Monday, December 27, 2010

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