewistown thinks they are twins because they are both brown and poly. hahaha They are a great companionship. It would be a lot of fun being in their district. Elder Goodwin was a freshman on the BYU football team last year when he got hurt in practice so he came on his mission and after will play at Snow for a year and then BYU wants him to come play LB. He's a convert of 2 years and when asked by Elder Holbrook what made him come on a mission he simply said well...I was a worthy able male so I knew it's what I had to do. I liked that answer. Reminded me of what Pres. Monson said in Conference.
Elder Wahl and Havre are doing great. He said he really misses me. Him and his comp get along but I guess not as good as me and him he said. J was baptized last Saturday. C was baptized this past Saturday and J B and K are both getting baptized Christmas Day. Also a lady Brother Pratt was starting to work with right before I left is getting ready to set a date as well as another former investigator in Chinook. It's Awesome to see all these things coming to pass! I'm so excited for the area and the ward. I'm also excited for Elder Wahl to get to experience all of this his first couple of months out.
So I hope everyone has enjoyed my Christmas cards. There are still a few I need to send out so hopefully I can finish those today. Because of transfers being closed to Christmas they are sending the group going home this transfer home sooner. So transfer call will come a day earlier on Thursday. I'm pretty sure I'm staying from some things Pres has told me but you never know. I hope I stay here. I've liked it here so far and I think there is a lot good things ahead of us. That and Dillon isn't quite as cold as the rest of the state so it's a good place to be in the winter for me. hahaha
Well I better get going. It was good to hear from those who emailed and good to read a letter everyday. It's been fun to get a letters from some people I haven't heard from in a while. I'm sending a Christmas package home this week. Don't open it till Christmas. I hope you'll enjoy it. I hope everyone has a great week. I love you all and I'll talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
GO BYU Football!!! Beat Utep! and Go BYU Bball and Jimmer!!!
PS one quick story as I mention BYU. So I had a BYU shirt ordered for me last pday. It's a Cosmo shirt. Well I got it on Friday and they sent me the womans version even though on the receipt it was clearly ordered as a Mens L. So I have to ship that back today and explain to them what they did wrong. When I first took it out I looked at it and thought there is no way this thing is a Mens L. haha It will all work out though.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
I'm 20?
Well Everyone believe it or not I'm 20 years old. It hasn't really hit me yet either. Thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes. It was good to hear from you and I really appreciated it. Yesterday for the most part was just another day in the mission. Kind of like Thanksgiving I guess. When there's no family around it's just another day. Mom and Dad probably know this but I don't really publicize my birthday like a lot of other people do. I'm like Dad in that sense. Just give me some good food, family, a few friends, and let me watch football and I'm good. haha. Elder Askey probably wouldn't have even known until I told him I wanted to run to Safeway on Saturday to buy some stuff to make a peppermint ice cream cake. He asked why I was making that and I said ummm well you see...tomorrow's my birthday. He freaked out and said No Way I didn't know that! I had kind of created a little plan in my mind to what I wanted to happen for my birthday. I had invited ourselves over to watch the Christmas Devotional at the J's. I figured I'd make my cake and they'd want to play Uno Attack like always so then we'd eat and play and I'd get away with having a little birthday party without ever telling anyone. haha But once I had told Elder Askey he told the Js but that was good because then on Sunday morning at church they told me Happy Birthday and then after when we were asking Bishop H a question Brother J told the Bishopric and they all sang to me. It was a little embarrassing but good. haha. At about 4, after church andseeing a few people, as we drove to our next appointment I thought dang, it's my birthday today. It doesn't even feel like it. It felt a little more like my birthday though later when we ate the ice cream cake. That is good stuff! So yeah not too big of a day. Just another day in the life of a missionary. This week was pretty good. The snow that looked like it was headed our way went right around us. It's been pretty nice around here. 25-30 for the most part in the day. We were able to do some service this week. We helped a younger lady move out of her trailer, stacked some wood for a brother in the ward who's been sick, and helped a brother from the ward put a new sewer system in. He just took a big backhoe and dug a big long trench and we then just put these plastic pipe things in the ground. It was pretty easy. We also had another visit with Brother C. He's the one that was less active but has now just done a complete 180. In the four weeks we've met with him he's finished reading the whole Book of Mormon. He is just eating it up too and we were able to give him a triple this week so he can start on the Doctrine and Covenants. It's been amazing to see the change that's come over him. He said the Book of Mormon has just filled in so many questions the bible brought up. His wife wasn't there but she has even started to listen to the Book of Mormon on cd. She's going through a rough time right now. Her mother is getting close to passing away any day now. It's going to be a rough time for her but a perfect time to learn more about the gospel and the Plan of Happiness.
Some really good news I heard from Havre this week was that J's baptism was this Saturday! Also big news C who was the first investigator I met in Havre who's been up and down and up and down has a baptism date set, has been interviewed by President Gardner, and is hopefully getting baptized on this coming Saturday if she can be smoke free this past week and this week! That was really good to hear that. And another surprise J B who we'd been meeting with since just after I arrived who was never really interested until about a month before I left Havre is getting baptized on Christmas! She too has to quite smoking but I know she can do it. She's the one who's daughter and son were baptized in AZ in February and they gave a referral for her at the Easter Pageant. So see those referrals can really work! It's so exciting to see all of this coming down in Havre. Elder Ika sent me a note trying to be sympathetic with me that all of my hard work was getting enjoyed by other missionaries but it's ok. I know that I was a big part of all of them so I don't feel bad that I can't be there. As long as they are getting baptized that's all that matters to me! Lewistown is also getting a baptism! I've seen that area go from teaching like 8 lessons a week to where it's at now. 20 lessons and a baptism. I'm happy for Elder Ika and his greeny.
Learned some interesting things about Dillon this week. I guess at times this area can be tough because a former bishop/stake pres from here was involved in some shady stuff. I've been told if you search Dillon LDS the stories will all come up so if you're interested go ahead and check it out. All I can say is there are some idiots out there who know better than their actions sometimes portray and that when you're in a high up church calling you can't think you're untouchable by Satan or he'll tempt you and bring you down if you're not careful. The sad thing to is now this area is affected by this man's actions and I feel so bad for his wife. The other sad thing is people say he doesn't seem to be too repentant. I'm not too worried though. So far it hasn't scared anyone we're working with away but who knows how much better things could be if there wasn't a bad example for people to jump all over the church for. Oh well. Ok I'm done ranting.
This week should be a busy week. We have teamups in Anaconda Wednesday and then a three zone zone conference on Thursday in Helena. Back to the land I call home for my mission. :) I'm also excited to see Elders Heywood, Wahl, Ika, Ika's new companion, and so many other good misson friends.Well I left my planner with the other stuff I wanted to say so I guess I'm done for today. Thanks again for the letters and cards this week. It meant a lot to me. I hope you all are having a great December Christmas Season so far. I love you all and I'll talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Davis
Well Everyone believe it or not I'm 20 years old. It hasn't really hit me yet either. Thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes. It was good to hear from you and I really appreciated it. Yesterday for the most part was just another day in the mission. Kind of like Thanksgiving I guess. When there's no family around it's just another day. Mom and Dad probably know this but I don't really publicize my birthday like a lot of other people do. I'm like Dad in that sense. Just give me some good food, family, a few friends, and let me watch football and I'm good. haha. Elder Askey probably wouldn't have even known until I told him I wanted to run to Safeway on Saturday to buy some stuff to make a peppermint ice cream cake. He asked why I was making that and I said ummm well you see...tomorrow's my birthday. He freaked out and said No Way I didn't know that! I had kind of created a little plan in my mind to what I wanted to happen for my birthday. I had invited ourselves over to watch the Christmas Devotional at the J's. I figured I'd make my cake and they'd want to play Uno Attack like always so then we'd eat and play and I'd get away with having a little birthday party without ever telling anyone. haha But once I had told Elder Askey he told the Js but that was good because then on Sunday morning at church they told me Happy Birthday and then after when we were asking Bishop H a question Brother J told the Bishopric and they all sang to me. It was a little embarrassing but good. haha. At about 4, after church andseeing a few people, as we drove to our next appointment I thought dang, it's my birthday today. It doesn't even feel like it. It felt a little more like my birthday though later when we ate the ice cream cake. That is good stuff! So yeah not too big of a day. Just another day in the life of a missionary. This week was pretty good. The snow that looked like it was headed our way went right around us. It's been pretty nice around here. 25-30 for the most part in the day. We were able to do some service this week. We helped a younger lady move out of her trailer, stacked some wood for a brother in the ward who's been sick, and helped a brother from the ward put a new sewer system in. He just took a big backhoe and dug a big long trench and we then just put these plastic pipe things in the ground. It was pretty easy. We also had another visit with Brother C. He's the one that was less active but has now just done a complete 180. In the four weeks we've met with him he's finished reading the whole Book of Mormon. He is just eating it up too and we were able to give him a triple this week so he can start on the Doctrine and Covenants. It's been amazing to see the change that's come over him. He said the Book of Mormon has just filled in so many questions the bible brought up. His wife wasn't there but she has even started to listen to the Book of Mormon on cd. She's going through a rough time right now. Her mother is getting close to passing away any day now. It's going to be a rough time for her but a perfect time to learn more about the gospel and the Plan of Happiness.
Some really good news I heard from Havre this week was that J's baptism was this Saturday! Also big news C who was the first investigator I met in Havre who's been up and down and up and down has a baptism date set, has been interviewed by President Gardner, and is hopefully getting baptized on this coming Saturday if she can be smoke free this past week and this week! That was really good to hear that. And another surprise J B who we'd been meeting with since just after I arrived who was never really interested until about a month before I left Havre is getting baptized on Christmas! She too has to quite smoking but I know she can do it. She's the one who's daughter and son were baptized in AZ in February and they gave a referral for her at the Easter Pageant. So see those referrals can really work! It's so exciting to see all of this coming down in Havre. Elder Ika sent me a note trying to be sympathetic with me that all of my hard work was getting enjoyed by other missionaries but it's ok. I know that I was a big part of all of them so I don't feel bad that I can't be there. As long as they are getting baptized that's all that matters to me! Lewistown is also getting a baptism! I've seen that area go from teaching like 8 lessons a week to where it's at now. 20 lessons and a baptism. I'm happy for Elder Ika and his greeny.
Learned some interesting things about Dillon this week. I guess at times this area can be tough because a former bishop/stake pres from here was involved in some shady stuff. I've been told if you search Dillon LDS the stories will all come up so if you're interested go ahead and check it out. All I can say is there are some idiots out there who know better than their actions sometimes portray and that when you're in a high up church calling you can't think you're untouchable by Satan or he'll tempt you and bring you down if you're not careful. The sad thing to is now this area is affected by this man's actions and I feel so bad for his wife. The other sad thing is people say he doesn't seem to be too repentant. I'm not too worried though. So far it hasn't scared anyone we're working with away but who knows how much better things could be if there wasn't a bad example for people to jump all over the church for. Oh well. Ok I'm done ranting.
This week should be a busy week. We have teamups in Anaconda Wednesday and then a three zone zone conference on Thursday in Helena. Back to the land I call home for my mission. :) I'm also excited to see Elders Heywood, Wahl, Ika, Ika's new companion, and so many other good misson friends.Well I left my planner with the other stuff I wanted to say so I guess I'm done for today. Thanks again for the letters and cards this week. It meant a lot to me. I hope you all are having a great December Christmas Season so far. I love you all and I'll talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Davis
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Snow, Turkey and More
Hello Everyone,
First off I'm bummed that BYU lost on a blocked field goal but am also thankful it was a close game. It's also amazing how when you aren't around something and you don't get to watch it it doesn't affect you as much. And when you don't see it you can trick yourself in a way to thinking it didn't really happen. haha So I guess what I'm saying is I'm grateful to be on a mission while BYU is a .500 team. haha
Well this week was pretty good. It started off with a good pday of making cookies for the Averetts haha and was beautiful outside. That was the calm before the storm though. We woke up Tues and it was snowing Side Ways! And this was the day that we were suppose to travel to Butte for district meeting. So we left a half hour early and thought we'd venture on into town and see what it was like. Well as we are getting into town we see a car being towed up onto a trailer. We then realize it was Brother W's car. This was a surprise but when we talked to him and found out he was ok it was funny because he had said the night before that he was surprised he hasn't had to pull the guys from AZ and CA out yet. haha To answer dads question Elder Askey drives. We don't switch off. He's been out longer and knows the area so that's how they do it. So we get into town and it's not as bad but it's still pretty windy and snowy. So we talk to the zone leaders and they told us to go see what I-15 is like. So we go over there and there is a sign that reads 1-15 closed thru Dillon. So we don't know if that means at Dillon you have to get off before you head south or what so we keep going. We get to the on ramp and it's not blocked off so we get on. We were just going to test out the road and then get off on the next exit when we realize it's Montana and the next exit is 11 miles away. The roads weren't icy they were just snowy so we just took it slow and made it to Butte in an hour and 20 min. Not too bad considering the conditions and visibility at maybe a 100 yards. After we took that back road again because it was clear over there. We later found out it's illegal to drive on the highway when it's closed like that. oops. I guess that's what happens when you have two elders who aren't used to snow
together. Tues night was pretty crazy in Dillon. Because of I-15 being closed there were probably 20 trucks lined up behind Safeway. Also all the hotels were booked. One lady who works at the Best Western said
she had people offering her a $100 to get them a room. The Red Cross ended opening an emergency shelter at UofM Western's bball arena where people went and slept on cots. Oh and the low Monday night: -18.
Well the work was kind of slow this week with Thanksgiving. We did have a really good lesson with the part member couple the Cs. She is interested in reading the Book of Mormon which really surprised him. He
also is doing really good. He's read to Alma 45 in three weeks of reading. He said he's really enjoying it. Our mission has surpassed 800 baptism/reactivations this year. The goal is 1000 so hopefully we can make it.
Thanksgiving was good. It didn't really feel like Thanksgiving when you're not with family. It kind of just felt like another dinner appointment but it was a fun day. We went to the J's in the morning to just hang out and play games. We then went out to an older couple in the ward the Ps who live 10 miles north of Dillon on
a big ranch. They had a bunch of family over. They also had a really nice big house so that was fun to be with a bunch of people in this cool house eating a bunch of food. The one food they didn't make that I really like that Mom makes was cheesey broccoli but other than that it was all there. And I was able to have a huge piece of Pecan Pie! I've decided I like that way more than pumpkin pie. After that we went out to another families and played some games and had pie. All in all a good day but like I said not the same without family.
Friday we played bball with one of our investigators T and the T family. We happened to show up to play at the same time. I guess every year they play bball after Thanksgiving to 100. We had a lot of fun and T had a good time too. Speaking of T. We met with him on Tues. We are sitting there teaching had Elder Askey is talking about the Holy Ghost when T's roommate walks through the room to his room. Then we hear the door slam and then it opens back up and T's room mate yells at Elder Askey WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!!! He then drops an fbomb and goes out the back door and slams it. We all sat there in silence for a whole minute. T then says ummm maybe we should end for today and start meeting at the church. It was so crazy and weird. I have no clue what he could have miss heard that would have set him off like that.
Sister J gave us a fake Christmas tree to put in our house. She also gave us some ornaments but when I set it up and decorated it it looked kind of bare so I hunted around our apartment for things to put on it. It now looks Awesome! It's got some Hot Wheels, a Sponge Bob figurine, Christmas and Christ pass along cards on it, and I tied my three red ties together and wrapped them around the tree. I'll have to send a picture of it sometime.
We spoke in church this week in the 2nd Ward. It went really good. I was asked to speak on surprise surprise missionary work. I focused my thoughts to the young men and how to prepare and then used
Elder Nelson's Priesthood talk from conference to focus on the members and how they can help us. It went really good. Speaking in church feels so easy now. I received a lot of praise from Bishop Neilson that that's
what they needed to hear so I guess I did a good job.
