Monday, June 6, 2011

Good Baptism!

Good Day to Everyone,

Hope it's as nice and sunny for everyone else today as it is here. We had a week full of rain but it luckily has cleared up the last three days. Definitely hasn't helped the flooding situation. I think the worst is still to come because the mountains have even more snow on them now. That mixed with a very steady rain for three days this last week will make for a potential wet june or july. The Elders in Roundup are having their fair share of flood trials right now. Don't know if you've read the Talon yet but Elder Sharp shares what is going on there. Definitely worth a read and a potential post to my email blog. Roundup was hit hard this last week with flooding. The Elders in Billings were transported up there and back four days straight to help out. I was able to talk with Elder Hineman and Elder Catron and they said everythings a mess but that it's been really neat to be a part of the service that is going on. Elder Hineman and other Elders were driving farm trucks out of a flooded area and down the banks of a ditch on a muddy road. Elder Hineman said that his truck was the only one that wasn't four wheel drive and it was stuck and that the back end of it slid out and he went into the ditch. Luckily no damage done they just had to pull it out and he won't lose driving privileges because it wasn't a mission vehicle. haha Elder Catron also said that he stepped on a nail and that this news reporter who followed them around all day but never helped and was always complaining about getting dirty interviewed him and asked him about the dangers of helping with the flood. He responded with well...I just stepped on a nail. hahaha I told Elder Catron that if I'm a reporter someday that I'm going to dive right into the action. If the fans rush the court or the field I'm not going to be worried about getting dirty or trampled I'll take the camera and go with them. hahaha He said he could see me doing that. They really are doing a great service to the people in Roundup.

This week we had teamups with the zone leaders. Elder Weight and I went. He's the one that's from Kaysville and went to Fairfield at the same time I did. We talked about a lot of the kids we knew and some of the funny things that happened. It was fun to reminisce. We were able to teach some good lessons too so that was a good way to start off the week.

J's baptism sure came up quick. We met with her two more times this week and had great lessons. The young man, K, who Elder Lanham baptized a year ago, has been helping us a lot by going over to her house with us so we can teach her. He had us over for dinner with J and his non-member parents. We talked a lot and found out that there was some things J had needed to overcome in this whole process but never told us that she had just taken care of them. Like smoking. I never knew she smoked but she said after meeting with us the second time and knowing a little about what Mormons follow as a health code, even though we hadn't taught it to her yet, she quit smoking, coffee, and tea at the drop of a hat. It wasn't till probably 3 more visits that we covered the word of wisdom. By that time when we asked her if she had any problems with these she said nope. Little did we know she had but had already taken care of them. Pretty amazing. Then she told us about all the things her mom has been doing to try to not get her to join but she's held strong and kept telling her mom that someday she would see why she was doing this. I really look up to J for standing strong in the face of adversity with family and friends looking down on her for this. What a great example she has set.

So Saturday came and it was a great baptism! We got there early because we heard if you wanted a warm font in this building you had to turn it on for 5 min and let it sit for 5 min. and so on and so forth. By 10 it was ready though. We had a great program with Elder Wells and Elder Schermerhorn giving talks, K and Schermerhorn singing, and then the baptism. As I walk into where the font is and start to go down the stairs I realize that somehow the plug must be leaking because the water has dropped a foot. Not Good! So we both go down into the font, I say the prayer and I go to dunk her under and realize I'm going to have to make sure she really goes under all the way so after kind of dunking her under I then kind of pushed her under. Not good I know but that foot difference made things hard. She came up and then had kind of lost her footing so she kind of started to twirl around and I had to make sure she didn't fall down. She kind of gave me a look of thanks for drowning me at first but then smiled. I later apologized for drowning her and now it's kind of a joke. haha

Sunday was the confirmation. Elder Schermerhorn was asked by her to do it. He was super nervous but he nailed it and did a great job! We are really excited for her. The Bishop had a little interview with her and said that the primary really wants her but that he wants her to keep going to class and interacting with members and not get shut away in primary. I'm glad he feels that way because I've seen some converts who that's happened to. He gave her a calling already though and wants her to help out at girls camp in July. I'm so excited for her to go. I know Lauren has always enjoyed it and it will be a great opportunity for J to be a part of something that she missed not being a member as a youth but will now still be able to be a part of.

Now for the Gun story! Anyone who was on FB on Sat. may have seen my question of what do you do when an old man comes out with a gun in his pants and tells you to get off his property? So we were going to meet some members at their house but they weren't home yet. We had pulled up along the street in between their house and their neighbors. They didn't have curbs in this area and the streets are kind of skinny in this part of town so I tried to get right up close to the grass and out of the street. Well we see this old man on his porch. As we are waiting we realize he went into his house. No biggy right? Well then he comes out of his house and walks towards us. We then realize he's got a hand gun in the front waist of his pants. I thought to myself oh geez old man did you really need to bring that out here to intimidate us? He comes up to the window and yells Didn't you know it's illegal to park on someone's property?!!! I said oh are we on your property? I'm sorry I didn't know that. He then yells some more and says that we are on his grass. Now I'll admit we may have been on his grass a little but when I say a little we're talking maybe an inch. So I apologized and we drove off. What a grouchy old man! Couldn't he have just asked us to please move. He didn't really need a gun to do it did he? oh well!

I'm excited to read about the whole EVMCO experience. I printed off one of those articles and have shown it to a few people that I know are into music and choirs. They thought that was pretty neat and asked when you're coming to Montana for a concert?

Transfer news as most probably know by now I'm staying! Elder Schemerhorn who's been here for 6 months is going to Laural, MT. Elder Mower from Orem is going to be my new comp. He'll arrive here tonight and Schermerhorn will leave tomorrow morning. Elder Schermerhorn and I have had a lot of fun together and have had some great work going. I'm going to miss him but not his financial status. He is doing better though. He pulled out all of his money and so now he can visually see it disappear which helps him to save it.

We went to a sporting goods store during lunch the other day. We had heard from Brother M that they had big fish ponds with huge rainbow trout in the back. We wanted to check it out and boy was he right. They have this really nice big pond in the back and at first we were just watching these fish swim around but then a worker comes and hands us a cup of these pellets and he said we could feed them. It was so much fun! The fish are really aggressive so when you throw the pellets in they fight over them. It's very entertaining! We're definitely going to have to go to Snappy's when we come back here. haha We are going to take the zone leaders and the sisters there today to check it out.

Well I better get going. I hope everyone is enjoying their time in UT. Thanks for all you do for me and I love you all.

-Elder Davis

PS we adopted the Pirate as our district mascot at the beginning of the transfer and we had some pretty cool t-shirts made up that got finished this week. They say Kalispell Pirates and have a skull with crossed swords and then below it says Life Eternal. haha