Monday, February 22, 2010

A Two Week Update

Area: Townsend, Montana
Companion: Elder Lanham


Hey Everyone!

I'm finally getting to write you all after a crazy pday last week with no email and then a crashed attempted email on Tuesday I'm finally getting an email out. Well I'll start with last week. First off the big thing was Zone Conference in Bozeman. Here in Montana they do combine Zone Conferences because everything is so spread out. So we went to Bozeman and had our conference with the Bozeman Zone. I like it this was though because you get to meet even more elders and have a better chance of seeing ones you know. Like Elder Stewart who was a comp in the MTC. I was able to see him and see how he's doing. He covers  2 wards there. One's a family ward and the others a student ward on Montana States campus. They walk a lot more than we do and he's lost some weight. He doesn't think he looks any different but when the new elders and the ones going home soon had to bear our testimonies you could tell he's thinner. haha. The drive down to Bozeman was pretty crazy. A member from Helena drove all 8 elders from our district in an old suburban and I was in the middle stuck between the door and 300 lbs of Elder Coker. Oh man was that a long painful ride. Luckily on the way back he sat in the front and it wasn't such a tight squeeze. President didn't have time to interview us at Zone Conference so he said he'd drive up to Helena that night and do it. Then President on his way from Bozeman picked us up and took us to Helena. We thought this was all going to work great because he could take us back to Townsend on his way back to Bozeman that night. Well come to find out he was on his way to Great Falls. So after our interview we were stuck in Helena with no ride. Luckily our prayers were answered and this member who was at the church told us she and her husband would give us a ride. Not only that but they bought us dinner at Wendy's because we hadn't eaten yet. We were so thankful to them for helping us out on such short notice. Well other then that I can't remember a whole lot from 2 weeks ago.

Last Monday we had an awesome pday! We went up from Helena with 4 other elders to an old train tunnel near Jefferson City. This train tunnel is 2 miles long and it no longer has tracks in it. There is a little stream that runs through it now though so in the winter time it freezes over and you end up with 2 miles of smooth 2 feet thick ice. We slip slided our way through the tunnel and took a lot of pictures of different ice formations and icicles in there. It was a lot of fun. I sent some pictures home so hopefully they'll get posted on the blog.

Now on to this week. First off there are two sisters we help chop wood at this community wood pile they started. They are both doing a triathalon this summer and they have been talking about swimming with me. They want to know what my times are and I can't really remember. So could you go look on AIA's website or if we have a heat sheet from last years regionals so I can tell them my times. Especially my 500 time. O.K. so this week was pretty good. We taught a lot of member present lessons which is really good because the lessons just go so much smoother when you have a member there. We also taught this new investigator we have. He lives up above this bar in town and he's done a lot of crazy and bad things in his life but he is looking to change. We taught him twice with a member of the bishopric who did a lot of that same stuff once upon a time. So it's good because he can relate to him and help us out a lot. We were able to get him to church this week and despite his different appearance of long hair a flannel shirt and jeans the members all were so nice to him. We just hope he's going to stay around town because he's trying to get a job on an oil rig in Miles City and Elder Lanham said that's the last place we want him because oil rigs and the drugs and bars that come with them tear up you spirit. We'll see what happens though.
We are still working with another investigator. He's being stubborn but we know he's still just dragging out what he knows to be true. He keeps bringing up little things like the whole coffee thing even though he doesn't drink that much coffee and could kick it easily. I think he's just scared because he knows it's true now and part of him wants to get baptized but the other part of him feels like that'd be giving in. We just keep trying to be patient with him. We had really good lessons with another family this week. The daughter had a really tough week last week but after our lesson her whole body language had changed back to normal. She is getting so close. I'd say within the next month she'll be ready. Her parents have told us privately the same thing. The District Leader Elder Conway and his comp Elder Coker came to Townsend on Friday night to go on exchanges with us on Saturday. We ended up spending the whole day pretty much moving that pastor who had been fired and his family across town. It was good though because between us 4 and one other member it was pretty much all Mormons moving them. They invited all of us back for dinner in two weeks so we are setting a good foundation there and hopefully things will progress. It's really funny when he prays for food at lunch or when we were starting. He just kind of breaks into prayer and says stuff like Lord you are so awesome! We thank you for your awesomeness! and his wife sits there and says oh yes, uhuh!( The spirit of it all is lost but we'll teach them :)

Some have asked what I have been fed so far. Nothing crazy or different so far. Just pretty much normal meals. Sister P cooks really good french toast with almond flavor, W M  cooked a really good spaghetti, Sis. J also cooked a really meaty spaghetti on Saturday. The only different thing came from the H's. She is from England and has a full on accent. We've eaten there twice and both times she's given us peaches with ice cream. It's not your normal ice cream and peaches though. It's a flavor of ice cream that doesn't go with peaches at all. It was a chocolate chip swirl ice cream once and it just didn't go with the peaches. I normally just eat the peaches by themselves and then the ice cream so it's all good. Well I didn't get any emails from anyone this week. Maybe I missed out on the family ones because we checked email earlier than normal today. If you were going to send one just type it and send it to me if you have time. You guys must all be pretty busy with all of the school, work, EVMCO and tennis going on. By the way how is that all going to work with tennis? Evmco that is. And what day is the concert? And how much are tickets? Maybe Sister P's daughter who lives in Scottsdale would want to go. It sounds like you guys are doing good at selling tickets so far.

One last thing before I go. Transfers are at the end of this week. Elder Lanham thinks I'm guaranteed to stay and he's pretty sure he will be to. I hope so. I want at least 1 more transfer with him. Oh and Grandma G asked a question about weeks in a transfer and it's 6. OK well I better go. Hope everyone has a good week. I'd love to hear from any of you this week if you have time. Thanks to those who have sent stuff so far. It's really appreciated. Love you all and talk to you later.

-Elder Davis (Mitch)
PS it was 5 degrees yesterday morning when we were going to church. It's 16 today but I must be getting used to it because I'm just wearing my normal suit coat and nothing more. Not to bad unless you're walking a lot.