Hey Everyone,
First off thank you so much to those who emailed me this week or sent letters/packages. It was a lot of fun to read about how everyone is doing and about college football :)
Ok I better jump into things quick here. We were in Lewistown the beginning of the week. Elder Ika is an awesome Elder. He is from Draper, UT. He went to Alta and he's Tongan! He is cousins to Reno Mahe and I'm talking legit cousins! Not just poly cousins. He actually has been to his house in Phily and to an Eagle's preseason game! He is also cousins to Vai Sikahema. He said because of this he and his family frequent BYU games often. So it's good to be able to talk a little bit about that. Still not as big of a fan as me but hey I'm kind of crazy when it comes to BYU so I wouldn't really expect it. haha.
Zone Conference is this week on Thurs. It's going to be really good. We are having a combined Zone Conference with 2 other zones. GF, Helena/Butte, and Bozeman. It's going to be in Helena up in the mountains somewhere and we get to wear jeans and a t-shirt! We as a district are going to wear our district
t-shirts. It's going to be awesome. We have had to memorize Jeremiah 16:16 which is the perfect scripture for our mission. I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of different missionaries and seeing what Pres. Gardner has in store for us. I think this is an awesome idea of his. This is just one of many reasons I love Pres. Gardner. He is always doing things to unite the mission and let us experience something different.
So this week was a little slow. We taught a lot of less actices but a lot of our investigators weren't home. We did have a good lesson with J though and he came to church! Church was very busy for us this week. We were asked Thursday to speak in church. This was happening along with us teaching part of the combined 5th Sunday lesson with the Ward Mission Leader. So we were really a part of everyone's Sunday services. haha. My talk was on Prov 3:5-6. I really focused in on trusting the Lord and gave a few examples from the scriptures like Nephi, the 2,000 stripling warriors, and Job. I think it went really well. Talking in church is nothing now. It's pretty easy for me to get up and just share my thoughts. I totally ran out of time and didn't even get to cover some of what I wanted but that's ok. In the combined lesson we focused on the article in the July Ensign Sharing the Gospel with Confidence. Everyone should definitely read it. It's a really good talk and it teaches some different things about how to better talk about the gospel without being defensive. We made everyone do role plays which was a lot of fun to watch them do it. I still think some are struggling with how to do it best because it's different than we are used to talking but it was a good intro and hopefully we can hit on it again with members at dinners and stuff.
There was a new person at church this week from Chandler. He is a Freshman at Northern and he is a center for the football team. It was a lot of fun to talk to him. He is here for one year before leaving on his mission. He's a poly and his dad is from New Zealand. It was fun to talk AZ stuff with him and talk about how we are all going to Freeze this winter! haha Especially E.Whitlock. He is already cold with this rain and cooler weather we have had. haha It did get down to 40 the other night and it's been in the 50's the last two days with rain.
So we were talking to C about prayer this week and she said when she was a little girl she went to the Catholic Church with a friend and her friend told her about how they pray to the Virgin Mary and then she tells Jesus. She went home and told her mom she was never going to be Catholic because they pray to Mary, and Mary is a woman, and women gossip. So Mary would probably tell everyone her prayers before she told Jesus. HaHaHa She said her mother laughed so hard. That's pretty funny.
Well Tues night was no good. We ate some bad Chinese we think and let's just say it left us both pretty sick around 12. Not fun. We still felt blaw on Wed and slept in some. We are doing good now though.
One last quick thing. There is a new Elder from Eagar, AZ. You should ask Bro. Rogers about him.
Ok I better get going. Hope everyone has a great week! I love you all. Thanks again for the emails and letters. They are greatly appreciated. Oh and GO BYU!!!! BEAT Washington!
-Elder Davis
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Pictures added and up to date!
We were so behind with putting pictures on. I had tried to get them on by last Monday but it didn't quite work out. Had some complications in trying to learn how to do it since the person putting them on before has become busy with school etc. Please scroll down and look at older posts to see them all. They go back as far as April. Thanks for keeping in touch with Mitch and his mission experiences in Montana.
Hello -- Monday, August 23, 2010
Hello Everyone,
Well Summer is coming to a close here in MT. Everyone will be in school this Thursday which should help us because more people will be home to teach and not out having worldly fun. Now they can have gospel fun! hahaha. It is starting to cool down at nights here. I'm looking forward to Fall. I have really loved this Summer but Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons and since living in AZ I haven't experienced Fall in a while. We talked to a guy on the street the other day that told us, as he pointed to a tree that had a little bit of yellow on it, that when that tree starts to do that that it's going to snow in 30 days. He swears by it and claims it's done that the last 5 years. So we'll see if it snows on Sep.18. I sure hope not! I don't want Winter here that soon and neither does anyone else. Especially the farmers.
It was a good week this past week. It was nice to not be caught up in all the transfer craziness that can happen at transfer time. It was also very nice to have a full week in Havre and Chinook. We taught 21 lessons this week! It's nice to see what we can accomplish when we are in our area the whole time. With that said we are in Lewistown today but we are going to try hard to make the best of our time we are in our area when we are. Time management is a big focus for us this week. We want to make sure we are on time to all appointments and that we are always doing something productive even if it's just reviewing our lesson plan with 10 min. before a lesson.