Well I better get going. I hope you all are enjoying this time of year. Stay safe. God Bless. Love you all and we'll talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
Hello Everyone,
First off I'm bummed that BYU lost on a blocked field goal but am also thankful it was a close game. It's also amazing how when you aren't around something and you don't get to watch it it doesn't affect you as much. And when you don't see it you can trick yourself in a way to thinking it didn't really happen. haha So I guess what I'm saying is I'm grateful to be on a mission while BYU is a .500 team. haha
Well this week was pretty good. It started off with a good pday of making cookies for the Averetts haha and was beautiful outside. That was the calm before the storm though. We woke up Tues and it was snowing Side Ways! And this was the day that we were suppose to travel to Butte for district meeting. So we left a half hour early and thought we'd venture on into town and see what it was like. Well as we are getting into town we see a car being towed up onto a trailer. We then realize it was Brother W's car. This was a surprise but when we talked to him and found out he was ok it was funny because he had said the night before that he was surprised he hasn't had to pull the guys from AZ and CA out yet. haha To answer dads question Elder Askey drives. We don't switch off. He's been out longer and knows the area so that's how they do it. So we get into town and it's not as bad but it's still pretty windy and snowy. So we talk to the zone leaders and they told us to go see what I-15 is like. So we go over there and there is a sign that reads 1-15 closed thru Dillon. So we don't know if that means at Dillon you have to get off before you head south or what so we keep going. We get to the on ramp and it's not blocked off so we get on. We were just going to test out the road and then get off on the next exit when we realize it's Montana and the next exit is 11 miles away. The roads weren't icy they were just snowy so we just took it slow and made it to Butte in an hour and 20 min. Not too bad considering the conditions and visibility at maybe a 100 yards. After we took that back road again because it was clear over there. We later found out it's illegal to drive on the highway when it's closed like that. oops. I guess that's what happens when you have two elders who aren't used to snow
together. Tues night was pretty crazy in Dillon. Because of I-15 being closed there were probably 20 trucks lined up behind Safeway. Also all the hotels were booked. One lady who works at the Best Western said
she had people offering her a $100 to get them a room. The Red Cross ended opening an emergency shelter at UofM Western's bball arena where people went and slept on cots. Oh and the low Monday night: -18.
Well the work was kind of slow this week with Thanksgiving. We did have a really good lesson with the part member couple the Cs. She is interested in reading the Book of Mormon which really surprised him. He
also is doing really good. He's read to Alma 45 in three weeks of reading. He said he's really enjoying it. Our mission has surpassed 800 baptism/reactivations this year. The goal is 1000 so hopefully we can make it.
Thanksgiving was good. It didn't really feel like Thanksgiving when you're not with family. It kind of just felt like another dinner appointment but it was a fun day. We went to the J's in the morning to just hang out and play games. We then went out to an older couple in the ward the Ps who live 10 miles north of Dillon on
a big ranch. They had a bunch of family over. They also had a really nice big house so that was fun to be with a bunch of people in this cool house eating a bunch of food. The one food they didn't make that I really like that Mom makes was cheesey broccoli but other than that it was all there. And I was able to have a huge piece of Pecan Pie! I've decided I like that way more than pumpkin pie. After that we went out to another families and played some games and had pie. All in all a good day but like I said not the same without family.
Friday we played bball with one of our investigators T and the T family. We happened to show up to play at the same time. I guess every year they play bball after Thanksgiving to 100. We had a lot of fun and T had a good time too. Speaking of T. We met with him on Tues. We are sitting there teaching had Elder Askey is talking about the Holy Ghost when T's roommate walks through the room to his room. Then we hear the door slam and then it opens back up and T's room mate yells at Elder Askey WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!!! He then drops an fbomb and goes out the back door and slams it. We all sat there in silence for a whole minute. T then says ummm maybe we should end for today and start meeting at the church. It was so crazy and weird. I have no clue what he could have miss heard that would have set him off like that.
Sister J gave us a fake Christmas tree to put in our house. She also gave us some ornaments but when I set it up and decorated it it looked kind of bare so I hunted around our apartment for things to put on it. It now looks Awesome! It's got some Hot Wheels, a Sponge Bob figurine, Christmas and Christ pass along cards on it, and I tied my three red ties together and wrapped them around the tree. I'll have to send a picture of it sometime.
We spoke in church this week in the 2nd Ward. It went really good. I was asked to speak on surprise surprise missionary work. I focused my thoughts to the young men and how to prepare and then used
Elder Nelson's Priesthood talk from conference to focus on the members and how they can help us. It went really good. Speaking in church feels so easy now. I received a lot of praise from Bishop Neilson that that's
what they needed to hear so I guess I did a good job.
Well I better get going. I hope you all are enjoying this time of year. Stay safe. God Bless. Love you all and we'll talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Snow, Snow and More Snow!
Good Rivalry Week to ya everybody (more on that later). Well the snow has fallen and Dillon is covered in a blanket of white. Since Friday night we have had a consistant snow fall through Saturday night. It snowed about 8 inches in the valley and we have hit a low of -18 with the wind chill. Luckily for the most part I'm staying warm and we have been safe driving. The snow has sure made everything pretty. It's been fun to drive around town and see everything covered in a blanket of snow. We shoveled the church's sidewalks Saturday morning and by Saturday night they were all covered again. Hopefully it made it a little easier on those that shoveled Sunday morning.
This week went pretty good work wise. We were able to start teaching a part member couple named the C's. He is a member and has decided he wants to start coming back to church and he and his wife
told the bishop they'd like us to come over and teach them. The two lessons we had with them this week went really well. We were also able to catch the last min. of the Montana vs. Montana State game at the
C's. Unfortunetly U of M lost in the last min of the game. It was fun to see the end of the big rivalry game up here. We drove up to Butte for district meeting this week. This is before the weather got bad so we took the scenic route which is still the same mile wise. It was really pretty. It cuts across twin bridges and through a canyon. At d-meeting they introduced a mission wide assignment called Christ Centered Christmas. From now until Christmas 30 min. a day we are suppose to read the verses found on Christ in the topical guide and each day pick one we liked and write about it. I would encourage everyone to do a similar thing individually or as a family. I've only done it a few days so far but it's been really good and I know it's going to strengthen my testimony as will it yours. One funny thing that happened last night as it was 7 degrees outside was I spit and wanted to see how long it would take to freeze. Let's just say spit freezes pretty fast at 7 degrees. haha
Church was good this week. This was my first week with the Dillon wards. It was also my first time attending two wards in the same Sunday on my mission. It was good to finally get to meet some more members. Each ward is about 120 active members. Dillon 2 Ward had their primary program and the kids sped through it so fast Sacrament Meeting ended 20 min. early. haha Oh and we are speaking in 2 wards next week.
So Thanksgiving should be good. We have one for sure set meal with a potential of 2 others. So Thursday will Definitely be a filling day full of food. The only thing we are not having that I am sad about is no Turkey Bowl :(
Well now my views on Rivalry Week! BYU vs. Utah. If BYU wins it will be in a close game. If Utah wins it could either be a blowout or a close game. I having seen neither team play can't really predict anything. I'm going to say it's a close game though and I hope Utah gets cocky and gets beat. So GO BYU!!! BEAT Utah!!!
Love you all. Talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
Good Rivalry Week to ya everybody (more on that later). Well the snow has fallen and Dillon is covered in a blanket of white. Since Friday night we have had a consistant snow fall through Saturday night. It snowed about 8 inches in the valley and we have hit a low of -18 with the wind chill. Luckily for the most part I'm staying warm and we have been safe driving. The snow has sure made everything pretty. It's been fun to drive around town and see everything covered in a blanket of snow. We shoveled the church's sidewalks Saturday morning and by Saturday night they were all covered again. Hopefully it made it a little easier on those that shoveled Sunday morning.
This week went pretty good work wise. We were able to start teaching a part member couple named the C's. He is a member and has decided he wants to start coming back to church and he and his wife
told the bishop they'd like us to come over and teach them. The two lessons we had with them this week went really well. We were also able to catch the last min. of the Montana vs. Montana State game at the
C's. Unfortunetly U of M lost in the last min of the game. It was fun to see the end of the big rivalry game up here. We drove up to Butte for district meeting this week. This is before the weather got bad so we took the scenic route which is still the same mile wise. It was really pretty. It cuts across twin bridges and through a canyon. At d-meeting they introduced a mission wide assignment called Christ Centered Christmas. From now until Christmas 30 min. a day we are suppose to read the verses found on Christ in the topical guide and each day pick one we liked and write about it. I would encourage everyone to do a similar thing individually or as a family. I've only done it a few days so far but it's been really good and I know it's going to strengthen my testimony as will it yours. One funny thing that happened last night as it was 7 degrees outside was I spit and wanted to see how long it would take to freeze. Let's just say spit freezes pretty fast at 7 degrees. haha
Church was good this week. This was my first week with the Dillon wards. It was also my first time attending two wards in the same Sunday on my mission. It was good to finally get to meet some more members. Each ward is about 120 active members. Dillon 2 Ward had their primary program and the kids sped through it so fast Sacrament Meeting ended 20 min. early. haha Oh and we are speaking in 2 wards next week.
So Thanksgiving should be good. We have one for sure set meal with a potential of 2 others. So Thursday will Definitely be a filling day full of food. The only thing we are not having that I am sad about is no Turkey Bowl :(
Well now my views on Rivalry Week! BYU vs. Utah. If BYU wins it will be in a close game. If Utah wins it could either be a blowout or a close game. I having seen neither team play can't really predict anything. I'm going to say it's a close game though and I hope Utah gets cocky and gets beat. So GO BYU!!! BEAT Utah!!!
Love you all. Talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
First Week in Dillon
Hey Everyone,
It was good to hear from quite a few of you this morning and this last week. It sounds like everyone is doing good and is pretty busy. Congrats Dad on your new calling. I know you'll do a great job. And if
you're lookin for a talk I've given a few in the last year or so. I can send you one of mine if you'd like. haha That or you can just bust out the good ol' PMG(Preach My Gospel). Always a lot of good stuff in
there that you could base off of. And by the way Mom I only have one PMG. There is another in the house somewhere. It sounds like BYU is on a little roll here. Hopefully they can pull it off. As for Utah it's nice to
see them lose to my third least favorite team. hahaha Ok enough of that.
So Monday I had a little farewell tour in a sense from Havre. Brother L P played indoor tennis with me because it was raining. It was a lot of fun. We played in the church gym. Then we ate dinner at
his house which is always good. He is a good cook and his family which consists of his wife and four little girls are always entertaining. Then we went to Brother C P's house for a FHE lesson with J.
Those two families along with several others are what made leaving Havre a tough thing. But I was also pretty excited to start some new adventures and its nice to get out of Havre before th -40 degree
weather hits.
Ok so now on to Dillon. I got on the transfer van in Great Falls and rode down to Butte. I was able to ride down with Elder Child so we had a really good talk about Havre/Chinook. In Butte I got off and met Elder
Askey. He's from Chico, CA. He's been out about 17 months. We drove from Butte to Dillon. Man what a pretty drive. Its so nice to be in the mountains again! We then arrived to Dillon around 6:00. Got some
dinner and headed out to where we live. We live about 7 miles out of town with the Second Counselor of the 2nd Ward. They have a pretty nice house out in the country and they have built a missionary apartment
where their 3rd car garage was. It's a pretty nice set up. It's just one big room with a kitchen, desks, place to put your clothes, a bathroom, and an awesome bunk bed. I sleep on the top bunk which is pretty cool until you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. And the ceilings are probably 12 feet tall so I'm pretty high up there. It's also nice to be able to come home to your things every night and not have to pack stuff around. The place we live is also nice because it has a beautiful view of the mountains.
Dillon is like people said. Bigger than Chinook and Townsend but smaller than Havre. I really like it so far though. They have a pretty neat little down town area, UofM Western is here, and they have two
wards. Gpa G said 22% of Dillon is LDS. I'd believe it. There are a lot of less actives though. The wards could be a lot bigger if more people were active. We have been doing a lot of less active work this
last week. They just had two baptisms here so we are kind of starting over investigator wise.
The weather was colder and snowier than Havre so far. We had 6 inches when I got here and it's been in the 30's. It's warmed up a little though and the snow has melted in the valley.
So Dad talked about Dillon having some good fishing. Well Dad, I already found us a fishing buddy. Brother W who we ate with on Sat. We talked fishing for a good half hour. He loves fishing. He's 80 years old but runs around like he's 50. We talked about the fishing around here and I'm excited to come back and fish. He said everyone that comes from out of state to fish usually catches the biggest fish they've ever caught. And that most of the time you can catch fish easily between a foot and 16 inches. He told me when we come back he'll take us fishing. He said in his opinion that the reservoir up here is the best fishing in MT. I'm Excited!
So works a little slow right now but its definitely slow all over MT. I'd imagine because it's hunting season. Man these people Love to hunt And most of them do it for the meat more than for trophey. Brother F, a less active we see quit a bit, has already has 4 does and a buck and he still has an elk tag to fill. You drive around and it seems like everyone that drives by you in a truck is wearing orange. haha It's fun to talk to people about and they love telling you how they shot their latest deer. Well this Sunday we went to the branch we cover in Lima for church. They had a homecoming for a missionary that just got home from the Mesa, AZ mission. It was good to get to talk to him about AZ. I commented on how there are a lot of Elders in our mission from AZ and he said it's the opposite in his mission. They all come from MT and ID. Mom asked about our district and zone. We are the Butte/Helena Zone. We have 8 Elders in our district which is made up of us, the ZLs in Butte, Deer Lodge, and Whitehall.
Well I better get going. I hope everyone's doing good. I hope you all have a good week. I'll try to stay warm and I'll talk to you later.
Love
Elder Davis
Go Cougs!
Just received good news! J's mom signed the baptism paper! She's going to get baptized finally!! (She is the 15 year old girl in Havre/Chinook area who wanted to get baptized and her mom wouldn't let her so she said she would wait and do it when she turned 18.)
Hey Everyone,
It was good to hear from quite a few of you this morning and this last week. It sounds like everyone is doing good and is pretty busy. Congrats Dad on your new calling. I know you'll do a great job. And if
you're lookin for a talk I've given a few in the last year or so. I can send you one of mine if you'd like. haha That or you can just bust out the good ol' PMG(Preach My Gospel). Always a lot of good stuff in
there that you could base off of. And by the way Mom I only have one PMG. There is another in the house somewhere. It sounds like BYU is on a little roll here. Hopefully they can pull it off. As for Utah it's nice to
see them lose to my third least favorite team. hahaha Ok enough of that.
So Monday I had a little farewell tour in a sense from Havre. Brother L P played indoor tennis with me because it was raining. It was a lot of fun. We played in the church gym. Then we ate dinner at
his house which is always good. He is a good cook and his family which consists of his wife and four little girls are always entertaining. Then we went to Brother C P's house for a FHE lesson with J.
Those two families along with several others are what made leaving Havre a tough thing. But I was also pretty excited to start some new adventures and its nice to get out of Havre before th -40 degree
weather hits.
Ok so now on to Dillon. I got on the transfer van in Great Falls and rode down to Butte. I was able to ride down with Elder Child so we had a really good talk about Havre/Chinook. In Butte I got off and met Elder
Askey. He's from Chico, CA. He's been out about 17 months. We drove from Butte to Dillon. Man what a pretty drive. Its so nice to be in the mountains again! We then arrived to Dillon around 6:00. Got some
dinner and headed out to where we live. We live about 7 miles out of town with the Second Counselor of the 2nd Ward. They have a pretty nice house out in the country and they have built a missionary apartment
where their 3rd car garage was. It's a pretty nice set up. It's just one big room with a kitchen, desks, place to put your clothes, a bathroom, and an awesome bunk bed. I sleep on the top bunk which is pretty cool until you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. And the ceilings are probably 12 feet tall so I'm pretty high up there. It's also nice to be able to come home to your things every night and not have to pack stuff around. The place we live is also nice because it has a beautiful view of the mountains.
Dillon is like people said. Bigger than Chinook and Townsend but smaller than Havre. I really like it so far though. They have a pretty neat little down town area, UofM Western is here, and they have two
wards. Gpa G said 22% of Dillon is LDS. I'd believe it. There are a lot of less actives though. The wards could be a lot bigger if more people were active. We have been doing a lot of less active work this
last week. They just had two baptisms here so we are kind of starting over investigator wise.
The weather was colder and snowier than Havre so far. We had 6 inches when I got here and it's been in the 30's. It's warmed up a little though and the snow has melted in the valley.
So Dad talked about Dillon having some good fishing. Well Dad, I already found us a fishing buddy. Brother W who we ate with on Sat. We talked fishing for a good half hour. He loves fishing. He's 80 years old but runs around like he's 50. We talked about the fishing around here and I'm excited to come back and fish. He said everyone that comes from out of state to fish usually catches the biggest fish they've ever caught. And that most of the time you can catch fish easily between a foot and 16 inches. He told me when we come back he'll take us fishing. He said in his opinion that the reservoir up here is the best fishing in MT. I'm Excited!
