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
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