So last Monday I said we had No Miles. Literally. Just enough to get us home. We walked all over on Monday to go email and eat and then drove to the church and then walked the rest of the night until it was time to go home. We ended up being 3 miles under. Phew. That was good. Barely made it. We had a really good dinner with the P's. There are two brothers in Havre that are both P's so we eat with both of their families at least once or twice a month. They are a lot of fun. They also cook really good food. I was telling Sis. P about that warm chocolate melting cake and she said she'd make it for us the next time we eat there. They had a 15 year old girl named J over that is friends with their daughters. Bro. P asked if I've seen her in the Area Book. I said I think I might have. Well after talking with her a little she has taken some of the lessons and wants to be baptized but her mom won't let her. I feel so bad for her. She reads the Book of Mormon every night and knows it's true, she is working on her Personal Progress and is almost done and yet she doesn't get to enjoy the full blessings of baptism and the Holy Ghost because of her mom. The thing I don't get is that she said she is going to get baptized for sure when she turns 18. So if her mom is aware of this and knows that eventually she is going to be baptized then why won't she just let her daughter get baptized now and stop creating tension between them. Hard to understand how others think I guess when we are seeing it from another view point. Hopefully all will work out and in 3 years she can be baptized. So there's now two people we know in Havre who want to be baptized but have to wait, K being the other. She is doing good though. She came to church this week, is reading every day and understanding it for the most part, and is trying now to get a job. She is really going to be a stronger member now than she would have been if she would have been baptized in June.
I can't remember if I talked about the guy we street contacted last week or not but his name is D and he lives in Chinook. He's 19 and has had a rough life up until he started going to the Baptist Church in Helena. Now he's living here and saw us walking and wanted to learn more. We had a really powerful lesson with him on Sat. night. Definitely the best lesson as far as unity in teaching and spirit that me and Elder Whitlock have had together which was awesome! After talking about the Book of Mormon with him he said so could I have this book? In my mind I thought oh D if only everyone asked that after we told them about The Restoration. Of Course you can! He said he'd read and come to church if his boss didn't call him into work. Well Stupid Satan got in the way and he got called into work but I still feel really good about him. You can tell he sees something in us and a Mormon friend he had in Scouts and he wants to learn more.
We helped a lady on FT. Belknap move to Harlem this weekend with Pres. J. Man people have a lot of Cword! (What Mitch means by this is Crap for those of you who weren't sure what he was saying without saying it) Hopefully she'll start listening more to us now. She said she was praying an angel would come help her and then us and Pres. J showed up on her door. It was good to help her but like I said man people have a lot of Cword!
I received the Kyle Shobe article from G and G Davis this week! Pretty cool stuff! Thanks for sending that Gma and Gpa. I also wanted to thank Dad for his letter and Gma G for her package. Those Reeses Pieces and beef jerky are already half gone haha. And thanks for the shirt.
So we happened to be at the church in Chinook around 12 on Sat. just using the bathroom and this guy knocks on the door. We got let him in and he goes on to tell us that he wants to come look at the building because he used to serve a mission here 50 years ago. It was a lot of fun to talk to him. The mission used to cover parts of ND, SD, ID, and Washington. His area was from Havre to Malta but he was mostly in Chinook and Havre. He baptized Bro. T who is still a member in Chinook when he was 19 and then married Bro. T and Sis. T. It's funny how a lot of people are still in the area just older. I'm glad we were at the church at the right time so he could see it and we could talk to him. I also learned that the Chinook church building is the oldest LDS church building in MT. It's been renovated a few times but it's still the original building. All others that old have just been demolished and new ones built. So that was cool to learn.
Sounds like BYU and all of college football and sports are in a crazy time right now. Thanks to those who sent me some info on all of that. It will be interesting to see what happens. Well I better get going. I hope everyone has a great week. Hope to hear from you all soon.
Love,
Elder Davis
PS. Elder Ika is Awesome. Reminds me a lot of Danny as far as looks and a little as far as things they say so that's funny. Oh and Please order me a BYU shirt! Thanks.
Well Summer is coming to a close here in MT. Everyone will be in school this Thursday which should help us because more people will be home to teach and not out having worldly fun. Now they can have gospel fun! hahaha. It is starting to cool down at nights here. I'm looking forward to Fall. I have really loved this Summer but Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons and since living in AZ I haven't experienced Fall in a while. We talked to a guy on the street the other day that told us, as he pointed to a tree that had a little bit of yellow on it, that when that tree starts to do that that it's going to snow in 30 days. He swears by it and claims it's done that the last 5 years. So we'll see if it snows on Sep.18. I sure hope not! I don't want Winter here that soon and neither does anyone else. Especially the farmers.
It was a good week this past week. It was nice to not be caught up in all the transfer craziness that can happen at transfer time. It was also very nice to have a full week in Havre and Chinook. We taught 21 lessons this week! It's nice to see what we can accomplish when we are in our area the whole time. With that said we are in Lewistown today but we are going to try hard to make the best of our time we are in our area when we are. Time management is a big focus for us this week. We want to make sure we are on time to all appointments and that we are always doing something productive even if it's just reviewing our lesson plan with 10 min. before a lesson.
So last Monday I said we had No Miles. Literally. Just enough to get us home. We walked all over on Monday to go email and eat and then drove to the church and then walked the rest of the night until it was time to go home. We ended up being 3 miles under. Phew. That was good. Barely made it. We had a really good dinner with the P's. There are two brothers in Havre that are both P's so we eat with both of their families at least once or twice a month. They are a lot of fun. They also cook really good food. I was telling Sis. P about that warm chocolate melting cake and she said she'd make it for us the next time we eat there. They had a 15 year old girl named J over that is friends with their daughters. Bro. P asked if I've seen her in the Area Book. I said I think I might have. Well after talking with her a little she has taken some of the lessons and wants to be baptized but her mom won't let her. I feel so bad for her. She reads the Book of Mormon every night and knows it's true, she is working on her Personal Progress and is almost done and yet she doesn't get to enjoy the full blessings of baptism and the Holy Ghost because of her mom. The thing I don't get is that she said she is going to get baptized for sure when she turns 18. So if her mom is aware of this and knows that eventually she is going to be baptized then why won't she just let her daughter get baptized now and stop creating tension between them. Hard to understand how others think I guess when we are seeing it from another view point. Hopefully all will work out and in 3 years she can be baptized. So there's now two people we know in Havre who want to be baptized but have to wait, K being the other. She is doing good though. She came to church this week, is reading every day and understanding it for the most part, and is trying now to get a job. She is really going to be a stronger member now than she would have been if she would have been baptized in June.