So works a little slow right now but its definitely slow all over MT. I'd imagine because it's hunting season. Man these people Love to hunt And most of them do it for the meat more than for trophey. Brother F, a less active we see quit a bit, has already has 4 does and a buck and he still has an elk tag to fill. You drive around and it seems like everyone that drives by you in a truck is wearing orange. haha It's fun to talk to people about and they love telling you how they shot their latest deer. Well this Sunday we went to the branch we cover in Lima for church. They had a homecoming for a missionary that just got home from the Mesa, AZ mission. It was good to get to talk to him about AZ. I commented on how there are a lot of Elders in our mission from AZ and he said it's the opposite in his mission. They all come from MT and ID. Mom asked about our district and zone. We are the Butte/Helena Zone. We have 8 Elders in our district which is made up of us, the ZLs in Butte, Deer Lodge, and Whitehall.
Well I better get going. I hope everyone's doing good. I hope you all have a good week. I'll try to stay warm and I'll talk to you later.
Love
Elder Davis
Go Cougs!
Just received good news! J's mom signed the baptism paper! She's going to get baptized finally!! (She is the 15 year old girl in Havre/Chinook area who wanted to get baptized and her mom wouldn't let her so she said she would wait and do it when she turned 18.)
Monday, November 8, 2010
Transfer News- Mon., November 8, 2010
Editor's note: When I found out where Mitch is being transferred I got in to change the weather icon on the blog. I decided to check and see what Havre/Chinook weather was today because I forgot to look before I deleted it. This is what I found--
Chinook, MT Weather Advisories, Watches & Warnings
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY in effect until Tuesday, Nov 9, 5:00 AM
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM MST TUESDAY.
* TIMING AND MAIN IMPACT: RAIN AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOW WILL CHANGE OVER TO ALL SNOW FOR MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA DURING THE EVENING AS SNOW LEVELS LOWER. ALTHOUGH TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE RELATIVELY LIGHT...TEMPERATURES COOLING TO NEAR OR BELOW FREEZING THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WILL CAUSE SLICK AND ICY ROADWAYS BEFORE SNOW BEGINS TO ACCUMULATE.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED AT LOWER ELEVATIONS. 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS...MAINLY THE HIGHWOOD AND BEARS PAW MOUNTAINS.
* LOCATIONS AFFECTED INCLUDE: BIG SANDY...FORT BENTON... CHESTER...CHINOOK...HAVRE.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
He is right, he is leaving just in time although it is 7 degrees colder in Dillon right now than Chinook.
Now his email-- Enjoy!
Well I'm not going to make anyone wait. I'm being transferred to Dillon, MT. Dillon is about an hour south of Butte down towards Idaho. From what everyone is telling me it's pretty up there and there will be a lot of snow but not a bitter cold as here on the Hi Line so I'm happy! I love the snow but wasn't looking forward to -45 plus wind chill. Pres. Gardner told me he has a lot of good friends in Dillon just like he does in Havre and that he has always sent good missionaries there because of that and that he has faith in me to be just as good as those Elders in the past. Elder Butler told me that quite a few assistants have served in Dillon and have loved it. He told me I'm going assistant and I told him he's crazy. Speaking of assistant I want to give a shout out to Elder Heywood's Mother and congratulate her for having a son who is the new Assistant to the President in the Montana Billings Mission. When I heard the news I was so excited! I know he's going to do a great job. I was able to talk with Elder Heywood on Sat. and we had a good talk with each other. I'm excited to get to see and talk with him a little more now.
So a little more info on Dillon. My new comp will be Elder Askey. We are going to be co-sr comps. I'm looking forward to being in the same house every day. I'm starting to get sick of this living out of a truck stuff. It does break up your week nicely though. Dillon has 2 wards and 2 branches we cover so that should keep us pretty busy. I'm excited to be down by some mountains. I will however really miss Havre and Chinook. Pres. called and told me where I was going and he said You're going to be leaving a piece of your heart there aren't you? and I said yes I will be Pres.
It's definitely bitter sweet to leave an area especially when you've been here for 7 1/2 months (yes Mom that's how long I've been here. I got here April 11.) I'm excited for some new experiences and challenges but it's tough to leave the people you've been serving and getting to know for so long. I don't feel sad though because I keep telling them that as a family we are coming back to visit. The B's said if we came up G could ride their horses and they'd take us boating out at Fresno. Also C H said that she'd love to see me again and meet my family. G our native friend also said if I let him know when we are coming he'd cook us indian tacos. There are also a lot of other families in Havre and Chinook that I'd love to come back and see. It helps I'm heading down to Great Falls tomorrow and not today. I've been able to catch more people and say goodbye to more people that way. We are also going to eat at Brother L P's and then going to Brother C P's for FHE and a lesson. Definitely a good way to end my time here.
One family you are going to hopefully get to meet sooner then later are the H's. P's the one we baptized and they are looking for a change in their life right now. They went and looked down at a place in New Mexico that was offering them jobs but when they got there they didn't really like it. They have looked around more and asked what I thought of Gilbert, AZ. So we talked for quite a while about AZ last night and what I liked about it. They said they are for sure going to go down there in the next month hopefully. I gave them our address and phone number and told them to call you and that you could have them out to our house for dinner and that Dad could make them Pizza :) . I also told them to go to Bahama Bucks. They'd be flying Alligent into Gateway which I told them is really close to our house. If you wanted to email them and tell them you'd love to have them out to our house and ask them when they might be coming. Hopefully you'll be able to hook up and meet them while they are there. They are a really great family.
So a few highlights of the week are first team-ups in Ltown. It was good to be able to spend time with Elder Ika and Elder Butler. By the way L, Elder Butler wants you to add him with my facebook. So if you could do that that would be awesome.
Tues morning C, one of our investigators, called and said that there is a good chance she will be getting her 12 year old daughter back in her custody. She said she wanted to meet with us and get everything that she needs to work on out in the open so that she can be baptized because she wants to be able to be strengthened with her daughter through the church. We had a really good lesson on Wed. and I'll bet that we could be setting a date with her for baptism in late Nov.
K also was able to write her letter to the First Presidency so we'll see what happens with that. Hopefully they'll approve her.
We had 4 people at church. One of them was a lady named J. Her daughter and grandson are recent converts and she wanted to come to church with us. She said when she prayed about Pres. Monson that she got a warm feeling and she feels like he is the prophet. She is really starting to progress. I'm glad I'm leaving this area better than I found it. That is my goal in every area to leave a piece of my heart there and leave it better than I found it.
Another cool thing this week was on the way from Lewistown to Havre on the dirt road we saw a big ram. He was just hanging out and then crossed the road right in front of us. Pretty cool. I'll have to send a pic. Well I better get going. I hope everyone has a great week. Good luck with the ward split. It's snowing outside. I'm getting out of here at the perfect time. hahaha. Expect a package coming your way. Love you all.
-Elder Davis
PS I heard Austin Collie was badly injured but I've heard no other news except for they carried him off on a stretcher. Not good. Please update. thanks
Chinook, MT Weather Advisories, Watches & Warnings
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY in effect until Tuesday, Nov 9, 5:00 AM
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM MST TUESDAY.
* TIMING AND MAIN IMPACT: RAIN AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOW WILL CHANGE OVER TO ALL SNOW FOR MUCH OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA DURING THE EVENING AS SNOW LEVELS LOWER. ALTHOUGH TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE RELATIVELY LIGHT...TEMPERATURES COOLING TO NEAR OR BELOW FREEZING THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WILL CAUSE SLICK AND ICY ROADWAYS BEFORE SNOW BEGINS TO ACCUMULATE.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED AT LOWER ELEVATIONS. 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS...MAINLY THE HIGHWOOD AND BEARS PAW MOUNTAINS.
* LOCATIONS AFFECTED INCLUDE: BIG SANDY...FORT BENTON... CHESTER...CHINOOK...HAVRE.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
He is right, he is leaving just in time although it is 7 degrees colder in Dillon right now than Chinook.
Now his email-- Enjoy!
Well I'm not going to make anyone wait. I'm being transferred to Dillon, MT. Dillon is about an hour south of Butte down towards Idaho. From what everyone is telling me it's pretty up there and there will be a lot of snow but not a bitter cold as here on the Hi Line so I'm happy! I love the snow but wasn't looking forward to -45 plus wind chill. Pres. Gardner told me he has a lot of good friends in Dillon just like he does in Havre and that he has always sent good missionaries there because of that and that he has faith in me to be just as good as those Elders in the past. Elder Butler told me that quite a few assistants have served in Dillon and have loved it. He told me I'm going assistant and I told him he's crazy. Speaking of assistant I want to give a shout out to Elder Heywood's Mother and congratulate her for having a son who is the new Assistant to the President in the Montana Billings Mission. When I heard the news I was so excited! I know he's going to do a great job. I was able to talk with Elder Heywood on Sat. and we had a good talk with each other. I'm excited to get to see and talk with him a little more now.
So a little more info on Dillon. My new comp will be Elder Askey. We are going to be co-sr comps. I'm looking forward to being in the same house every day. I'm starting to get sick of this living out of a truck stuff. It does break up your week nicely though. Dillon has 2 wards and 2 branches we cover so that should keep us pretty busy. I'm excited to be down by some mountains. I will however really miss Havre and Chinook. Pres. called and told me where I was going and he said You're going to be leaving a piece of your heart there aren't you? and I said yes I will be Pres.
It's definitely bitter sweet to leave an area especially when you've been here for 7 1/2 months (yes Mom that's how long I've been here. I got here April 11.) I'm excited for some new experiences and challenges but it's tough to leave the people you've been serving and getting to know for so long. I don't feel sad though because I keep telling them that as a family we are coming back to visit. The B's said if we came up G could ride their horses and they'd take us boating out at Fresno. Also C H said that she'd love to see me again and meet my family. G our native friend also said if I let him know when we are coming he'd cook us indian tacos. There are also a lot of other families in Havre and Chinook that I'd love to come back and see. It helps I'm heading down to Great Falls tomorrow and not today. I've been able to catch more people and say goodbye to more people that way. We are also going to eat at Brother L P's and then going to Brother C P's for FHE and a lesson. Definitely a good way to end my time here.
One family you are going to hopefully get to meet sooner then later are the H's. P's the one we baptized and they are looking for a change in their life right now. They went and looked down at a place in New Mexico that was offering them jobs but when they got there they didn't really like it. They have looked around more and asked what I thought of Gilbert, AZ. So we talked for quite a while about AZ last night and what I liked about it. They said they are for sure going to go down there in the next month hopefully. I gave them our address and phone number and told them to call you and that you could have them out to our house for dinner and that Dad could make them Pizza :) . I also told them to go to Bahama Bucks. They'd be flying Alligent into Gateway which I told them is really close to our house. If you wanted to email them and tell them you'd love to have them out to our house and ask them when they might be coming. Hopefully you'll be able to hook up and meet them while they are there. They are a really great family.
So a few highlights of the week are first team-ups in Ltown. It was good to be able to spend time with Elder Ika and Elder Butler. By the way L, Elder Butler wants you to add him with my facebook. So if you could do that that would be awesome.
Tues morning C, one of our investigators, called and said that there is a good chance she will be getting her 12 year old daughter back in her custody. She said she wanted to meet with us and get everything that she needs to work on out in the open so that she can be baptized because she wants to be able to be strengthened with her daughter through the church. We had a really good lesson on Wed. and I'll bet that we could be setting a date with her for baptism in late Nov.
K also was able to write her letter to the First Presidency so we'll see what happens with that. Hopefully they'll approve her.
We had 4 people at church. One of them was a lady named J. Her daughter and grandson are recent converts and she wanted to come to church with us. She said when she prayed about Pres. Monson that she got a warm feeling and she feels like he is the prophet. She is really starting to progress. I'm glad I'm leaving this area better than I found it. That is my goal in every area to leave a piece of my heart there and leave it better than I found it.
Another cool thing this week was on the way from Lewistown to Havre on the dirt road we saw a big ram. He was just hanging out and then crossed the road right in front of us. Pretty cool. I'll have to send a pic. Well I better get going. I hope everyone has a great week. Good luck with the ward split. It's snowing outside. I'm getting out of here at the perfect time. hahaha. Expect a package coming your way. Love you all.
-Elder Davis
PS I heard Austin Collie was badly injured but I've heard no other news except for they carried him off on a stretcher. Not good. Please update. thanks
Monday, November 1, 2010
Week 5 - Monday, November 1, 2010
Hello All,
Week 5 has come to an end already. I can't believe it. This transfer has gone too fast. I guess that's what happens when you are working hard and teaching a lot. This week was definitely a stumbling block though do to illness. Let's just say when you're sick and you have someone you live with and are always around they get sick too. So me and Elder Wahl had 3 full days of sickness and sleep. Finally Thursday we got out of Sis. M's attic and back into the real world and back to missionary work. It's amazing how fast the week goes when you are sick and sleep a bunch of the week away. As much as you want sleep as a missionary when you get it and you get no work done you feel like a waste. Luckily that's over with and we are back to full strength.
This week did end well though. One of our investigators in Chinook S finally read the Book of Mormon. I have had a strong feeling that once she finally started to read she would feel the spirit and that things would progress at a faster pace. So we'll see if she keeps reading and what happens next. I really like S. Her late husband worked for the Deseret News and he was a sports writer. She's the one I talked about before who has been to a few BYU football games. She also fills me in on baseball news :)
Another highlight of the week was a trip to Arctic Circle for a pumpkin shake! It was good. I went and bought it Wed. night when we were just so sick of being in the house we wanted to get out and at least get a snack. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Our investigator and good native friend G also went to Yellowstone and kept calling us. It was funny. He'd call us and say "Elders I'm at Old Faithful!" Good Ol' G. When we went over there for a lesson on Friday he gave us a post card from Yellowstone.
I've decided the Chinook Branch is a funny branch. So many of the members have lived here so long and they are all pretty much related in some way that they all have little rifs between each other. This is pretty unfortunate because I think it keeps the branch from growing. There are some members who have commented on this and have told us little things but I've never seen it in person until this week. There was a 5th Sunday lesson on Sacrament Meeting and the importance of it and the things we need to do to prepare ourselves, like listening to the prelude music. Well it pretty much ended in some members saying little things like "well if the people in the back weren't so noisy" and then others made comments off of that and man it was crazy to see this little fight going on. It's sad to see because there are some really nice members here and there are a few families who've taken really good care of us. I just hope the little Chinook Branch can get over these little wedges and can grow closer together. It may take some new move ins to do it though.
Halloween was like others have said not a big deal this year. I'm kind of glad. As a missionary I didn't even feel like I was missing anything. hahaha Chinook had a Halloween Party on Sat. and we were able to carve pumpkins on Pday. Then on Sunday we were told that if we didn't have anything planned that we shouldn't be out on the streets. Well luckily we had planned to go to Bro. L P's for dinner and a movie (Prophet of the Restoration). Well when we went over to his house there were a bunch of other cars all over his street because of others trick or treating and I think his neighbors were having a party. Well we ended up having to drive down the street and park by this park and walk to his house. I have never felt so awkward on my whole mission! Not even in the airport, or in Walmart, or the grocery store. Everyone we passed looked us in the eyes instead of trying to avoid us and gave us a smerk like "nice costume!" Luckily we quickly walked and got into the P's house and away from the heathens trick or treating on the Sabbath. hahahah
So everyone keeps asking my thoughts on transfers. So here they are. I don't feel like I'm outta here because Elder Wahl is new and I've only been here one transfer but yet again I've been here 7 1/2 months! So I have no clue what will happen! We shall see. This district thinks that I am going to stay and become the new District Leader and Elder Butler will leave. We shall see. If I am outta here I'm going to have a lot of junk I've collected to get rid of and or send home. So you may get a package. I also feel Elder Wahl could do just fine in this area without me.
So Grandma G, Via's blog you have been sending me is really good. My Dad's sent a few of those. I was wondering if you could send the last part of the mission story. I really want to know what happens. Thanks.
Dad I don't know if you have read the ones he's posted about his mission but he talks a lot about Floyd Johnson and how he helped him get to the point he wanted to go on a mission. Well I remember you talking about Floyd and how he was yours and moms bishop when you first got married. I also read that book that he gave you and mom about BYU athletics and the gospel. It was a really good book and Via quotes it a few times in his article. It was really fun to read and share with Elder Ika.
So I have a few quick questions for anyone who wants to answer them. NBA starts this week doesn't it? What are the Jazz going to look like and who all is on their team these days? Also let me know what happens with elections that happen tomorrow. We hear a little bit of news because people are always talking politics when we don't even want to and I always wonder how much of what they say is really true. Let's just say I take it all with a grain of salt. haha Well I better get going. Thanks to all who wrote me this week. It as always is fun to see what's going on in everyones lives. Sports news is always good too :). As far as the suit the pin stripish navy suit sounds great! I hope you all have a great week and we shall see what transfers bring.
-Elder Davis
Week 5 has come to an end already. I can't believe it. This transfer has gone too fast. I guess that's what happens when you are working hard and teaching a lot. This week was definitely a stumbling block though do to illness. Let's just say when you're sick and you have someone you live with and are always around they get sick too. So me and Elder Wahl had 3 full days of sickness and sleep. Finally Thursday we got out of Sis. M's attic and back into the real world and back to missionary work. It's amazing how fast the week goes when you are sick and sleep a bunch of the week away. As much as you want sleep as a missionary when you get it and you get no work done you feel like a waste. Luckily that's over with and we are back to full strength.
This week did end well though. One of our investigators in Chinook S finally read the Book of Mormon. I have had a strong feeling that once she finally started to read she would feel the spirit and that things would progress at a faster pace. So we'll see if she keeps reading and what happens next. I really like S. Her late husband worked for the Deseret News and he was a sports writer. She's the one I talked about before who has been to a few BYU football games. She also fills me in on baseball news :)
Another highlight of the week was a trip to Arctic Circle for a pumpkin shake! It was good. I went and bought it Wed. night when we were just so sick of being in the house we wanted to get out and at least get a snack. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Our investigator and good native friend G also went to Yellowstone and kept calling us. It was funny. He'd call us and say "Elders I'm at Old Faithful!" Good Ol' G. When we went over there for a lesson on Friday he gave us a post card from Yellowstone.
I've decided the Chinook Branch is a funny branch. So many of the members have lived here so long and they are all pretty much related in some way that they all have little rifs between each other. This is pretty unfortunate because I think it keeps the branch from growing. There are some members who have commented on this and have told us little things but I've never seen it in person until this week. There was a 5th Sunday lesson on Sacrament Meeting and the importance of it and the things we need to do to prepare ourselves, like listening to the prelude music. Well it pretty much ended in some members saying little things like "well if the people in the back weren't so noisy" and then others made comments off of that and man it was crazy to see this little fight going on. It's sad to see because there are some really nice members here and there are a few families who've taken really good care of us. I just hope the little Chinook Branch can get over these little wedges and can grow closer together. It may take some new move ins to do it though.
Halloween was like others have said not a big deal this year. I'm kind of glad. As a missionary I didn't even feel like I was missing anything. hahaha Chinook had a Halloween Party on Sat. and we were able to carve pumpkins on Pday. Then on Sunday we were told that if we didn't have anything planned that we shouldn't be out on the streets. Well luckily we had planned to go to Bro. L P's for dinner and a movie (Prophet of the Restoration). Well when we went over to his house there were a bunch of other cars all over his street because of others trick or treating and I think his neighbors were having a party. Well we ended up having to drive down the street and park by this park and walk to his house. I have never felt so awkward on my whole mission! Not even in the airport, or in Walmart, or the grocery store. Everyone we passed looked us in the eyes instead of trying to avoid us and gave us a smerk like "nice costume!" Luckily we quickly walked and got into the P's house and away from the heathens trick or treating on the Sabbath. hahahah
So everyone keeps asking my thoughts on transfers. So here they are. I don't feel like I'm outta here because Elder Wahl is new and I've only been here one transfer but yet again I've been here 7 1/2 months! So I have no clue what will happen! We shall see. This district thinks that I am going to stay and become the new District Leader and Elder Butler will leave. We shall see. If I am outta here I'm going to have a lot of junk I've collected to get rid of and or send home. So you may get a package. I also feel Elder Wahl could do just fine in this area without me.
So Grandma G, Via's blog you have been sending me is really good. My Dad's sent a few of those. I was wondering if you could send the last part of the mission story. I really want to know what happens. Thanks.
Dad I don't know if you have read the ones he's posted about his mission but he talks a lot about Floyd Johnson and how he helped him get to the point he wanted to go on a mission. Well I remember you talking about Floyd and how he was yours and moms bishop when you first got married. I also read that book that he gave you and mom about BYU athletics and the gospel. It was a really good book and Via quotes it a few times in his article. It was really fun to read and share with Elder Ika.
So I have a few quick questions for anyone who wants to answer them. NBA starts this week doesn't it? What are the Jazz going to look like and who all is on their team these days? Also let me know what happens with elections that happen tomorrow. We hear a little bit of news because people are always talking politics when we don't even want to and I always wonder how much of what they say is really true. Let's just say I take it all with a grain of salt. haha Well I better get going. Thanks to all who wrote me this week. It as always is fun to see what's going on in everyones lives. Sports news is always good too :). As far as the suit the pin stripish navy suit sounds great! I hope you all have a great week and we shall see what transfers bring.
-Elder Davis
Monday, October 25, 2010
Ups and Downs - Monday, October 25, 2010
Hello Everyone,
This week was surely a week of ups and downs. Monday we had a good Pday. Bro. P played tennis with us at about 8 in the morning because that's the time he had free. So we altered our study schedule and went to play what could be the last good tennis I play on my mission. When we first got out there it was 23 degrees! That is definitely the coldest I've ever played tennis in. Thanks to the long sleeve BYU shirt gma G sent and my BYU sweatshirt I stayed warm enough though. The only thing that was cold was my hands holding the racquet. Elder Wahl didn' t want to play so he just wrote letters while Bro.P and I battled it out. We played two full sets. I won the first and he was up in the second when he had to go so I guess it was a tie.
Tues. we had a slow day and probably one of the craziest days of my mission. Let's just say it all started when I got up from studies in the morning and realized I had a HUGE hole in my grey suit pants! They had been wearing thin and a Sis. in Chinook had tried to fix them but it only lasted 3 months. So those pants were no good anymore. Well I go to look at my navy suit pants and there is a little hole starting to do the same thing! So now I'm thinking Great! I'm going to be in a General Authorities presence tomorrow and I have Holes in my Pants! So we ran around looking for a patch and looking at suits at Herbergers and then we ran into Sis. P and she said she thought she could fix them. So we took the patch over there and she fixed up my navy suit pants. In all the running around I kept leaving stuff at the house and the church and it was just a crazy day. It didn't end much better though. We drove to GF and didn't hit any deer so that was good but when I got there I realized I had left my bathroom bag and my towel! Luckily Lewistown was still on their way so they picked me up a tooth brush and some contact solution. Elder Butler also let me use his electric shaver the next morning to shave.
So we are finally to the big day. Wed. Lewistown and us drove to Helena. I love Helena. It just feels like home to me when I go there. Just being there for Pdays and district meeting days created a great love for Helena when I was in Townsend. Anyway we arrived there and I was able to see Elders Child, Holbrook, Whitlock, Kuck, Stewart, Cabral, Coker, and a bunch of other Elders! The whole west half of the mission was there! It was a lot of fun to see so many missionaries there. Elder Packer focused pretty much all of his thoughts on the spirit and how we need to BE a missionary not just Do missionary things. It was really good. He also promised us that if we'd follow All the rules in the white hand book that our mission would double our baptisms. So Pres.Gardner has issued the challenge to read the white hand book before the end of the transfer and that we need to get the little things out of our lives. He compared it to the beetles that are killing Montana's forests and how the little things like not fully following a rule or things similar to that are what can cause great damage to us, our areas, and our mission. It was a really good conference and Elder Wahl and I have talked a lot about what we can do better in our work to get the little things out.
We helped Bro. J pick a ton of potatoes on Sat. They have a root cellar and they have about 3 big buckets full of potatoes. I think it finally hit me how long I've been here when I was picking the same potatoes I planted back in June. It really will be interesting to see what happens at the end of this transfer.
So Pres. Gardner drives so much! He was going to Glasgow for an interview, and then to Havre to interview K, and then to GF to interview another man on Sat. Well then we get a call and K tells us how she has to go to GF to pick up her sister who just had a baby. So we rearrange things to have her interviewed in GF. Well on Sat. night we get a call that she never showed up. So now we are worried and can't get a hold of her. Pres. tells us if we can get a hold of her he was spending the night in GF and would come up to interview her before heading off to Lovell. So we run over there and wake her up Sunday morning. She said she had been kind of thrown into some crazy stuff and her sister found out her man as she called him was cheating on her and it was a crazy night and that she was so sorry that she had missed getting interviewed. We told her it was ok and that we were sorry she got caught up in the middle of all that but that there was still hope. She said ok I'll be at church and pres said ok I'm on my way. So we're sitting in sacrament meeting during the sacrament and waiting and waiting and praying and praying and No Kristi. Finally just after the sacrament she walks in. Feeew! Huge relief. So Pres. Gardner shows up and does an interview with her and afterwards he telsl us he can't guarantee anything but he feels hopeful. So K is potentially one step closer to being Baptized!
Well we were suppose to be headed to GF today for Zone Olympics but I've been feeling not good at all. It started with a cold and big time runny nose yesterday and then last night I threw up. So we are taking it easy today and not going to GF. Lewistown is going to come up here after Zone Olympics and have district meeting here tomorrow. It's a bummer we weren't able to make it and I feel bad for Elder Wahl that I'm causing him to lose out on some fun and getting to know other elders but he understands and I think can tell I'm not feeling so hot.
One last story before I take off. So in the pocket on our white shirts as missionaries we carry our white hand book and pass along cards. Well sometimes if you bend down too far they'll spill out onto the floor. It's jokingly called a "Greeny Barf". Well the other night I had gone to the bathroom and as I went to pull the toilet I bent down and bam! I greeny barfed into the toilet! Oh man it was so bad. I grabbed my white hand book out as fast as I could and took out my ministerial certificate and the missionary commission thing Mom had sent me. Luckily they are both laminated and I was able to sanitize them and salvage them but my white hand good was toast! Luckily I had one from Gma G that was in my binder that I was able to replace the soaked one with. There were also pass along cards with Christ on them so I dug those out of there and threw them away. I felt it would be really sac religious to flush those down. It was horrible but it made for a really good laugh and Elder Wahl, the zone leaders and Lewistown all got a good laugh out of me.
Glad to see BYU finally won a game! We talked to C, the recent convert, about fasting in other ways like not watching tv since she can't fast the normal way and she looked at us and said But It's the Playoffs!! haha that was funny. I think I found it a lot funnier then ElderWahl did. hahaha
Well I hope you all have a great week. I love you lots. Thanks for the package Aunt Cindy. Thanks for the Ensign Mom. And thanks for the blog updates Gma G. I really enjoy his blog. Well hopefully we can have a good week 5 of the transfer. I can't believe it's week 5 already. Crazy stuff!
-Elder Davis
This week was surely a week of ups and downs. Monday we had a good Pday. Bro. P played tennis with us at about 8 in the morning because that's the time he had free. So we altered our study schedule and went to play what could be the last good tennis I play on my mission. When we first got out there it was 23 degrees! That is definitely the coldest I've ever played tennis in. Thanks to the long sleeve BYU shirt gma G sent and my BYU sweatshirt I stayed warm enough though. The only thing that was cold was my hands holding the racquet. Elder Wahl didn' t want to play so he just wrote letters while Bro.P and I battled it out. We played two full sets. I won the first and he was up in the second when he had to go so I guess it was a tie.
Tues. we had a slow day and probably one of the craziest days of my mission. Let's just say it all started when I got up from studies in the morning and realized I had a HUGE hole in my grey suit pants! They had been wearing thin and a Sis. in Chinook had tried to fix them but it only lasted 3 months. So those pants were no good anymore. Well I go to look at my navy suit pants and there is a little hole starting to do the same thing! So now I'm thinking Great! I'm going to be in a General Authorities presence tomorrow and I have Holes in my Pants! So we ran around looking for a patch and looking at suits at Herbergers and then we ran into Sis. P and she said she thought she could fix them. So we took the patch over there and she fixed up my navy suit pants. In all the running around I kept leaving stuff at the house and the church and it was just a crazy day. It didn't end much better though. We drove to GF and didn't hit any deer so that was good but when I got there I realized I had left my bathroom bag and my towel! Luckily Lewistown was still on their way so they picked me up a tooth brush and some contact solution. Elder Butler also let me use his electric shaver the next morning to shave.
So we are finally to the big day. Wed. Lewistown and us drove to Helena. I love Helena. It just feels like home to me when I go there. Just being there for Pdays and district meeting days created a great love for Helena when I was in Townsend. Anyway we arrived there and I was able to see Elders Child, Holbrook, Whitlock, Kuck, Stewart, Cabral, Coker, and a bunch of other Elders! The whole west half of the mission was there! It was a lot of fun to see so many missionaries there. Elder Packer focused pretty much all of his thoughts on the spirit and how we need to BE a missionary not just Do missionary things. It was really good. He also promised us that if we'd follow All the rules in the white hand book that our mission would double our baptisms. So Pres.Gardner has issued the challenge to read the white hand book before the end of the transfer and that we need to get the little things out of our lives. He compared it to the beetles that are killing Montana's forests and how the little things like not fully following a rule or things similar to that are what can cause great damage to us, our areas, and our mission. It was a really good conference and Elder Wahl and I have talked a lot about what we can do better in our work to get the little things out.
We helped Bro. J pick a ton of potatoes on Sat. They have a root cellar and they have about 3 big buckets full of potatoes. I think it finally hit me how long I've been here when I was picking the same potatoes I planted back in June. It really will be interesting to see what happens at the end of this transfer.
So Pres. Gardner drives so much! He was going to Glasgow for an interview, and then to Havre to interview K, and then to GF to interview another man on Sat. Well then we get a call and K tells us how she has to go to GF to pick up her sister who just had a baby. So we rearrange things to have her interviewed in GF. Well on Sat. night we get a call that she never showed up. So now we are worried and can't get a hold of her. Pres. tells us if we can get a hold of her he was spending the night in GF and would come up to interview her before heading off to Lovell. So we run over there and wake her up Sunday morning. She said she had been kind of thrown into some crazy stuff and her sister found out her man as she called him was cheating on her and it was a crazy night and that she was so sorry that she had missed getting interviewed. We told her it was ok and that we were sorry she got caught up in the middle of all that but that there was still hope. She said ok I'll be at church and pres said ok I'm on my way. So we're sitting in sacrament meeting during the sacrament and waiting and waiting and praying and praying and No Kristi. Finally just after the sacrament she walks in. Feeew! Huge relief. So Pres. Gardner shows up and does an interview with her and afterwards he telsl us he can't guarantee anything but he feels hopeful. So K is potentially one step closer to being Baptized!
Well we were suppose to be headed to GF today for Zone Olympics but I've been feeling not good at all. It started with a cold and big time runny nose yesterday and then last night I threw up. So we are taking it easy today and not going to GF. Lewistown is going to come up here after Zone Olympics and have district meeting here tomorrow. It's a bummer we weren't able to make it and I feel bad for Elder Wahl that I'm causing him to lose out on some fun and getting to know other elders but he understands and I think can tell I'm not feeling so hot.
One last story before I take off. So in the pocket on our white shirts as missionaries we carry our white hand book and pass along cards. Well sometimes if you bend down too far they'll spill out onto the floor. It's jokingly called a "Greeny Barf". Well the other night I had gone to the bathroom and as I went to pull the toilet I bent down and bam! I greeny barfed into the toilet! Oh man it was so bad. I grabbed my white hand book out as fast as I could and took out my ministerial certificate and the missionary commission thing Mom had sent me. Luckily they are both laminated and I was able to sanitize them and salvage them but my white hand good was toast! Luckily I had one from Gma G that was in my binder that I was able to replace the soaked one with. There were also pass along cards with Christ on them so I dug those out of there and threw them away. I felt it would be really sac religious to flush those down. It was horrible but it made for a really good laugh and Elder Wahl, the zone leaders and Lewistown all got a good laugh out of me.