I can't remember if I talked about the guy we street contacted last week or not but his name is D and he lives in Chinook. He's 19 and has had a rough life up until he started going to the Baptist Church in Helena. Now he's living here and saw us walking and wanted to learn more. We had a really powerful lesson with him on Sat. night. Definitely the best lesson as far as unity in teaching and spirit that me and Elder Whitlock have had together which was awesome! After talking about the Book of Mormon with him he said so could I have this book? In my mind I thought oh D if only everyone asked that after we told them about The Restoration. Of Course you can! He said he'd read and come to church if his boss didn't call him into work. Well Stupid Satan got in the way and he got called into work but I still feel really good about him. You can tell he sees something in us and a Mormon friend he had in Scouts and he wants to learn more.
We helped a lady on FT. Belknap move to Harlem this weekend with Pres. J. Man people have a lot of Cword! (What Mitch means by this is Crap for those of you who weren't sure what he was saying without saying it) Hopefully she'll start listening more to us now. She said she was praying an angel would come help her and then us and Pres. J showed up on her door. It was good to help her but like I said man people have a lot of Cword!
I received the Kyle Shobe article from G and G Davis this week! Pretty cool stuff! Thanks for sending that Gma and Gpa. I also wanted to thank Dad for his letter and Gma G for her package. Those Reeses Pieces and beef jerky are already half gone haha. And thanks for the shirt.
So we happened to be at the church in Chinook around 12 on Sat. just using the bathroom and this guy knocks on the door. We got let him in and he goes on to tell us that he wants to come look at the building because he used to serve a mission here 50 years ago. It was a lot of fun to talk to him. The mission used to cover parts of ND, SD, ID, and Washington. His area was from Havre to Malta but he was mostly in Chinook and Havre. He baptized Bro. T who is still a member in Chinook when he was 19 and then married Bro. T and Sis. T. It's funny how a lot of people are still in the area just older. I'm glad we were at the church at the right time so he could see it and we could talk to him. I also learned that the Chinook church building is the oldest LDS church building in MT. It's been renovated a few times but it's still the original building. All others that old have just been demolished and new ones built. So that was cool to learn.
Sounds like BYU and all of college football and sports are in a crazy time right now. Thanks to those who sent me some info on all of that. It will be interesting to see what happens. Well I better get going. I hope everyone has a great week. Hope to hear from you all soon.
Love,
Elder Davis
PS. Elder Ika is Awesome. Reminds me a lot of Danny as far as looks and a little as far as things they say so that's funny. Oh and Please order me a BYU shirt! Thanks.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Transfer Week - Monday, August 16, 2010
Well I'll get the transfer news out of the way. I'm staying and so is E.Whitlock. No big surprise to me. I didn't even realize transfers were here until Thursday night. The last time I was transferred I had a feeling a week or so before. That feeling was no where to be found this time which I was perfectly fine with. Elder Holbrook is being transferred. He's the only one from our district who is leaving. He's going to Three Forks. Elder Ika is the elder coming up here. I've never met him.
So the big news that I wrote Grandma and Grandpa Davis about is that Elder Holbrook and I beat you guys to the punch on the whole Kyle Shobe article. I had the idea a month ago and I told Elder Holbrook he should write Mormon Times/Church News with the idea. I'm still confused if they are done by the same department of Deseret News or what. Everyone here receives Mormon Times and the Church News in their same subscription so I always thought they were different but yet the same if that makes sense. I'm excited to see the story and so are a lot of Montana Mormons that we have told. Grandpa said he'd send me a copy which I'm excited to receive.
So this last week and this week we are living out of town a ways. I can't remember if I already told you guys this last week or not but we are living at a families house while they are in Maine. We are feeding their dogs, cats, bunnies, chickens, and horses. It's been pretty easy so far. They have a really old dog and a hype dog that's really annoying sometimes. We call them old dog and stupid dog. haha. If you don't give the old dog an aspirin in an egg every morning its muscles will seize up and it won't be able to move. The Sisters taking care of the animals while we are in Chinook forgot to do this one day and the next day she got there and thought the dog was dead. hahaha
So we were hoping to have potentially 3 people at church yesterday but none of them showed :( We still havent met with K officially yet again. We caught him on the way to work again and he asked about where the church was and said he'd come but he wasn't there. K also got in a fight with Sister B so she said she didn't feel like coming this week even though she knew she needed to. Her and Sister B have been friends forever and about every 2 months they have a little fight and then make up. Hopefully they will be on better terms this next week so K will come to church. We tracted into a less active lady who just moved here. Her husband died in May and she is definitely needing a friend. We invited her to church but she woke up at 9:30 so of course she didn't come either. We are starting the Stop Smoking Program with her soon and I really think we can get her to church soon. We are going to introduce C to her. They are about the same age and if she has a friend to go to church with that'd help her big time. E.Whitlock was pretty bummed yesterday but I told him hey that's missionary work for ya. You just have to work a little harder this week and hope and pray that they'll make it this next week. I was bummed too but that's happened to me before so I wasn't as surprised as he was. We'll get them this week though.
We have a packed night tonight. We have a set lesson every hour. The only thing that will make it tough is we have no miles. Literally we only have 17 miles to get us home tonight before miles reset tomorrow. 7 of those we have to use to get us out to the B's. We'll make it happen though. We've had to walk a lot lately because of miles. We are implementing Walker Texas Wednesday from now on. We are going to walk all Wednesdays to help balance our miles better.
Northern University's football team has started practices. It's kind of fun to walk by one of their practices while we're out and about. You can definitely tell they are a smaller university. I think they only have like 4 coaches.
While walking the other day we were approaching this younger guy. He started to get into his car and then he stopped and got out. So we talked to him and we gave him our sh-peal and he said Yes I'd love for you to come over. So that was really exciting and hopefully he'll turn into something good. I think our walking Wednesday will definitely help us street contact more. I think we are so busy and sometimes lazy with the truck that we miss out on potential investigators.
That's pretty cool the G's were able to come over. I also hear they went to a Cards game.(yes I did get your email Andrew. You're definitely more consistent then your brother. hahaha) That's super cool. It was a year ago this next weekend that me and Dad went to that game. That's funny that J R has a big time accent. So I still haven't heard about where B's going. Maybe he'll write me a letter and tell me. You guys asked me about the BYU shirt and I think this is my second or third time telling you but YES I want one. You probably already know that but I'm just reminding you. I heard Karl Malone was inducted into the Hall of Fame. That's cool. How was his speech?
So I almost forgot to tell you this but we helped a less active family who just moved here and wants to get back into church quite smoking. They did the program and stuck to it all and did it. We have three that are going to be starting the Stop Smoking Program in the next week and a half. We are going to be pros at this.
So I learned on Sunday that Granite High School was the first to have Release Time Seminary. They talked about Seminary here on Sunday and we learned some interesting stuff. Granite High is where Gma Davis went isn't it?
So Elder Whitlock and I officially have a place that we HATE to eat. There's a lady in the branch that just has a really really dirty house and she feeds us every Sat. for lunch. She is just not the most clean at food prep ever and we are always there watching her prepare our food. I know the Lord answers prayers because neither of us have become sick yet. HaHA
So I got to play 2 Hours of Tennis today with Brother P (member from Havre) This is the second time I've gotten to play with him. We played while it was cool at 8-10 and we'll do our studies after lunch so that we aren't skipping them. I played so much better today than last time. We are going to go play again in two weeks. E.Whitlock had never played before but he's picking it up and he had fun. Well I better get going. I love you all and I'll talk to you all later. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Mitch Davis
PS I can't believe 1/3 of my mission is over. That's crazy! Also check out kyleshobe.com. Elder Holbrook said Kyle Shobe showed them it and it's a cool website to learn more about Kyle Shobe. Might be a good link to put with that other one.
So the big news that I wrote Grandma and Grandpa Davis about is that Elder Holbrook and I beat you guys to the punch on the whole Kyle Shobe article. I had the idea a month ago and I told Elder Holbrook he should write Mormon Times/Church News with the idea. I'm still confused if they are done by the same department of Deseret News or what. Everyone here receives Mormon Times and the Church News in their same subscription so I always thought they were different but yet the same if that makes sense. I'm excited to see the story and so are a lot of Montana Mormons that we have told. Grandpa said he'd send me a copy which I'm excited to receive.
So this last week and this week we are living out of town a ways. I can't remember if I already told you guys this last week or not but we are living at a families house while they are in Maine. We are feeding their dogs, cats, bunnies, chickens, and horses. It's been pretty easy so far. They have a really old dog and a hype dog that's really annoying sometimes. We call them old dog and stupid dog. haha. If you don't give the old dog an aspirin in an egg every morning its muscles will seize up and it won't be able to move. The Sisters taking care of the animals while we are in Chinook forgot to do this one day and the next day she got there and thought the dog was dead. hahaha
So we were hoping to have potentially 3 people at church yesterday but none of them showed :( We still havent met with K officially yet again. We caught him on the way to work again and he asked about where the church was and said he'd come but he wasn't there. K also got in a fight with Sister B so she said she didn't feel like coming this week even though she knew she needed to. Her and Sister B have been friends forever and about every 2 months they have a little fight and then make up. Hopefully they will be on better terms this next week so K will come to church. We tracted into a less active lady who just moved here. Her husband died in May and she is definitely needing a friend. We invited her to church but she woke up at 9:30 so of course she didn't come either. We are starting the Stop Smoking Program with her soon and I really think we can get her to church soon. We are going to introduce C to her. They are about the same age and if she has a friend to go to church with that'd help her big time. E.Whitlock was pretty bummed yesterday but I told him hey that's missionary work for ya. You just have to work a little harder this week and hope and pray that they'll make it this next week. I was bummed too but that's happened to me before so I wasn't as surprised as he was. We'll get them this week though.
We have a packed night tonight. We have a set lesson every hour. The only thing that will make it tough is we have no miles. Literally we only have 17 miles to get us home tonight before miles reset tomorrow. 7 of those we have to use to get us out to the B's. We'll make it happen though. We've had to walk a lot lately because of miles. We are implementing Walker Texas Wednesday from now on. We are going to walk all Wednesdays to help balance our miles better.
Northern University's football team has started practices. It's kind of fun to walk by one of their practices while we're out and about. You can definitely tell they are a smaller university. I think they only have like 4 coaches.
While walking the other day we were approaching this younger guy. He started to get into his car and then he stopped and got out. So we talked to him and we gave him our sh-peal and he said Yes I'd love for you to come over. So that was really exciting and hopefully he'll turn into something good. I think our walking Wednesday will definitely help us street contact more. I think we are so busy and sometimes lazy with the truck that we miss out on potential investigators.
That's pretty cool the G's were able to come over. I also hear they went to a Cards game.(yes I did get your email Andrew. You're definitely more consistent then your brother. hahaha) That's super cool. It was a year ago this next weekend that me and Dad went to that game. That's funny that J R has a big time accent. So I still haven't heard about where B's going. Maybe he'll write me a letter and tell me. You guys asked me about the BYU shirt and I think this is my second or third time telling you but YES I want one. You probably already know that but I'm just reminding you. I heard Karl Malone was inducted into the Hall of Fame. That's cool. How was his speech?
So I almost forgot to tell you this but we helped a less active family who just moved here and wants to get back into church quite smoking. They did the program and stuck to it all and did it. We have three that are going to be starting the Stop Smoking Program in the next week and a half. We are going to be pros at this.
So I learned on Sunday that Granite High School was the first to have Release Time Seminary. They talked about Seminary here on Sunday and we learned some interesting stuff. Granite High is where Gma Davis went isn't it?