Glad to see BYU finally won a game! We talked to C, the recent convert, about fasting in other ways like not watching tv since she can't fast the normal way and she looked at us and said But It's the Playoffs!! haha that was funny. I think I found it a lot funnier then ElderWahl did. hahaha
Well I hope you all have a great week. I love you lots. Thanks for the package Aunt Cindy. Thanks for the Ensign Mom. And thanks for the blog updates Gma G. I really enjoy his blog. Well hopefully we can have a good week 5 of the transfer. I can't believe it's week 5 already. Crazy stuff!
-Elder Davis
Monday, October 18, 2010
Baptism and more - Monday, October 18, 2010
Well I was finally able to witness a convert baptism on my mission! It was really nice to be a part of. Sunday we had church in Chinook so we left there after opening exercises of priesthood and headed off to Havre. Once we got to the Havre Ward they were just finishing church. There seemed to be a special buzz in the air and everyone was excited for the baptism. A few minutes later P and his son C came out dressed in all white. It was so cool to see. P just looked so calm and happy with everything that was going on. The service was held in the gym/baptism font area and I'd say that a little over 50 people were there. It was cool to see all the support from the ward. His youngest daughter gave the talk on baptism and then it was time for the baptism. E.Wahl and I were the witnesses and his son C baptized him. The baptism went smooth and just like that he was baptized! His son did a really good job of speaking out and being loud enough for people to hear despite being a pretty quiet and shy kid. E.Wahl was then able to play the piano while they got dressed. Then Bishop Q who P had picked to confirm him was able to give him the Holy Ghost. E.Wahl and I were able to stand in for that too. It was just amazing to see how prepared he has been through all of this and how you can tell he's just ready to be a member of the church and to get to the temple with his family some day. We had a bbq after at the H's house and it was a lot of fun to just sit and get to know P a little more. We have been going through the lessons and teaching so much it was good to sit and get to know him better. He said he really likes E. Wahl and I and that before he didn't really like the missionaries but that we must have been the right guys for the job because he really likes us. That was another confirmation to me that I am were I'm supposed to be. In good ol' Havre Montana!
Well now I guess I'll fill you in on the rest of my week. Definitely not as cool as P's baptism but a good week. We had team ups with the zone leaders. E. Colf and I spent the day together. We talked to some interesting people. I've never talked to so many interesting people in one day as I did with E. Colf. I told him he must bring out all the weirdos but I guess weirdos need the gospel too. haha. One house we walk up to this guy is walking out and he said we can go talk to the guy inside. Well the other guy comes walking out and right away we have some suspicions about these two. After talking with the one man he asks us what our stance is on Homosexuality?! I've never been asked this before. I just kind of turned to E. Colf probably with a shocked look on my face and luckily E. Colf being the stud missionary he is was able to answer it really well. Well then later this group of girls in their 20's are on their front porch and we stop and talk to them and they tell us they're bi and want to know our stance on Homosexuality. It was crazy. Let's just say I know what to say to that question now so that's good.
On Thurs. we looked at the baptism font and it looked Nasty! There were giant spiders and it just looked brown and gross. So we got in there and did a deep clean on it. I don't think it's ever been cleaned before. Well afterwards we both walk outside and realize we left our keys in the church. So now we are locked out of the church and our truck. Luckily a member lives close by and was able to help us out. It was pretty funny.
Sat. we were out at the J's and helping pick up some large branches that had been blown down from this big wind storm we had had and next thing you know we are over by the corral with the sheep and goats and this dumb donkey. Well E. Wahl yells FLEE!!! and all of a sudden the donkey goes Crazy! and busts through a gate and starts to run away as all the sheep start to run away with him. So we go taking off after them and try to bring them back but E. Wahl not being an experienced farmer like me hahaha, yeah right, runs right at them and they just keep running away. Well like 250 yards later they stop and we are able to chase the sheep back but the dumb donkey just keeps going. Finally we just leave him alone but keep watching him and he comes back. All of this while the Js were off at some farm auction. Good thing none of them ran away for good.
We found out this week that our mission is going to be a pilot mission for the new phase 2 of mormon.org. We are going to do online proselyting through Facebook somehow. Right now it's only open to DL's and ZL's but Pres wants it open to all eventually. The thought is for an hour in the morning when things are slow we could get on and blog spiritual thoughts and chat with non members and teach them online. More details to come and of course it's not for me right now anyway because I'm not a District Leader or Zone Leader.
Well we have mission tour in Helena this Wed. The whole west half of the mission will be there. It will be fun seeing a lot of Elders I haven't seen in a while. Elder Allan Packer will be there. It should be really good. I'm really excited. Well I better get going. I hope everyone has a good week. I love you all and hope you enjoy your first week back to school and work. Talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Davis
PS I received a package from Gma and Gpa Davis but not from you. It could have arrived today maybe but we are in Havre so we'll see Thurs.
Well now I guess I'll fill you in on the rest of my week. Definitely not as cool as P's baptism but a good week. We had team ups with the zone leaders. E. Colf and I spent the day together. We talked to some interesting people. I've never talked to so many interesting people in one day as I did with E. Colf. I told him he must bring out all the weirdos but I guess weirdos need the gospel too. haha. One house we walk up to this guy is walking out and he said we can go talk to the guy inside. Well the other guy comes walking out and right away we have some suspicions about these two. After talking with the one man he asks us what our stance is on Homosexuality?! I've never been asked this before. I just kind of turned to E. Colf probably with a shocked look on my face and luckily E. Colf being the stud missionary he is was able to answer it really well. Well then later this group of girls in their 20's are on their front porch and we stop and talk to them and they tell us they're bi and want to know our stance on Homosexuality. It was crazy. Let's just say I know what to say to that question now so that's good.
On Thurs. we looked at the baptism font and it looked Nasty! There were giant spiders and it just looked brown and gross. So we got in there and did a deep clean on it. I don't think it's ever been cleaned before. Well afterwards we both walk outside and realize we left our keys in the church. So now we are locked out of the church and our truck. Luckily a member lives close by and was able to help us out. It was pretty funny.
Sat. we were out at the J's and helping pick up some large branches that had been blown down from this big wind storm we had had and next thing you know we are over by the corral with the sheep and goats and this dumb donkey. Well E. Wahl yells FLEE!!! and all of a sudden the donkey goes Crazy! and busts through a gate and starts to run away as all the sheep start to run away with him. So we go taking off after them and try to bring them back but E. Wahl not being an experienced farmer like me hahaha, yeah right, runs right at them and they just keep running away. Well like 250 yards later they stop and we are able to chase the sheep back but the dumb donkey just keeps going. Finally we just leave him alone but keep watching him and he comes back. All of this while the Js were off at some farm auction. Good thing none of them ran away for good.
We found out this week that our mission is going to be a pilot mission for the new phase 2 of mormon.org. We are going to do online proselyting through Facebook somehow. Right now it's only open to DL's and ZL's but Pres wants it open to all eventually. The thought is for an hour in the morning when things are slow we could get on and blog spiritual thoughts and chat with non members and teach them online. More details to come and of course it's not for me right now anyway because I'm not a District Leader or Zone Leader.
Well we have mission tour in Helena this Wed. The whole west half of the mission will be there. It will be fun seeing a lot of Elders I haven't seen in a while. Elder Allan Packer will be there. It should be really good. I'm really excited. Well I better get going. I hope everyone has a good week. I love you all and hope you enjoy your first week back to school and work. Talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Davis
PS I received a package from Gma and Gpa Davis but not from you. It could have arrived today maybe but we are in Havre so we'll see Thurs.
Monday, October 11, 2010
What a Week! - Monday, October 11, 2010
Hey Everyone,
We are at a member's home today getting to email since it's Columbus Day and I'm very thankful for that because if they wouldn't have been so nice we would have had to wait till tomorrow.
So it sounds like everyone has had a good week. I have had a Great week. Let's start with the best part. We taught P H on Tues and had a really good lesson with him. We committed him to baptism on the 23 of Oct. and him and his wife looked at each other and said oh no we'll be out of town that week. So his wife was trying to figure out a date in late Oct or Nov and he said well why are we waiting around? Why can't we just do it on the 17th? We told him we could do that we'd just need to meet with him probably twice more to make sure he's good with everything. He responded by saying well can you just stay and keep teaching? haha we said Of Course! So we had a 2 1/2 hr lesson with him! It was awesome! He is so ready for baptism and he just had his interview at 1:00 and he's good to go! So I'm Finally going to be at a Baptism! It's pretty much my first baptism. Of course you can't forget the Hs and W M but I didn't get to be there for those. So I'm so happy to finally be a part of a baptism. His oldest son who is 17 is going to baptize him. The ward is really excited. In priesthood yesterday we were sitting there with P and they announced the baptism and this old man in the ward turned to the guy next to him just in front of us and said No Way they finally converted that guy! haha it was so funny! Luckily I don't think P heard him. haha So yeah a baptism in 7 Days! It's been so Amazing to see it all work out so perfect and so fast. He told us he's just had to humble himself and come to the Lord to work through some recent struggles and that that lead him to wanting to take the lessons again. He took them when they first got married but he said he wasn't doing it for himself it was just for his wife and that's why he couldn't commit last time. But now he said he's ready this time and it's for him.
So besides that we taught 26 lessons! That's the most I've ever taught in a week on my mission! It was a lot of fun to just be working really hard to keep looking for new investigators and keep looking for more people to teach. We also found 4 new investigators this week and more this last month than I've found in my whole mission. It's been a lot of fun. Elder Wahl has really helped me catch some of his greeny fire again and it's really helped us. That and the members are starting to help us a little more which will really help this area to pick up big time. We've been working hard with them and they are just starting to get it I think. Sis. B said in her testimony this week that my challenge to her to pass out more mormon.org cards has really helped her learn that it can be easy if you just put forth an effort. She also bore a good testimony about how if the members will band together and be more missionary minded that the ward will expand enough to get the chapel expansion. I'm glad our efforts was able to inspire her to say that and hopefully that will help get the mission effort going even more.
We taught J again and she you can tell she is frustrated and just wanting to get baptized. We talked to her about fasting and how that can help us receive blessings from the Lord. So hopefully that motivated her to keep working towards her goal and helping her mom's heart to be softened.
So I've been listening to that Lamb of God cd. It's really good. I really like track numb. 9 where the Lord is coming into the city. What was it like to perform that program. Pretty cool I bet.
I'm glad you've enjoyed the pics. Yes the old guy with the beard is W. Also the speedometer was when a member was driving us to White Sulfer Spring. He was Crazy! I know the Lord was watching out for us that day. The other old people were the Ws. They were an old Methodist couple that liked to feed us and play Yahtzee. I think he would join the church but she was just stuck in her old Methodist ways.
Yes I got your package Mom and Gma G. Thank you so much. Those were both fun packages to get! Well I better get going. I love you all. Thanks for the pics. I'm going to put them on my card so I can look at them all later. I hope you all have a great last week of break. Glad BYU won! Elder Ika said that Mom should go to every game if they always win when she goes. Well talk to you later. Love you all.
Elder Davis
We are at a member's home today getting to email since it's Columbus Day and I'm very thankful for that because if they wouldn't have been so nice we would have had to wait till tomorrow.
So it sounds like everyone has had a good week. I have had a Great week. Let's start with the best part. We taught P H on Tues and had a really good lesson with him. We committed him to baptism on the 23 of Oct. and him and his wife looked at each other and said oh no we'll be out of town that week. So his wife was trying to figure out a date in late Oct or Nov and he said well why are we waiting around? Why can't we just do it on the 17th? We told him we could do that we'd just need to meet with him probably twice more to make sure he's good with everything. He responded by saying well can you just stay and keep teaching? haha we said Of Course! So we had a 2 1/2 hr lesson with him! It was awesome! He is so ready for baptism and he just had his interview at 1:00 and he's good to go! So I'm Finally going to be at a Baptism! It's pretty much my first baptism. Of course you can't forget the Hs and W M but I didn't get to be there for those. So I'm so happy to finally be a part of a baptism. His oldest son who is 17 is going to baptize him. The ward is really excited. In priesthood yesterday we were sitting there with P and they announced the baptism and this old man in the ward turned to the guy next to him just in front of us and said No Way they finally converted that guy! haha it was so funny! Luckily I don't think P heard him. haha So yeah a baptism in 7 Days! It's been so Amazing to see it all work out so perfect and so fast. He told us he's just had to humble himself and come to the Lord to work through some recent struggles and that that lead him to wanting to take the lessons again. He took them when they first got married but he said he wasn't doing it for himself it was just for his wife and that's why he couldn't commit last time. But now he said he's ready this time and it's for him.
So besides that we taught 26 lessons! That's the most I've ever taught in a week on my mission! It was a lot of fun to just be working really hard to keep looking for new investigators and keep looking for more people to teach. We also found 4 new investigators this week and more this last month than I've found in my whole mission. It's been a lot of fun. Elder Wahl has really helped me catch some of his greeny fire again and it's really helped us. That and the members are starting to help us a little more which will really help this area to pick up big time. We've been working hard with them and they are just starting to get it I think. Sis. B said in her testimony this week that my challenge to her to pass out more mormon.org cards has really helped her learn that it can be easy if you just put forth an effort. She also bore a good testimony about how if the members will band together and be more missionary minded that the ward will expand enough to get the chapel expansion. I'm glad our efforts was able to inspire her to say that and hopefully that will help get the mission effort going even more.
We taught J again and she you can tell she is frustrated and just wanting to get baptized. We talked to her about fasting and how that can help us receive blessings from the Lord. So hopefully that motivated her to keep working towards her goal and helping her mom's heart to be softened.
So I've been listening to that Lamb of God cd. It's really good. I really like track numb. 9 where the Lord is coming into the city. What was it like to perform that program. Pretty cool I bet.
I'm glad you've enjoyed the pics. Yes the old guy with the beard is W. Also the speedometer was when a member was driving us to White Sulfer Spring. He was Crazy! I know the Lord was watching out for us that day. The other old people were the Ws. They were an old Methodist couple that liked to feed us and play Yahtzee. I think he would join the church but she was just stuck in her old Methodist ways.
Yes I got your package Mom and Gma G. Thank you so much. Those were both fun packages to get! Well I better get going. I love you all. Thanks for the pics. I'm going to put them on my card so I can look at them all later. I hope you all have a great last week of break. Glad BYU won! Elder Ika said that Mom should go to every game if they always win when she goes. Well talk to you later. Love you all.
Elder Davis
Monday, October 4, 2010
Hey - Monday, October 4, 2010
Hey Everyone,
Well this week was a pretty busy week. I spent Mon-Wed with the Zone Leaders in Great Falls. It was good to get to know them better and to watch how they work. I even got to go to little old Belt which is a pretty small town about 20 min outside of GF. One funny thing that happened was when we street contacted this guy who was washing his car he got really scared and told us that Christians truly scare him. He ran inside his garage away from us. He was really scared. It was funny. I don't know why he is so scared of Christians. So it's definitely heated up here and on Tues it was 90 and we were walking all over because the ZLs have very few miles and when we got home at night despite drinking a lot I had some kind of rash all over my torso. I assume it was just a heat rash but after the ZLs giving me a blessing and getting a good nights rest it was gone. Kind of weird. It itched a little but wasn't that bad. Just was all over me. I'll have to send a pic so you can see.
So Wed. at 9:30 pm we picked up my new comp from off of the bus. His name is Elder Wahl and he is from Ohio. He is from a town near Columbus so not near Ms. F. He went to a year at BYU and he is a really good elder. I'm excited to work with him. I can't believe he's only been out on a mission for less than a week because he really knows his stuff and is a good teacher. So this area and I have truly been blessed with a good elder. He's not much into sports but does like Ohio St. and BYU Football. I think the Lord will never give me a comp who likes sports like I do. He must be trying to keep me in check. hahaha
We got back to Havre on Thurs and taught a part member family. The whole family besides the Dad are active members. Well we had a really good lesson with him and he said he's gone through some tough times lately and has had to rely on the Lord for help and that has increased his faith. We taught him the first lesson and he invited us back for lunch and a lesson in between sessions of conference yesterday. We had another good lesson with him and he said he knows the Book of Mormon is true. We had soft committed him to baptism the first lesson and now our plan is to commit him with a date when we meet with them Tues. You can just tell he's ready and that because of what has happened over the last couple of months has really humbled him. It's been amazing to see.
K was gone all week and we just briefly got in with her yesterday. We need to talk to her about her schedule and then talk to pres about coming up this week or next. So more info to come.