So Elder Whitlock and I officially have a place that we HATE to eat. There's a lady in the branch that just has a really really dirty house and she feeds us every Sat. for lunch. She is just not the most clean at food prep ever and we are always there watching her prepare our food. I know the Lord answers prayers because neither of us have become sick yet. HaHA
So I got to play 2 Hours of Tennis today with Brother P (member from Havre) This is the second time I've gotten to play with him. We played while it was cool at 8-10 and we'll do our studies after lunch so that we aren't skipping them. I played so much better today than last time. We are going to go play again in two weeks. E.Whitlock had never played before but he's picking it up and he had fun. Well I better get going. I love you all and I'll talk to you all later. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Mitch Davis
PS I can't believe 1/3 of my mission is over. That's crazy! Also check out kyleshobe.com. Elder Holbrook said Kyle Shobe showed them it and it's a cool website to learn more about Kyle Shobe. Might be a good link to put with that other one.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Mormon Times link to story on Kyle Shobe the 2010 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion.
In Mitch's July 19th, 2010 email/post he told of being in Lewistown for a few days the week prior for team ups and District Meeting. While there they ate dinner with Kyle Shobe who is a convert to the church and won the 2010 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mitch was quite impressed with Kyle and his accomplishment and felt that either the Ensign or Mormon Times should do a story on him. Well this week Mormon Times did a story on Kyle Shobe! Here is the link to the article.
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/16375/Convert-cowboy-is-2010-World-Livestock-Auctioneer-champion?s_cid=addthis
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/16375/Convert-cowboy-is-2010-World-Livestock-Auctioneer-champion?s_cid=addthis
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
I'm late but I have a very good reason! Monday, August 9, 2010
Hey Everyone,
So I'm getting this email out very late but I have a good explanation. The mission recently told the zones surrounding Glacier National Park that if we could find a ride to Glacier on a Pday that we could go. So when one of our recent converts C heard this she jumped at the chance to take us (she's the one that was an eternigator and is like 65 years old and just loves us missionaries). So we went to Glacier Park today! and now we are being allowed to email even though it's getting late. Before we get to Glacier though let me tell you about our week and to answer some questions.
I received quite a few emails today but due to time constraints I have printed out Dads, Moms, and Grandma Gwynn's. To answer a quick question that Mom had Anyone can email me I just can only email one email to the family. So I hope that clears up any confusion.
Ok now onto my week. Well we were in Lewistown for Pday and District Meeting and by the time we got out of there it was Way later than I wanted it to be. We didn't even get home until 5. So most of Tues was shot. That's where this area can be frustrating when you're only in it 5/7 full days and then you have to split that up between a ward and a branch. Despite all of that though we had a really good week. We committed K to focus her attention on reading the Book of Mormon every day. This has been a struggle for her because she can keep the little reading assignments that we give her but is still lacking a pattern of daily reading. So we are now calling her every day at 9:00 to remind her to read. So far it is working and I really think she is starting to build that pattern of reading every day. She was able to come to a member baptism this Sunday so that was also really good for her to see how we do baptisms in our church and I can't wait to talk to her about it all tomorrow.
We've finally set up ward splits with Elders Quorum each Tues. This Tuesdays splits went really well. Bro.W(Havre Ward Mission Leader) bailed me out. We met with a potential investigator we had tracted into and we started teaching him the first lesson. I soon realized he knew nothing about the Bible or anything except maybe a little about Christ. I kind of froze because I have never met someone in MT so far that doesn't have some kind of religious background or belief or at least knows about the Bible. Luckily Bro. W helped me out and he did a really good job of putting things into a big analogy that helped this man understand. And now we are going back tomorrow to teach him!
Wed. we went out to Big Sandy after helping our investigator C move some stuff to her new apartment. In Big Sandy we were able to start the Stop Smoking Program with a family who just moved in and wants to go to the temple. They've never been active until they moved here but they really want to change. I gave E.Whitlock the assignment to really study up on the program and he did a great job teaching them and committing them to stop. So far so good and in two more days they'll be non smokers for good hopefully.
On Sat. we had a really good lesson with an older lady in Chinook. Her name is S. She has been meeting with the missionaries and they have been teaching her a little but have never really dove into things. I think past missionaries were always afraid to teach her because she was one of the few in Chinook they were meeting with and they were afraid she'd get mad and they'd lose that contact. Well this week after a few weeks of kind of doing the same thing we went in there and just asked her a lot of questions and were able to teach a lot based off of those questions. It turns out she never really understood what the Book of Mormon was and she has now committed to read it! This was a really big step because she is one that I could see really taking off with things if she'll read.
So we've had this new investigator that we tracted into named K. We taught him the first lesson and he seemed to like it. Said he'd read and told us we could come back. Well that was two weeks ago and he hasn't been home and one day his room mate told us he was gone even though we thought we heard him in the back. Well yesterday we went over there. Knocked on his door and he answers with this look that made us think oh great he's done meeting with us. Well total opposite. He said Oh man I'm just leaving for work. Can you guys come Tues? We said Yes of course. He then said oh and I'd Love to come to church with you on Sunday. What time is it? This totally shocked us! So we tell him and then he says well I'll see you guys Tues. I'm excited to go to church and I'm really Loving the book! E.Whitlock and I got in the car and just sat there looking at each other with big smiles! We then busted out. Holy Cow that was Awesome! Did that just Happen?! That Never Happens! It was so cool to see that obviously if people would just Read the Book they'd like it and come to find out it's true. So we are Really Excited to meet with him tomorrow!
So now onto today. The Lewistown elders got permission to go with us. We left at 7:00 this morning all 5 of us packed in C's Dodge Caliber. We get to Glacier about 10:30 or so I think. Oh Man! It is So Beautiful! Some of the most amazing scenery I've ever and will ever see! We are definitely going there when we come back after my mission and we are spending more time there. You could spend a week or more there just doing all of the different hikes and stuff. Today was a lot of fun but I'd Love to spend more time there. Everything is just so big and it all just keeps growing on top of each other. That and everything was really green this year with all of the rain we've had. And then there are all of the lakes and waterfalls that are all over. All of a sudden you'll just see this big waterfall coming out of the side of the mountain. It was so nice and cool up there too. It just helps build your testimony that there is a God and that he has created all of these things for us and our enjoyment. I took so many pictures. I'm going to have to send my card home. I'm running out of room. Anyway we stopped at a spot for lunch, stopped and took a lot of pictures, and just had a lot of fun. I'm really tired of being in a car though. Since we did it all in one day we were in the car all day. My rears asleep still I think. It was just a really fun day and just so much to see. I don't even know how to exactly explain it all. I'll send some pics but even then they don't do it justice because the sky is just so big up here and the mountains just build on top of each other and then you add the water. It's really cool.
Ok well I better go. I hope you all have had a good week. I love you all. I'll have to write a letter this week maybe. Did you get my pics? I hope so. Andrew did I know that. I can't believe he's home. Have fun seeing him and have fun Andrew being in AZ. Thanks to all that wrote letters this week. I really appreciated it. Talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
So I'm getting this email out very late but I have a good explanation. The mission recently told the zones surrounding Glacier National Park that if we could find a ride to Glacier on a Pday that we could go. So when one of our recent converts C heard this she jumped at the chance to take us (she's the one that was an eternigator and is like 65 years old and just loves us missionaries). So we went to Glacier Park today! and now we are being allowed to email even though it's getting late. Before we get to Glacier though let me tell you about our week and to answer some questions.
I received quite a few emails today but due to time constraints I have printed out Dads, Moms, and Grandma Gwynn's. To answer a quick question that Mom had Anyone can email me I just can only email one email to the family. So I hope that clears up any confusion.
Ok now onto my week. Well we were in Lewistown for Pday and District Meeting and by the time we got out of there it was Way later than I wanted it to be. We didn't even get home until 5. So most of Tues was shot. That's where this area can be frustrating when you're only in it 5/7 full days and then you have to split that up between a ward and a branch. Despite all of that though we had a really good week. We committed K to focus her attention on reading the Book of Mormon every day. This has been a struggle for her because she can keep the little reading assignments that we give her but is still lacking a pattern of daily reading. So we are now calling her every day at 9:00 to remind her to read. So far it is working and I really think she is starting to build that pattern of reading every day. She was able to come to a member baptism this Sunday so that was also really good for her to see how we do baptisms in our church and I can't wait to talk to her about it all tomorrow.
We've finally set up ward splits with Elders Quorum each Tues. This Tuesdays splits went really well. Bro.W(Havre Ward Mission Leader) bailed me out. We met with a potential investigator we had tracted into and we started teaching him the first lesson. I soon realized he knew nothing about the Bible or anything except maybe a little about Christ. I kind of froze because I have never met someone in MT so far that doesn't have some kind of religious background or belief or at least knows about the Bible. Luckily Bro. W helped me out and he did a really good job of putting things into a big analogy that helped this man understand. And now we are going back tomorrow to teach him!
Wed. we went out to Big Sandy after helping our investigator C move some stuff to her new apartment. In Big Sandy we were able to start the Stop Smoking Program with a family who just moved in and wants to go to the temple. They've never been active until they moved here but they really want to change. I gave E.Whitlock the assignment to really study up on the program and he did a great job teaching them and committing them to stop. So far so good and in two more days they'll be non smokers for good hopefully.
On Sat. we had a really good lesson with an older lady in Chinook. Her name is S. She has been meeting with the missionaries and they have been teaching her a little but have never really dove into things. I think past missionaries were always afraid to teach her because she was one of the few in Chinook they were meeting with and they were afraid she'd get mad and they'd lose that contact. Well this week after a few weeks of kind of doing the same thing we went in there and just asked her a lot of questions and were able to teach a lot based off of those questions. It turns out she never really understood what the Book of Mormon was and she has now committed to read it! This was a really big step because she is one that I could see really taking off with things if she'll read.
So we've had this new investigator that we tracted into named K. We taught him the first lesson and he seemed to like it. Said he'd read and told us we could come back. Well that was two weeks ago and he hasn't been home and one day his room mate told us he was gone even though we thought we heard him in the back. Well yesterday we went over there. Knocked on his door and he answers with this look that made us think oh great he's done meeting with us. Well total opposite. He said Oh man I'm just leaving for work. Can you guys come Tues? We said Yes of course. He then said oh and I'd Love to come to church with you on Sunday. What time is it? This totally shocked us! So we tell him and then he says well I'll see you guys Tues. I'm excited to go to church and I'm really Loving the book! E.Whitlock and I got in the car and just sat there looking at each other with big smiles! We then busted out. Holy Cow that was Awesome! Did that just Happen?! That Never Happens! It was so cool to see that obviously if people would just Read the Book they'd like it and come to find out it's true. So we are Really Excited to meet with him tomorrow!
So now onto today. The Lewistown elders got permission to go with us. We left at 7:00 this morning all 5 of us packed in C's Dodge Caliber. We get to Glacier about 10:30 or so I think. Oh Man! It is So Beautiful! Some of the most amazing scenery I've ever and will ever see! We are definitely going there when we come back after my mission and we are spending more time there. You could spend a week or more there just doing all of the different hikes and stuff. Today was a lot of fun but I'd Love to spend more time there. Everything is just so big and it all just keeps growing on top of each other. That and everything was really green this year with all of the rain we've had. And then there are all of the lakes and waterfalls that are all over. All of a sudden you'll just see this big waterfall coming out of the side of the mountain. It was so nice and cool up there too. It just helps build your testimony that there is a God and that he has created all of these things for us and our enjoyment. I took so many pictures. I'm going to have to send my card home. I'm running out of room. Anyway we stopped at a spot for lunch, stopped and took a lot of pictures, and just had a lot of fun. I'm really tired of being in a car though. Since we did it all in one day we were in the car all day. My rears asleep still I think. It was just a really fun day and just so much to see. I don't even know how to exactly explain it all. I'll send some pics but even then they don't do it justice because the sky is just so big up here and the mountains just build on top of each other and then you add the water. It's really cool.