Despite only working in our area from mid day Thurs to Sun we had 18 lessons so we were really happy. We worked hard to work in between conference sessions to teach lessons and invite others to watch conference. Conference was amazing. I love it even more as a missionary because you are the one that gets to sit back and be taught.
Well I have to get going. It's taken me a while to write this because the keyboard I am using is HORRIBLE! oh well. I'll have to send a letter to fill you in on the other stuff. Have fun in Utah this week and take a lot of pics at the BYU game for me :). Hopefully they'll win. They won the last time Mom went which was probably 7 years ago so maybe they'll pull it out. Oh and Dad I second what you said about Utah State's students.
Love you all and have a great week.
Love,
Elder Davis
Well this week was a pretty busy week. I spent Mon-Wed with the Zone Leaders in Great Falls. It was good to get to know them better and to watch how they work. I even got to go to little old Belt which is a pretty small town about 20 min outside of GF. One funny thing that happened was when we street contacted this guy who was washing his car he got really scared and told us that Christians truly scare him. He ran inside his garage away from us. He was really scared. It was funny. I don't know why he is so scared of Christians. So it's definitely heated up here and on Tues it was 90 and we were walking all over because the ZLs have very few miles and when we got home at night despite drinking a lot I had some kind of rash all over my torso. I assume it was just a heat rash but after the ZLs giving me a blessing and getting a good nights rest it was gone. Kind of weird. It itched a little but wasn't that bad. Just was all over me. I'll have to send a pic so you can see.
So Wed. at 9:30 pm we picked up my new comp from off of the bus. His name is Elder Wahl and he is from Ohio. He is from a town near Columbus so not near Ms. F. He went to a year at BYU and he is a really good elder. I'm excited to work with him. I can't believe he's only been out on a mission for less than a week because he really knows his stuff and is a good teacher. So this area and I have truly been blessed with a good elder. He's not much into sports but does like Ohio St. and BYU Football. I think the Lord will never give me a comp who likes sports like I do. He must be trying to keep me in check. hahaha
We got back to Havre on Thurs and taught a part member family. The whole family besides the Dad are active members. Well we had a really good lesson with him and he said he's gone through some tough times lately and has had to rely on the Lord for help and that has increased his faith. We taught him the first lesson and he invited us back for lunch and a lesson in between sessions of conference yesterday. We had another good lesson with him and he said he knows the Book of Mormon is true. We had soft committed him to baptism the first lesson and now our plan is to commit him with a date when we meet with them Tues. You can just tell he's ready and that because of what has happened over the last couple of months has really humbled him. It's been amazing to see.
K was gone all week and we just briefly got in with her yesterday. We need to talk to her about her schedule and then talk to pres about coming up this week or next. So more info to come.
Despite only working in our area from mid day Thurs to Sun we had 18 lessons so we were really happy. We worked hard to work in between conference sessions to teach lessons and invite others to watch conference. Conference was amazing. I love it even more as a missionary because you are the one that gets to sit back and be taught.
Well I have to get going. It's taken me a while to write this because the keyboard I am using is HORRIBLE! oh well. I'll have to send a letter to fill you in on the other stuff. Have fun in Utah this week and take a lot of pics at the BYU game for me :). Hopefully they'll win. They won the last time Mom went which was probably 7 years ago so maybe they'll pull it out. Oh and Dad I second what you said about Utah State's students.
Love you all and have a great week.
Love,
Elder Davis
Monday, September 27, 2010
Transfer news - Monday, September 27, 2010
Hello Everyone,
It's been a great week here in Montana! The weather has been perfect and the rain has subsided for now. So we were in Lewistown as you know for pday and then President Gardner came for interviews Tues. It was nice to talk with him one on one again and we had the longest interview I've had with him since being out. Since there were only 4 of us he could spend a lot more time with us and it was nice. We talked about
W M's baptism and how Havre/Chinook is going among other things. We also talked about K and he said he feels she is ready for him to interview her and then submit her case for approval. So we are getting ever so closely to baptism with her Finally! He asked me if I wanted to stay and finish things off and I smiled and said you know what President I do but I also know it's up to the Lord. He said he'd see what he could do but I was right it is up to the Lord. Elder Whitlock told me that in his interview he told President he knew I'd been there 6 months so he figured he better be ready to take over the area. I kept quiet about my conversation with President about the situation though. Elder Whitlock kept telling me all week that I needed to stay and finish things off. So when transfer calls came Friday...Oh snap you'll have to wait. Don't cheat and peak below.
So on the way home from Lewistown we took the dirt road and saw some beautiful trees turning Fall colors. All the trees are starting to turn but it's going to be really pretty in a few more weeks. We stopped out at Rocky Boy Rez for the first time ever. It's really pretty up there and the houses are spread out a lot more and because of that I think people take better care of their stuff. There still were rezy looking houses but not as many as Ft.Belknap. So that was interesting. We visited a less active member out there who wanted a blessing. He seems to have a really strong testimony but just can't get past the typical native stuff (drinking, smoking, etc.) We had a really good visit with him though and he had a good talk with Bishop Q yesterday and Bishop Q is going to help him get rides to church because that is one of his big hold ups right now. We had good lessons this week with C and K. We weren't able to get in with the M boys but we did talk to one of them at the gas station and he said to come over this week. We also didn't get in with J the 15 year old girl but Sister P is doing awesome missionary work in seminary. They have J and K both non members coming and she challenged K to read Joseph Smith History and pray about it. So K did it and memorized the scripture mastery in JSH and went to seminary the next day and passed it off. She told Siser P that she prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help her memorize the scripture if these things she had read were true. She said she memorized it in under an hour! and that scripture is long. So we have a set lesson to teach both of them together at the P's this next week. But will I be there for it....Ok I guess I'll tell you about transfers now. The call came and I'm staying! Elder Whitlock and I were sad to see it come but we knew one of us would be leaving. I think we are both happy because he wants me to finish some work here and so do I. So while he was packing we waited around for where he was going and who was coming and the Zone Leaders called and told Elder Whitlock he's going to Columbia Falls. He's now going to be in Elder Child's district! They then asked me if President had called me yet. I said umm no. They then paused and said well this is awkward. So now I'm sitting waiting for President to call. Well in this mission you aren't suppose to call out of your area but to get around that elders will send a voice message over the voice mail. So I get this message from Elder Hamblin (MTC district) and he said Elder Davis I heard you are staying and a certain elder is going to be your companion. Well this was news to me because we hadn't heard from President yet. Well let's just say that this certain elder isn't the greatest elder obedience wise and so now I'm a little worried thinking President must be calling to tell me how I need to work with him and be a good companion for him and help him be obedient. So for the next 4 hours I'm still waiting to hear from President and still thinking that this Elder is coming and that I'm going to have to do my best to get along with him. Well at almost 6 as we are heading to dinner with G, who by the way fed us indian tacos, President calls and says did I call you earlier...? um..No. I reply. He then says oh man I'm sorry, well you're training. You did a great job with Elder Whitlock so we thought we'd send you another one. He just said it pretty casually and said well I've got to go talk to you later. haha Oh man was I relieved. It turns out this crazy elder is going to be companions with another Elder Davis (there are like 4 of us in the mission) So I'm training again! I'm pretty excited! So now I'm in Great Falls and Elder Whitlock just took off for Columbia Falls. I'll be here till Thursday morning. The new elder will get to Great Falls late Wednesday. I'm really excited too because we have some awesome lessons already set for him.
A part member couple walked up to us at church and she said this is my husband and he wants to take the lessons. So we are teaching those 2 teenage girls J and K together and then we'll go straight to the lesson with the H's! I'm really excited for the work we have to do here and the chance I have to stay in the Havre Ward and the Chinook Branch. I really am liking it up here. Well one last quick thing and then I've got to go. There was a sugar beet festival in Chinook this weekend and of course the whole town shut down for it so there was no one wanting to be taught. So we ended up going to the parade with the 90 year old lady who feeds us steak. We helped walk her over to it so she could see it. They were really excited about how big it was. It lasted a half hour and they were crazy excited about it. It was funny. Well I've got to go. I love you all. I'll send you a letter maybe if I get a chance and let you know how the new Golden is. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Davis
It's been a great week here in Montana! The weather has been perfect and the rain has subsided for now. So we were in Lewistown as you know for pday and then President Gardner came for interviews Tues. It was nice to talk with him one on one again and we had the longest interview I've had with him since being out. Since there were only 4 of us he could spend a lot more time with us and it was nice. We talked about
W M's baptism and how Havre/Chinook is going among other things. We also talked about K and he said he feels she is ready for him to interview her and then submit her case for approval. So we are getting ever so closely to baptism with her Finally! He asked me if I wanted to stay and finish things off and I smiled and said you know what President I do but I also know it's up to the Lord. He said he'd see what he could do but I was right it is up to the Lord. Elder Whitlock told me that in his interview he told President he knew I'd been there 6 months so he figured he better be ready to take over the area. I kept quiet about my conversation with President about the situation though. Elder Whitlock kept telling me all week that I needed to stay and finish things off. So when transfer calls came Friday...Oh snap you'll have to wait. Don't cheat and peak below.
So on the way home from Lewistown we took the dirt road and saw some beautiful trees turning Fall colors. All the trees are starting to turn but it's going to be really pretty in a few more weeks. We stopped out at Rocky Boy Rez for the first time ever. It's really pretty up there and the houses are spread out a lot more and because of that I think people take better care of their stuff. There still were rezy looking houses but not as many as Ft.Belknap. So that was interesting. We visited a less active member out there who wanted a blessing. He seems to have a really strong testimony but just can't get past the typical native stuff (drinking, smoking, etc.) We had a really good visit with him though and he had a good talk with Bishop Q yesterday and Bishop Q is going to help him get rides to church because that is one of his big hold ups right now. We had good lessons this week with C and K. We weren't able to get in with the M boys but we did talk to one of them at the gas station and he said to come over this week. We also didn't get in with J the 15 year old girl but Sister P is doing awesome missionary work in seminary. They have J and K both non members coming and she challenged K to read Joseph Smith History and pray about it. So K did it and memorized the scripture mastery in JSH and went to seminary the next day and passed it off. She told Siser P that she prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help her memorize the scripture if these things she had read were true. She said she memorized it in under an hour! and that scripture is long. So we have a set lesson to teach both of them together at the P's this next week. But will I be there for it....Ok I guess I'll tell you about transfers now. The call came and I'm staying! Elder Whitlock and I were sad to see it come but we knew one of us would be leaving. I think we are both happy because he wants me to finish some work here and so do I. So while he was packing we waited around for where he was going and who was coming and the Zone Leaders called and told Elder Whitlock he's going to Columbia Falls. He's now going to be in Elder Child's district! They then asked me if President had called me yet. I said umm no. They then paused and said well this is awkward. So now I'm sitting waiting for President to call. Well in this mission you aren't suppose to call out of your area but to get around that elders will send a voice message over the voice mail. So I get this message from Elder Hamblin (MTC district) and he said Elder Davis I heard you are staying and a certain elder is going to be your companion. Well this was news to me because we hadn't heard from President yet. Well let's just say that this certain elder isn't the greatest elder obedience wise and so now I'm a little worried thinking President must be calling to tell me how I need to work with him and be a good companion for him and help him be obedient. So for the next 4 hours I'm still waiting to hear from President and still thinking that this Elder is coming and that I'm going to have to do my best to get along with him. Well at almost 6 as we are heading to dinner with G, who by the way fed us indian tacos, President calls and says did I call you earlier...? um..No. I reply. He then says oh man I'm sorry, well you're training. You did a great job with Elder Whitlock so we thought we'd send you another one. He just said it pretty casually and said well I've got to go talk to you later. haha Oh man was I relieved. It turns out this crazy elder is going to be companions with another Elder Davis (there are like 4 of us in the mission) So I'm training again! I'm pretty excited! So now I'm in Great Falls and Elder Whitlock just took off for Columbia Falls. I'll be here till Thursday morning. The new elder will get to Great Falls late Wednesday. I'm really excited too because we have some awesome lessons already set for him.
A part member couple walked up to us at church and she said this is my husband and he wants to take the lessons. So we are teaching those 2 teenage girls J and K together and then we'll go straight to the lesson with the H's! I'm really excited for the work we have to do here and the chance I have to stay in the Havre Ward and the Chinook Branch. I really am liking it up here. Well one last quick thing and then I've got to go. There was a sugar beet festival in Chinook this weekend and of course the whole town shut down for it so there was no one wanting to be taught. So we ended up going to the parade with the 90 year old lady who feeds us steak. We helped walk her over to it so she could see it. They were really excited about how big it was. It lasted a half hour and they were crazy excited about it. It was funny. Well I've got to go. I love you all. I'll send you a letter maybe if I get a chance and let you know how the new Golden is. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Davis
Monday, September 20, 2010
Snow? Monday, September 20, 2010
Snow....Yes you heard me right, snow. Believe it or not we were sitting there on Friday at our desks weekly planning and watching it rain when all of a sudden it was like you could see the rain better. Then it hit me what was going on. It was starting to snow! It was a really wet snow but snow none the less. I looked at the calendar...Sep 17th! One day before that crazy dude we talked to in Havre told us it'd snow because his tree had turned colors. No Way! As we sat there it wet snowed for a good 20 min. too warm to build up or turn into any kind of snow storm but still. It's September! As we planned we talked to Bishop Q who lives in Big Sandy which is closer to the Bear Paw Mountains and he said it was snowing enough the roof of his house was fully covered! We also talked to the Zone Leaders and they said it snowed enough in Great Falls that they had to bust out the broom scraper thing to dust off their windshield. Everyone keeps telling us it's normally not this wet. The farmers are ticked. I woke up early this morning and it was raining pretty hard. Pretty much the whole way driving to Lewistown this morning it rained. I told Elder Whitlock I didn't know I was coming to Washington for my mission but I'm ok with it. Ok enough weather talk.
So we had a really good week this week. Lewistown was in town for team ups and we had 7 lessons on Tuesday. And that was only really working 2/3's of the day because of district meeting. The best part was when Elder Butler and I were TRACTING, Yes we still Do Tract, Crazy AZ Mission. I'll get back to that later. Ok so while we were tracting we knocked on a door and a 16 year old boy answered. I gave him a tracting approach and asked him if he knew any Mormons at school. He said no. None of them wear name tags like you do. haha I thought that was funny. So he asked his Dad who was sitting right there if we could come in and his Dad said yeah sure if you want to talk to them. So he let us in. We ended teaching him and his other teenage brother the first lesson. The one kid A seems really interested. The other one, M, seems interested but not as much as A. So at the end we committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and they said they would. I also asked them if they'd be interested in Young Men's and their Dad laughed and said A had just been asking about a youth group of some kind a few min. before we knocked. He said he had plans this week on Wed. but that he'd love to come next week. So we have an appointment set up to teach them tomorrow afternoon. Their Dad right as we were leaving said Hey next time tell them about the Angel Moroni. This really caught us off guard. We asked him if he has ever read the Book of Mormon and he said just the book of Moroni. He said their last name is Moronie and that he heard about the Angel Moroni once and it interested him so he got a hold of a Book of Mormon and just read the last book. So now we think we have some good potential with the Dad too. It was awesome to be tracting in the right place at the right time like that. We are excited to teach them more. We were also able to teach a referral out on Ft. Belknap on Thurs and she said she'd read the Book of Mormon. So we got 3 new investigators this week. That is most definitely a record in this area since I've been here. Our mission and zone is really pushing to find more so it was good to help out our zone meet some of the goals we have set. We are also going to start teaching K's son and J (I think I talked about her last week).
Speaking of K, Elder Whitlock and Elder Ika had an amazing lesson with her. They got there and in their talking she opened up and said she took our challenge last week and prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and that she felt the spirit for the first time so strong she said she couldn't stop crying and that it scared her. She said she felt that way for three straight days and then she bore her testimony to Elder Whitlock and Ika. This was really good because we still weren't sure if she knew Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon to truly be true. Now that we know this though we know she is ready for baptism on our side. Now Bishop Q is going to talk to her probation officer and after he does that we hope that we have a good case to take to Pres. Gardner so that he can take it to the First Presidency and petition for her to be allowed to be baptized. I really think she is ready and hope everything can work out.