Ok well I better go. I hope you all have had a good week. I love you all. I'll have to write a letter this week maybe. Did you get my pics? I hope so. Andrew did I know that. I can't believe he's home. Have fun seeing him and have fun Andrew being in AZ. Thanks to all that wrote letters this week. I really appreciated it. Talk to you later.
-Elder Davis
 |
Glacier National Park, August 9, 2010   |
Monday, August 2, 2010
Where do I begin? Monday, August 2, 2010
Well Hey there Everyone,
This week was a busy one. It went by very fast but then again all of them are starting to. Where do I begin?
We'll start with our "Special Training" Dun Dun Dun...We had a two day training in GF that replaced our normal Zone Conference. This training is a church wide missionary training that has come down from the Missionary Dept. They have implemented a new program to not replace PMG (Preach My Gospel) but to enhance the use of it. I guess a lot of other missions (mostly in other countries where you have to learn a language) are still struggling to fully use it the way it's designed (not sure if Andrew feels this way or not, just what an RM in Havre told us). I guess when PMG first came out they put it into the MTC first. Once the new Elders started to get into the mission with all this new training and techniques a lot of missionaires told them that that's not how things work in their mission so PMG wasn't being used to its full extent. So they have implemented a new training that they are first putting in the mission field and then next summer starting in the MTC. Half of the things the training focused on are things Pres. Gardner said we have already been focusing on so that was good to hear. So we drove down to GF early Tues. morning and were there until 9:00 p.m. and then had a half day the next day until 4:30. They have made some new training videos that are similar to the old ones but better. The old ones followed some missionaries in S.A. Texas around and showed all the good things they did and how we should be doing things. They were really good videos but almost felt unobtainable or unrealistic. So the new videos they edited Way less and you see a lot more of the companionships messing up in their teaching, not having good unity, and investigators not always doing things like the missionaries would like them to. There were three 30 min clips we watched and by the end of the third one you saw the companionships having more success and having more unity. It was just overall a lot better portrayal of missionary work. And they filmed it in the San Diego Mission which looks like a way cool mission. So we would watch one of these videos and then talk about how to fix problems or what things they could have done better and then went to PMG and read what we should be doing and then we'd go in the gym and role play it. It was so good to see it, learn about it, and then go practice it. I learned a ton! I feel like our teaching is going to be so much better now in our mission and in all the missions around the world. I told E. Whitlock wow you are lucky to get such a great training so early in your mission. He jokingly said No I'm not. Now I'm responsible to do these things and I can't just use the excuse that I'm new. hahaha. A few things I liked from the training also was Pres. talking about John Stockton and Karl Malone and how they completed each other. He then said we need to be the John Stockton to the to the spirit and assist it. Loved that! Also we are teaching people Not lessons. We have to focus more on our investigators needs. Overall it was just a great training. Oh one last thing. Pres. talked about Bro. D and told everyone the same thing that he told me about how Bro. D called him and said Pres. I just wanted you to know I'm praying for you. He asked who all had their name on his wall and I was proud to be able to raise my hand. This was also a two zone training so I got to see a bunch of people from the Butte/Helena Zone including E. Stewart and Kuck. E. Kuck said Wayne is getting so close. He has committed to get baptized but so far no date. Also talked with E. Unga who is one of the assistants and he is from Mesa. A guy from Sam's Club when he heard I was going to MT said to watch for E. Unga. This was the first time I have met E. Unga so we were able to talk about Robert. He laughed so hard when I told him who I knew.
So that took up a good part of our week. We got back to Havre Wed. about 7. Worked there that night and Thurs. and then headed off to Chinook. Sat. we helped move cows with Bro. J from a summer pasture they've been at to a new one. It was fun to sort them out. You get these oar looking things and just slap them on the rear until they go where you want them to go. haha That was E.Whitlocks first time working with cows and I think he had a lot of fun. We ate dinner with an old sister in the branch Sat. and she cooked us a massive steak. Took up more than half of my plate. It was good. The Js are going to be gone for 2 1/2 weeks on a family reunion cruise. Bro. J is not happy at all to leave the farm right now. He has a lot of work to do because he is behind on haying because of all the rain we had two weeks ago. He said while we were driving the cows I have to figure a way to get out of this stupid cruise without getting divorced. hahaha I'm pretty sure he was just joking but then again I think he was half serious. I can't picture him on a cruise. I picture him standing there with his snappy shirt on and shorts while wearing his cowboy work boots looking around at everyone having fun while he sits there and thinks about his farm. HaHaHa I bet he likes the buffet though. While they are gone we have to make sure we collect the chicken eggs. Other than that their part time farm hands will do everything else. The Js don't want any of the neighbors to find out where they are going because they say everyone will think they're crazy for leaving in the middle of haying.
So the Havre fair was last week. A girl from the Havre Ward told me a Carney told her he didn't like her BYU sweatshirt. I told her she should have said they were way better than who ever his team was! She then said he told her he was a UTE! OH MAN! I Laughed so Hard! Only a Ute would be a Carney! HAHAHAHA I told her she should have said I'd rather be a Cougar then a Ute Carney ANY Day! Hahaha
So you know that big indian we teach in Chinook? Glenn. He gave me a horse blanket the other day. Told me he wanted me to have it. It is a pretty big blanket. It has two big horses on it. G would love it. I think I'll wash it and then probably send it home whenever I leave here.
Well I think that's about all that went on this week. It was a busy week. Oh one last thing. The Mosquitoes in Chinook/Zurich area are Horrible! They just eat you ALIVE! Oh man. Bug spray works but if it starts to wear off they're right on you again. They are worse at the house in Zurich because she ( Sis. J) won't let them spray because their farm is an organic farm. You just run from the truck to the house day and night.