The four of us Elders ate at L P's on Mon. night and then his brother C P's on Tues. We made it a little competition between Bro. L P and Sis. A P for who could make better Italian. Let's just say L P's was really good and he bakes really good cookies. But...Sis. P blew him out of the water! Oh man she made a really good Italian dish. It was probably the best Italian I've ever had and then to top it off she made Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Every one's first word out of their mouths after taking a bite of Warm Chocolate Melting Cake was Wow! They thanked me for sharing the recipe with them. Sis. P wrote on her recipe card Elder Davis's Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Bro. P said that may have sealed my fate for being remembered in Havre. hahaha
So here's a good rez story for yall. After leaving a lesson with that lady who said she'd read the Book of Mormon we were walking back to the car with Pres. J when an older native came walking right up to us. She said Hey you're Mormons right? We said yes. She said Well I'm a Jack Mormon! Pres. J being naive said oh really what's that? She said I'm a Mormon who drinks, smokes, and cusses! She went on to tell us all of these crazy things. She was really confused about the gathering of Israel. She said why do you feel like you have to gather my people? We aren't lost. We're right here. We've always been here. You don't need to gather us. haha She also said why do you think we are cursed? We look like the earth. You're the ones that look like Ghosts! hahaha She ended up asking us to say a prayer and when we asked her who she'd like to say it she said the creator and pointed to Pres. J. This caught him off guard. He asked what her name was so he could pray for her and she rambled off the longest name I've ever heard. I almost lost it at this point when Pres. J had the funniest look on his face like oh great what do I do now? hahahah So he finally just prayed for her and used the first name she had said. Oh man. Never a dull moment on the rez.
One quick thing. Dad did you know Richard G Scott served in Uruguay on his mission. Pretty cool huh?
So we went with the R family to Stake Conference in Great Falls this weekend. It was a regional conference so it was broadcast in from Salt Lake to Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Elder Hallstrom, Sis.Cook, Elder Perry, and Pres. Uchtdorf spoke. Pres. Uchtdorf spoke about preparing to go on a mission and being better member missionaries. It is always nice when members can hear it from a general authority and have it back up what you've been telling them. The funniest line of the conference was when Pres.Uchtdorf said that young men need to save for their missions and not be worried about spending money on big trucks with big tires. That was the Perfect line for about 95% of young men in Montana and Wyoming. And maybe Colorado too. hahaha I wonder what Elder Child thought of that. hahaha
So after the conference before we came back to Havre we went and ate with the Rs at the park in Great Falls and then we got to feed the ducks and geese. Sis. R had bought everyone a cheap loaf of bread. It was so much fun. I hadn't done that in so long. haha
We have a musical fireside this weekend in Great Falls . It should be pretty good. Elder Whitlock and I have a small speaking part. Transfers are also this weekend. I honestly have no idea what could happen. I've been here 6 months so you'd think I'm outta here but the trend in this area is 7 1/2. I could really care less if I go or not. I would really like to stay in this area and finish some things I've started but we'll just have to see what the Lord thinks. Pres. is coming to Lewistown tomorrow after District Meeting for interviews. We'll see what he says.
Ok now really quick Mom told me about the "Lazy AZ" mission as I'm now calling it. That is weak sauce that they aren't tracting! Yeah in a perfect world the members would give us a ton of referrals but we don't live in a perfect world. We are trying to get members to help us more but you have to do your part too. You can't just solely depend on the members. If this is coming from the mission president I'm really surprised. This in my mind totally contradicts Preach My Gospel teachings that has a whole section on finding! Yes the members of the church in my mind need to step up their missionary efforts and that is like Mom said a big responsibility of ward missionaries (which we don't have here, too small, just enough members to fill callings). End of story Yes We Do Tract. It's our way of showing the Lord that we are willing to work hard to find and that we have faith that our efforts will pay off and that we will find someone to listen to us. I also believe that when we work hard and tract that even if you don't find someone that the Lord will bless you in other ways because of your hard work. And I would never feel comfortable going to work out at a gym when I should be out teaching and tracting. So tell your missionaries that you'll find them someone to teach when they up their finding effort and that combined you can all move the work forward. So yeah. End of that rant.
Well I better get going. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week. Hope to hear from you all when you get a chance. Talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Davis
PS Yes I got my BYU Shirt! Thank you so much! And my contacts are in good shape. I also got a Uruguay Jersey from Andrew! Thanks so much Andrew! They both look good on me! haha
So we had a really good week this week. Lewistown was in town for team ups and we had 7 lessons on Tuesday. And that was only really working 2/3's of the day because of district meeting. The best part was when Elder Butler and I were TRACTING, Yes we still Do Tract, Crazy AZ Mission. I'll get back to that later. Ok so while we were tracting we knocked on a door and a 16 year old boy answered. I gave him a tracting approach and asked him if he knew any Mormons at school. He said no. None of them wear name tags like you do. haha I thought that was funny. So he asked his Dad who was sitting right there if we could come in and his Dad said yeah sure if you want to talk to them. So he let us in. We ended teaching him and his other teenage brother the first lesson. The one kid A seems really interested. The other one, M, seems interested but not as much as A. So at the end we committed them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and they said they would. I also asked them if they'd be interested in Young Men's and their Dad laughed and said A had just been asking about a youth group of some kind a few min. before we knocked. He said he had plans this week on Wed. but that he'd love to come next week. So we have an appointment set up to teach them tomorrow afternoon. Their Dad right as we were leaving said Hey next time tell them about the Angel Moroni. This really caught us off guard. We asked him if he has ever read the Book of Mormon and he said just the book of Moroni. He said their last name is Moronie and that he heard about the Angel Moroni once and it interested him so he got a hold of a Book of Mormon and just read the last book. So now we think we have some good potential with the Dad too. It was awesome to be tracting in the right place at the right time like that. We are excited to teach them more. We were also able to teach a referral out on Ft. Belknap on Thurs and she said she'd read the Book of Mormon. So we got 3 new investigators this week. That is most definitely a record in this area since I've been here. Our mission and zone is really pushing to find more so it was good to help out our zone meet some of the goals we have set. We are also going to start teaching K's son and J (I think I talked about her last week).
Speaking of K, Elder Whitlock and Elder Ika had an amazing lesson with her. They got there and in their talking she opened up and said she took our challenge last week and prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and that she felt the spirit for the first time so strong she said she couldn't stop crying and that it scared her. She said she felt that way for three straight days and then she bore her testimony to Elder Whitlock and Ika. This was really good because we still weren't sure if she knew Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon to truly be true. Now that we know this though we know she is ready for baptism on our side. Now Bishop Q is going to talk to her probation officer and after he does that we hope that we have a good case to take to Pres. Gardner so that he can take it to the First Presidency and petition for her to be allowed to be baptized. I really think she is ready and hope everything can work out.
The four of us Elders ate at L P's on Mon. night and then his brother C P's on Tues. We made it a little competition between Bro. L P and Sis. A P for who could make better Italian. Let's just say L P's was really good and he bakes really good cookies. But...Sis. P blew him out of the water! Oh man she made a really good Italian dish. It was probably the best Italian I've ever had and then to top it off she made Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Every one's first word out of their mouths after taking a bite of Warm Chocolate Melting Cake was Wow! They thanked me for sharing the recipe with them. Sis. P wrote on her recipe card Elder Davis's Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Bro. P said that may have sealed my fate for being remembered in Havre. hahaha
So here's a good rez story for yall. After leaving a lesson with that lady who said she'd read the Book of Mormon we were walking back to the car with Pres. J when an older native came walking right up to us. She said Hey you're Mormons right? We said yes. She said Well I'm a Jack Mormon! Pres. J being naive said oh really what's that? She said I'm a Mormon who drinks, smokes, and cusses! She went on to tell us all of these crazy things. She was really confused about the gathering of Israel. She said why do you feel like you have to gather my people? We aren't lost. We're right here. We've always been here. You don't need to gather us. haha She also said why do you think we are cursed? We look like the earth. You're the ones that look like Ghosts! hahaha She ended up asking us to say a prayer and when we asked her who she'd like to say it she said the creator and pointed to Pres. J. This caught him off guard. He asked what her name was so he could pray for her and she rambled off the longest name I've ever heard. I almost lost it at this point when Pres. J had the funniest look on his face like oh great what do I do now? hahahah So he finally just prayed for her and used the first name she had said. Oh man. Never a dull moment on the rez.
One quick thing. Dad did you know Richard G Scott served in Uruguay on his mission. Pretty cool huh?
So we went with the R family to Stake Conference in Great Falls this weekend. It was a regional conference so it was broadcast in from Salt Lake to Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Elder Hallstrom, Sis.Cook, Elder Perry, and Pres. Uchtdorf spoke. Pres. Uchtdorf spoke about preparing to go on a mission and being better member missionaries. It is always nice when members can hear it from a general authority and have it back up what you've been telling them. The funniest line of the conference was when Pres.Uchtdorf said that young men need to save for their missions and not be worried about spending money on big trucks with big tires. That was the Perfect line for about 95% of young men in Montana and Wyoming. And maybe Colorado too. hahaha I wonder what Elder Child thought of that. hahaha
So after the conference before we came back to Havre we went and ate with the Rs at the park in Great Falls and then we got to feed the ducks and geese. Sis. R had bought everyone a cheap loaf of bread. It was so much fun. I hadn't done that in so long. haha
We have a musical fireside this weekend in Great Falls . It should be pretty good. Elder Whitlock and I have a small speaking part. Transfers are also this weekend. I honestly have no idea what could happen. I've been here 6 months so you'd think I'm outta here but the trend in this area is 7 1/2. I could really care less if I go or not. I would really like to stay in this area and finish some things I've started but we'll just have to see what the Lord thinks. Pres. is coming to Lewistown tomorrow after District Meeting for interviews. We'll see what he says.
Ok now really quick Mom told me about the "Lazy AZ" mission as I'm now calling it. That is weak sauce that they aren't tracting! Yeah in a perfect world the members would give us a ton of referrals but we don't live in a perfect world. We are trying to get members to help us more but you have to do your part too. You can't just solely depend on the members. If this is coming from the mission president I'm really surprised. This in my mind totally contradicts Preach My Gospel teachings that has a whole section on finding! Yes the members of the church in my mind need to step up their missionary efforts and that is like Mom said a big responsibility of ward missionaries (which we don't have here, too small, just enough members to fill callings). End of story Yes We Do Tract. It's our way of showing the Lord that we are willing to work hard to find and that we have faith that our efforts will pay off and that we will find someone to listen to us. I also believe that when we work hard and tract that even if you don't find someone that the Lord will bless you in other ways because of your hard work. And I would never feel comfortable going to work out at a gym when I should be out teaching and tracting. So tell your missionaries that you'll find them someone to teach when they up their finding effort and that combined you can all move the work forward. So yeah. End of that rant.
Well I better get going. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week. Hope to hear from you all when you get a chance. Talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Davis
PS Yes I got my BYU Shirt! Thank you so much! And my contacts are in good shape. I also got a Uruguay Jersey from Andrew! Thanks so much Andrew! They both look good on me! haha
Monday, September 13, 2010
Greetings from MT- Monday, September 13, 2010
Hey Everyone,
Well another week has flown by. We had a pretty busy week this week and I can't believe it's pday already. Our week started in Lewistown for pday and district meeting Mon. and Tues. and then it was back to our area. The dirt road that saves us 35 miles one way and about a half hour or so of time was closed due to a rock slide so we had to go through Denton and to Ft. Benton and then up to Havre. If you look at the map it's way out of our way and not as direct as the dirt road. It was a boring drive and like I said it takes longer. You feel like you should almost be there when you get to Ft. Benton but then you realize you're only about 25 miles or so out of GF. We made it home though and we were able to have a good night with ward splits. On splits I went with Bro. B. He's the one that let us stay in their house while they were in Maine. We had a set appointment with our investigator C and when I told him that as we were driving over there he said wait, what's her last name? I told him and he said he had just hired her to work at the Boys and Girls club. I apologized and told him I hope this wasn't going to be awkward for him and he said no it's ok I'm just glad I hired her or that would be awkward. haha. She was pretty surprised when I showed up with her new boss. She said "This keeps happening to me. I go to the dentist and the doctors and I think to myself they must be Mormon, and then I went to church and they were. Then I go for a job interview and think this guy seems Mormon and now I find out he is". It was pretty funny. We had a really good lesson with her about the atonement. It's amazing how different people view the atonement and how their focus is more on the cross than what Christ did in the garden. But when you think about it that was just the ending to the atonement not the bulk of it. I think after our lesson she understands things a lot more.
Wed. was a pretty good day. We were asked to go the library to take a survey the church wanted us to take about the toughest questions we get asked. Well we were there at the right time because a less active member from Rocky Boy Res. came up to us and asked for a Book of Mormon so that was good to be able to get it to him. We went tracting in the evening time and ran into an interesting man. He automatically started to go off on us and tell us all these things we supposedly believe. He told us he was Born Again Christian which in my experience are always the ones that want to argue because they believe you don't have to do anything but accept Christ to be saved where as we believe our works are what help us use what Christ has done for us and take advantage of that mercy. So he kept going off and this was Elder Whitlock's first confrontational person so kind of tried to go at him with some scriptures and things but the guy was obviously not going to listen so it was pointless. Elder Whitlock finally realized this and after a while we were just trying to figure out in our minds the best way to get off his door step peacefully and politely. He kept saying that our church is a church of deceit and lies and that we know we are trying to lead people astray. He told us that we go to a school of deceit to learn how to trick people. When I just tried to smile at him he said SEE, that's what they teach you to do! You're trying to deceive me! It ended up all coming around as he kept talking at us not to us that his wife was LDS and that when he wouldn't convert and get married in the temple she left him. So pretty much we just think he's bitter and angry. It made for a good laugh later because of all the garbage he was saying. He told us we believe Christ only died for half our sins and we have to work for the rest. When I tried to bear my testimony against that he just interrupted me and that's when I knew 1/8 into the conversation that this was going no where. Like I said though it made for a good laugh later. That has only happened three times on my mission and all three were Born Agains.
Wed. night we ate at the B's and she made us some authentic Maine fishish soup. It pretty much was this awesome soup that had all sorts of seafood in it. I thought of Dad when I ate it and how he would have really liked it.
We had a really good lesson in Chinook this week with this lady in her 50's named B. We had an older member couple with us that is good friends with her and she opened up way more than she ever had. We were able to talk about a lot of things and despite her not coming to church yesterday I think we are making headway. It also reaffirmed my testimony in taking members to lessons. It's amazing how much better they work. We ate at Sis. H's on Sat. She ordered a bunch of ribs from the Eagles Club bbq. They were really good. At church yesterday I found out there is a BYU fan in Havre. Bro. S. He was wearing his BYU tie to show he wasn't fair weathered. He told me about the game. It was sad to hear but really not that bad. I guess when you just hear about it it's almost like it didn't even happen. I told Elder Whitlock if I was at home right now I'd still be angry and have a nasty pit in my stomach. haha But when I'm not there to witness it it's almost like it never happened. I hope they can bounce back with a win at FSU but It'll be tough. It sounds like AF has a good team this year. I'm excited to get my shirt this week. Also good to hear the Cards and the Seahawks won.
We were able to play tennis with the Lewistown Elders and Bro. P today. We also went to seminary because they were talking about D&C 4. We cooked them breakfast too. We made German Pancakes. Everyone really liked them. Sis. P payed for all the food we just had to come make it this morning. They have a great group of youth in the Havre Ward who are more missionary minded than the adults at times. I don't know if I mentioned that girl we met at the P's who wants to be baptized but is waiting for 3 years till she turns 18 because her mom won't let her. Well she is now living with her dad and a custody battle is going down. So the Ps and us are all praying everything will work out for the better and she can go live with her dad and get baptized. So more info to come for sure.
Oh also went to the CES fireside last night. Elder Scott was pretty funny when talking about how taking a date to a movie is a stupid idea. haha. It's funny how I was able to relate a lot of his message that was directed to marriage to being on a mission with a companion. Elder Whitlock can be a perfectionist at times and it can be frustrating at times but we are still able to get over that and look past it and do good work. Well I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for the emails. Hope to hear from you all again soon and I'll talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
PS we got a typewriter from the Ltown apartment and bought some ink for it and it works like new. So hopefully I'll be able to bust out some good letters with it.
Go Cougs! Beat FSU!
mitchell.davis@myldsmail.net
Well another week has flown by. We had a pretty busy week this week and I can't believe it's pday already. Our week started in Lewistown for pday and district meeting Mon. and Tues. and then it was back to our area. The dirt road that saves us 35 miles one way and about a half hour or so of time was closed due to a rock slide so we had to go through Denton and to Ft. Benton and then up to Havre. If you look at the map it's way out of our way and not as direct as the dirt road. It was a boring drive and like I said it takes longer. You feel like you should almost be there when you get to Ft. Benton but then you realize you're only about 25 miles or so out of GF. We made it home though and we were able to have a good night with ward splits. On splits I went with Bro. B. He's the one that let us stay in their house while they were in Maine. We had a set appointment with our investigator C and when I told him that as we were driving over there he said wait, what's her last name? I told him and he said he had just hired her to work at the Boys and Girls club. I apologized and told him I hope this wasn't going to be awkward for him and he said no it's ok I'm just glad I hired her or that would be awkward. haha. She was pretty surprised when I showed up with her new boss. She said "This keeps happening to me. I go to the dentist and the doctors and I think to myself they must be Mormon, and then I went to church and they were. Then I go for a job interview and think this guy seems Mormon and now I find out he is". It was pretty funny. We had a really good lesson with her about the atonement. It's amazing how different people view the atonement and how their focus is more on the cross than what Christ did in the garden. But when you think about it that was just the ending to the atonement not the bulk of it. I think after our lesson she understands things a lot more.
Wed. was a pretty good day. We were asked to go the library to take a survey the church wanted us to take about the toughest questions we get asked. Well we were there at the right time because a less active member from Rocky Boy Res. came up to us and asked for a Book of Mormon so that was good to be able to get it to him. We went tracting in the evening time and ran into an interesting man. He automatically started to go off on us and tell us all these things we supposedly believe. He told us he was Born Again Christian which in my experience are always the ones that want to argue because they believe you don't have to do anything but accept Christ to be saved where as we believe our works are what help us use what Christ has done for us and take advantage of that mercy. So he kept going off and this was Elder Whitlock's first confrontational person so kind of tried to go at him with some scriptures and things but the guy was obviously not going to listen so it was pointless. Elder Whitlock finally realized this and after a while we were just trying to figure out in our minds the best way to get off his door step peacefully and politely. He kept saying that our church is a church of deceit and lies and that we know we are trying to lead people astray. He told us that we go to a school of deceit to learn how to trick people. When I just tried to smile at him he said SEE, that's what they teach you to do! You're trying to deceive me! It ended up all coming around as he kept talking at us not to us that his wife was LDS and that when he wouldn't convert and get married in the temple she left him. So pretty much we just think he's bitter and angry. It made for a good laugh later because of all the garbage he was saying. He told us we believe Christ only died for half our sins and we have to work for the rest. When I tried to bear my testimony against that he just interrupted me and that's when I knew 1/8 into the conversation that this was going no where. Like I said though it made for a good laugh later. That has only happened three times on my mission and all three were Born Agains.
Wed. night we ate at the B's and she made us some authentic Maine fishish soup. It pretty much was this awesome soup that had all sorts of seafood in it. I thought of Dad when I ate it and how he would have really liked it.
We had a really good lesson in Chinook this week with this lady in her 50's named B. We had an older member couple with us that is good friends with her and she opened up way more than she ever had. We were able to talk about a lot of things and despite her not coming to church yesterday I think we are making headway. It also reaffirmed my testimony in taking members to lessons. It's amazing how much better they work. We ate at Sis. H's on Sat. She ordered a bunch of ribs from the Eagles Club bbq. They were really good. At church yesterday I found out there is a BYU fan in Havre. Bro. S. He was wearing his BYU tie to show he wasn't fair weathered. He told me about the game. It was sad to hear but really not that bad. I guess when you just hear about it it's almost like it didn't even happen. I told Elder Whitlock if I was at home right now I'd still be angry and have a nasty pit in my stomach. haha But when I'm not there to witness it it's almost like it never happened. I hope they can bounce back with a win at FSU but It'll be tough. It sounds like AF has a good team this year. I'm excited to get my shirt this week. Also good to hear the Cards and the Seahawks won.
We were able to play tennis with the Lewistown Elders and Bro. P today. We also went to seminary because they were talking about D&C 4. We cooked them breakfast too. We made German Pancakes. Everyone really liked them. Sis. P payed for all the food we just had to come make it this morning. They have a great group of youth in the Havre Ward who are more missionary minded than the adults at times. I don't know if I mentioned that girl we met at the P's who wants to be baptized but is waiting for 3 years till she turns 18 because her mom won't let her. Well she is now living with her dad and a custody battle is going down. So the Ps and us are all praying everything will work out for the better and she can go live with her dad and get baptized. So more info to come for sure.
Oh also went to the CES fireside last night. Elder Scott was pretty funny when talking about how taking a date to a movie is a stupid idea. haha. It's funny how I was able to relate a lot of his message that was directed to marriage to being on a mission with a companion. Elder Whitlock can be a perfectionist at times and it can be frustrating at times but we are still able to get over that and look past it and do good work. Well I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for the emails. Hope to hear from you all again soon and I'll talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
PS we got a typewriter from the Ltown apartment and bought some ink for it and it works like new. So hopefully I'll be able to bust out some good letters with it.
Go Cougs! Beat FSU!
mitchell.davis@myldsmail.net
Monday, September 6, 2010
A busy week for sure- Monday, September 6, 2010
Wow What a Week!
I'm not sure quite where to begin. I guess I'll start at the beginning of the week. Monday was kind of a boring Pday because we weren't with Lewistown. Pretty much after emailing and shopping I just took a big nap. It felt good. Tuesday we normally have splits but we only had one person sign up. The young single adults and some young couples were getting together for a game night so we went with the guy who came for splits and picked up our investigator C and took her to the game night. It was really good for her because she never feels like she meets very many people at church so this helped her get to meet some people.
Wednesday we had our weekly study with the two less active old ladies and C. They both married outside of the church and you can see how it has affected their knowledge of the gospel. We are going to start teaching them the lessons. We are hoping to get them back to church and hopefully help them build a testimony. Wednesday we ate lunch at a member's house in Havre. Their son got back from his mission to Mexico a few months ago. He wanted to cook us some authentic Mexican food and we of course were excited. So we go over there and he is making his own tortillas, meat, and beans. It all looked good. Well the tortillas he made were really really really salty. I only ate two of them because it was all I could handle. He said they tasted salty but that the recipe called for 1/2 cup of salt. I knew this couldn't be right. The member was just puzzled as to what was wrong and he just kept eating. After we went to our Book of Mormon study we were feeling sick and drinking a ton of water. The member then called us and said that he was sorry and that he looked closer at the recipe and it was 1/2 teaspoon not 1/2 cup. So pretty much we were salt Poisoned! We drank so much water the rest of the day and used the bathroom a lot. After a while we were sick of water and went to the gas station for something else. I got a lemonade and downed it before we even left the gas station because I was so thirsty. Wednesday night we left for Great Falls. We got there around 9:00 and stayed at the Zone Leader's house along with Elder Stewart (MTC comp who is now in my zone) and Elder Wood. Thursday morning we got up around 5:15 and got ready for our day. We met the whole zone at 6:00 a.m. and drove 3 vehicles to Helena including ours. So I had to drive to Helena with a full truck, 6 missionaries. The drive was beautiful. We left just as the sun was coming up and we drove through a bunch of mountains and up a canyon. We crossed the Missouri River quite a few times because it winds back and forth through that area quite a bit. Because of the temp of the air and the water the river had a thick fog coming off of it. When you'd cross over a bridge you crossed through this big wall of fog. It was pretty cool. We got to Great Falls and ate some breakfast at Buger King. It was a lot of fun to be back in Helena again. It felt like going home because I was going to where it all began. We drove out of Helena 20 miles towards Missoula to a ranch that sits in this valley that's just surrounded by mountains. It was so pretty. It felt good to be back in the mountains. There were 3 zones there. The Helena/Butte, Great Falls and Bozeman Zones. There were over 50 missionaries there. It was a lot of fun to see a lot of missionaries I haven't seen in a while. I saw Elder Cabral (MTC) for the first time since January. I also talked to Elder Kuck who is still in Townsend and guess what....W M is getting baptized in two weeks! Isn't that So Exciting! He had a meeting with the Stake President who he really looks up to and he pretty much told W it was time and committed him to baptism and W agreed. Pres. Fischer is coming up to baptize him. I wish I could be there but there is no chance with how far away Havre is. Oh well that's pretty cool.
So we set up chairs on a hill side of a meadow that had a bunch of big pine trees near it and that's where we did our conference. Part of the conference was going out on our own into the woods to reflect on all that God has created for us. It was a very spiritual experience. Definitely a high light of my mission so far to sit there under a big pine tree and just look out into this great valley with a perfect blue sky and a perfect day. It was so nice to just sit there and look at God's creations. It was a lot of fun to spend a day in jeans and a tshirt with a great group of Elders, Pres, and beautiful surroundings.
We spent the night in Great Falls on Thursday and then woke up early on Friday. Friday Elder Larson woke us up at 5:30. I just thought he wanted to get us up and out of there early so we could get back to Chinook early. Well after we were showered and everything and about to leave he looks at the clock for the first time and realizes it's 6:15. He asks if that's the correct time and we said um yeah. He then freaks out and says NO WAY! I forgot to change my alarm from yesterday! We missed an hour of sleep! It was pretty funny. He asked why we never said anything and we said we just trusted him and thought he just wanted to get us out of there early. haha So from Wednesday night-Friday morning we drove 500 miles.
The other night we got home and the sky was really really clear and the stars were Amazing. You could even see the Milky Way big time! Best stars I have ever seen. It was cool.
We taught an investigator in Chinook named B this weekend. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon. She went from saying at the beginning of our lesson that Joseph Smith was just a crazy man to at the end saying why would Joseph Smith ever lie about that. I just really hope she'll read it now and not tell us the same thing S did that it's a good winter project!
Well All the BYU news brings great Joy to my soul. On Saturday I think I did pretty good not thinking about it very much. Just when I got up, then when I realized it was 5:15 and the game had just started, and then again at 9:20 when I wondered to myself if they had won. As long as we stay busy I'm good. I'm glad to hear they won. Glad to hear the 2 QB thing worked out. Also really liking the new independence and ESPN stuff. It will be interesting to see who they get scheduled. Also loving the games vs Notre Dame. I can't wait to raz Coach F about that. Also glad BYU bball didn't get shafted and that they'll have some good schools to play. Who else is in the WCC? So did BYU write a Declaration of Independence? haha Well I better get going. Thanks to everyone who sent me something this week. It was awesome to get some good mail! Congrats Ricky on the mission call. You'll do awesome! Leaving almost exactly to the day I left just one year later. Have a great week. Love you all. GO BYU!!! Beat Air Force!
Love,
Elder Davis
PS. So we've heard a little about this Glenn Beck Rally thing? Just wondered what it was all about. Elder Whitlock's parents flew to DC and went to it so that's pretty cool.
I'm not sure quite where to begin. I guess I'll start at the beginning of the week. Monday was kind of a boring Pday because we weren't with Lewistown. Pretty much after emailing and shopping I just took a big nap. It felt good. Tuesday we normally have splits but we only had one person sign up. The young single adults and some young couples were getting together for a game night so we went with the guy who came for splits and picked up our investigator C and took her to the game night. It was really good for her because she never feels like she meets very many people at church so this helped her get to meet some people.
Wednesday we had our weekly study with the two less active old ladies and C. They both married outside of the church and you can see how it has affected their knowledge of the gospel. We are going to start teaching them the lessons. We are hoping to get them back to church and hopefully help them build a testimony. Wednesday we ate lunch at a member's house in Havre. Their son got back from his mission to Mexico a few months ago. He wanted to cook us some authentic Mexican food and we of course were excited. So we go over there and he is making his own tortillas, meat, and beans. It all looked good. Well the tortillas he made were really really really salty. I only ate two of them because it was all I could handle. He said they tasted salty but that the recipe called for 1/2 cup of salt. I knew this couldn't be right. The member was just puzzled as to what was wrong and he just kept eating. After we went to our Book of Mormon study we were feeling sick and drinking a ton of water. The member then called us and said that he was sorry and that he looked closer at the recipe and it was 1/2 teaspoon not 1/2 cup. So pretty much we were salt Poisoned! We drank so much water the rest of the day and used the bathroom a lot. After a while we were sick of water and went to the gas station for something else. I got a lemonade and downed it before we even left the gas station because I was so thirsty. Wednesday night we left for Great Falls. We got there around 9:00 and stayed at the Zone Leader's house along with Elder Stewart (MTC comp who is now in my zone) and Elder Wood. Thursday morning we got up around 5:15 and got ready for our day. We met the whole zone at 6:00 a.m. and drove 3 vehicles to Helena including ours. So I had to drive to Helena with a full truck, 6 missionaries. The drive was beautiful. We left just as the sun was coming up and we drove through a bunch of mountains and up a canyon. We crossed the Missouri River quite a few times because it winds back and forth through that area quite a bit. Because of the temp of the air and the water the river had a thick fog coming off of it. When you'd cross over a bridge you crossed through this big wall of fog. It was pretty cool. We got to Great Falls and ate some breakfast at Buger King. It was a lot of fun to be back in Helena again. It felt like going home because I was going to where it all began. We drove out of Helena 20 miles towards Missoula to a ranch that sits in this valley that's just surrounded by mountains. It was so pretty. It felt good to be back in the mountains. There were 3 zones there. The Helena/Butte, Great Falls and Bozeman Zones. There were over 50 missionaries there. It was a lot of fun to see a lot of missionaries I haven't seen in a while. I saw Elder Cabral (MTC) for the first time since January. I also talked to Elder Kuck who is still in Townsend and guess what....W M is getting baptized in two weeks! Isn't that So Exciting! He had a meeting with the Stake President who he really looks up to and he pretty much told W it was time and committed him to baptism and W agreed. Pres. Fischer is coming up to baptize him. I wish I could be there but there is no chance with how far away Havre is. Oh well that's pretty cool.
So we set up chairs on a hill side of a meadow that had a bunch of big pine trees near it and that's where we did our conference. Part of the conference was going out on our own into the woods to reflect on all that God has created for us. It was a very spiritual experience. Definitely a high light of my mission so far to sit there under a big pine tree and just look out into this great valley with a perfect blue sky and a perfect day. It was so nice to just sit there and look at God's creations. It was a lot of fun to spend a day in jeans and a tshirt with a great group of Elders, Pres, and beautiful surroundings.
We spent the night in Great Falls on Thursday and then woke up early on Friday. Friday Elder Larson woke us up at 5:30. I just thought he wanted to get us up and out of there early so we could get back to Chinook early. Well after we were showered and everything and about to leave he looks at the clock for the first time and realizes it's 6:15. He asks if that's the correct time and we said um yeah. He then freaks out and says NO WAY! I forgot to change my alarm from yesterday! We missed an hour of sleep! It was pretty funny. He asked why we never said anything and we said we just trusted him and thought he just wanted to get us out of there early. haha So from Wednesday night-Friday morning we drove 500 miles.
The other night we got home and the sky was really really clear and the stars were Amazing. You could even see the Milky Way big time! Best stars I have ever seen. It was cool.
We taught an investigator in Chinook named B this weekend. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon. She went from saying at the beginning of our lesson that Joseph Smith was just a crazy man to at the end saying why would Joseph Smith ever lie about that. I just really hope she'll read it now and not tell us the same thing S did that it's a good winter project!
Well All the BYU news brings great Joy to my soul. On Saturday I think I did pretty good not thinking about it very much. Just when I got up, then when I realized it was 5:15 and the game had just started, and then again at 9:20 when I wondered to myself if they had won. As long as we stay busy I'm good. I'm glad to hear they won. Glad to hear the 2 QB thing worked out. Also really liking the new independence and ESPN stuff. It will be interesting to see who they get scheduled. Also loving the games vs Notre Dame. I can't wait to raz Coach F about that. Also glad BYU bball didn't get shafted and that they'll have some good schools to play. Who else is in the WCC? So did BYU write a Declaration of Independence? haha Well I better get going. Thanks to everyone who sent me something this week. It was awesome to get some good mail! Congrats Ricky on the mission call. You'll do awesome! Leaving almost exactly to the day I left just one year later. Have a great week. Love you all. GO BYU!!! Beat Air Force!
Love,
Elder Davis
PS. So we've heard a little about this Glenn Beck Rally thing? Just wondered what it was all about. Elder Whitlock's parents flew to DC and went to it so that's pretty cool.
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