Ok I'll really got to go now. I can't believe Andrew is coming home! This is so crazy! Tell him I expect an email or letter every week just like we've been doing. He'll get one from me every week if I get one from him. Take a pic of him when he comes to AZ and send me a copy. I'm sending some pics to your gmail. Ok gotta go. Talk to you later. Love you all and thanks to those who emailed this week. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Mitch Davis
This week was a busy one. It went by very fast but then again all of them are starting to. Where do I begin?
We'll start with our "Special Training" Dun Dun Dun...We had a two day training in GF that replaced our normal Zone Conference. This training is a church wide missionary training that has come down from the Missionary Dept. They have implemented a new program to not replace PMG (Preach My Gospel) but to enhance the use of it. I guess a lot of other missions (mostly in other countries where you have to learn a language) are still struggling to fully use it the way it's designed (not sure if Andrew feels this way or not, just what an RM in Havre told us). I guess when PMG first came out they put it into the MTC first. Once the new Elders started to get into the mission with all this new training and techniques a lot of missionaires told them that that's not how things work in their mission so PMG wasn't being used to its full extent. So they have implemented a new training that they are first putting in the mission field and then next summer starting in the MTC. Half of the things the training focused on are things Pres. Gardner said we have already been focusing on so that was good to hear. So we drove down to GF early Tues. morning and were there until 9:00 p.m. and then had a half day the next day until 4:30. They have made some new training videos that are similar to the old ones but better. The old ones followed some missionaries in S.A. Texas around and showed all the good things they did and how we should be doing things. They were really good videos but almost felt unobtainable or unrealistic. So the new videos they edited Way less and you see a lot more of the companionships messing up in their teaching, not having good unity, and investigators not always doing things like the missionaries would like them to. There were three 30 min clips we watched and by the end of the third one you saw the companionships having more success and having more unity. It was just overall a lot better portrayal of missionary work. And they filmed it in the San Diego Mission which looks like a way cool mission. So we would watch one of these videos and then talk about how to fix problems or what things they could have done better and then went to PMG and read what we should be doing and then we'd go in the gym and role play it. It was so good to see it, learn about it, and then go practice it. I learned a ton! I feel like our teaching is going to be so much better now in our mission and in all the missions around the world. I told E. Whitlock wow you are lucky to get such a great training so early in your mission. He jokingly said No I'm not. Now I'm responsible to do these things and I can't just use the excuse that I'm new. hahaha. A few things I liked from the training also was Pres. talking about John Stockton and Karl Malone and how they completed each other. He then said we need to be the John Stockton to the to the spirit and assist it. Loved that! Also we are teaching people Not lessons. We have to focus more on our investigators needs. Overall it was just a great training. Oh one last thing. Pres. talked about Bro. D and told everyone the same thing that he told me about how Bro. D called him and said Pres. I just wanted you to know I'm praying for you. He asked who all had their name on his wall and I was proud to be able to raise my hand. This was also a two zone training so I got to see a bunch of people from the Butte/Helena Zone including E. Stewart and Kuck. E. Kuck said Wayne is getting so close. He has committed to get baptized but so far no date. Also talked with E. Unga who is one of the assistants and he is from Mesa. A guy from Sam's Club when he heard I was going to MT said to watch for E. Unga. This was the first time I have met E. Unga so we were able to talk about Robert. He laughed so hard when I told him who I knew.
So that took up a good part of our week. We got back to Havre Wed. about 7. Worked there that night and Thurs. and then headed off to Chinook. Sat. we helped move cows with Bro. J from a summer pasture they've been at to a new one. It was fun to sort them out. You get these oar looking things and just slap them on the rear until they go where you want them to go. haha That was E.Whitlocks first time working with cows and I think he had a lot of fun. We ate dinner with an old sister in the branch Sat. and she cooked us a massive steak. Took up more than half of my plate. It was good. The Js are going to be gone for 2 1/2 weeks on a family reunion cruise. Bro. J is not happy at all to leave the farm right now. He has a lot of work to do because he is behind on haying because of all the rain we had two weeks ago. He said while we were driving the cows I have to figure a way to get out of this stupid cruise without getting divorced. hahaha I'm pretty sure he was just joking but then again I think he was half serious. I can't picture him on a cruise. I picture him standing there with his snappy shirt on and shorts while wearing his cowboy work boots looking around at everyone having fun while he sits there and thinks about his farm. HaHaHa I bet he likes the buffet though. While they are gone we have to make sure we collect the chicken eggs. Other than that their part time farm hands will do everything else. The Js don't want any of the neighbors to find out where they are going because they say everyone will think they're crazy for leaving in the middle of haying.
So the Havre fair was last week. A girl from the Havre Ward told me a Carney told her he didn't like her BYU sweatshirt. I told her she should have said they were way better than who ever his team was! She then said he told her he was a UTE! OH MAN! I Laughed so Hard! Only a Ute would be a Carney! HAHAHAHA I told her she should have said I'd rather be a Cougar then a Ute Carney ANY Day! Hahaha
So you know that big indian we teach in Chinook? Glenn. He gave me a horse blanket the other day. Told me he wanted me to have it. It is a pretty big blanket. It has two big horses on it. G would love it. I think I'll wash it and then probably send it home whenever I leave here.
Well I think that's about all that went on this week. It was a busy week. Oh one last thing. The Mosquitoes in Chinook/Zurich area are Horrible! They just eat you ALIVE! Oh man. Bug spray works but if it starts to wear off they're right on you again. They are worse at the house in Zurich because she ( Sis. J) won't let them spray because their farm is an organic farm. You just run from the truck to the house day and night.
Ok I'll really got to go now. I can't believe Andrew is coming home! This is so crazy! Tell him I expect an email or letter every week just like we've been doing. He'll get one from me every week if I get one from him. Take a pic of him when he comes to AZ and send me a copy. I'm sending some pics to your gmail. Ok gotta go. Talk to you later. Love you all and thanks to those who emailed this week. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Mitch Davis
Who is that in this wheat field?
It's Elder Davis!
He looks so deep in thought
Yes, it is
It goes on and on -- at least it looks that way
Elder Whitlock the Golden Companion
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