Oct 28

Its super nice weather here but it does get a little cold at night and sometimes it rains like crazy. The trees are still green, I don't think they'll ever change colors. Did I mention how many trees there are here? If I didn't, there is a ton. Its kind of deceiving because I'm so used to associating trees with civilization (there aren't many in the middle of nowhere nevada). In Texas, there are trees everywhere regardless of whether there are people nearby or not.

So zone conference was this past week and it was super great. We talked a lot about the importance of obedience. It was mentioned that being obedient has a large ripple effect, it effects your companion, the people you teach, the ward, and your own family. So being obedient is good. We also learned about ways to find people, especially by getting members involved. I never realized what a huge effect members can have in helping the missionaries. My companion and I try to get a member at our lessons with investigators and it seems that those lessons always go really well. I think its good for people to see that being Mormon doesn't mean wearing a badge and nice clothes all the time. Plus, its nice because then they have someone to associate with in the ward.

As a result, my comp and I are trying to think of ways to get a ward more involved in the work. So right now we're thinking that were going to challenge the ward with the same challenge that Elder Ballard gave in this past conference. We think that we'll probably make magnets with the quote about serving a someone before christmas and then leave a space for the member to write in the name a the person/people they want to serve. If you hear of any ways that missionaries are successfully getting ward members involved you should let me know!

I'm not sure if a mentioned our investigator Mary Salceda in my last email but she is a really nice old lady. She was taught about a year ago by some elders and ever since they taught her about the word of wisdom she's never felt the need to drink coffee or tea; so she is ready to go! Whenever we teach her she says that she know that it is true but she also won't pray on her own and she didn't make it to church. So its a work in progress but we've made the goal with her to be baptized on Nov. 23rd. Getting people to church is hard! And disappointing because we have so much hope for them and then they don't show up :( My comp and I think that maybe we'll start taking people on church tours to help them feel more comfortable.

I was laughing just picturing Jack in a penguin costume, haha I miss that little guy. A lot of people we teach/visit have dogs and in result, a lint roller and hand sanitizer is on my list of things to buy today.

I got Dads letter so I'll back soon and I'll keep an eye out for a package. Getting mail rocks!

I'm glad christian likes driving the Accord, its a trouper and I really, sincerely mean that. 

I love you!

Howdy! Bryan is pretty great. Last tuesday we got to go to the temple w/ our zone and it was wonderful! Our mission president has given us permission to go to the temple once every transfer because the temple is in our mission boundaries! So that is awesome!

I don't think I've ever met so many funny/odd people in my life. Bryan is full of crazy people but you really can't help not to love them. We were visting one of our investigators (Charles) and their mom (sister Gillis), they also had a friend over. Charles and his friend have a pretty rough criminal/drug background but they have both cleaned up quite a bit. Anyway, his friend was telling us all of the terrible things that have ever happened to him and at one point he said "I don't even tell my psych this stuff" I guess people just trust you more when you're a missionary? It was a little scary.

We also visit a less-active who swears like a sailor and smokes like there's no tomorrow but we still love her.  We have to change our clothes after we visit we because we smell very strongly of smoke; its nasty.She has expressed interest in the church's AA program so hopefully we can get her to that.

 We are still excited about Erica but she's having a hard time coming to church so we'll have to change her baptismal date but that is okay.

Oh my goodness! We told this lady in our ward that we would help her clean her house and wow, it was quite the experience. We helped her with a lot of stuff but the scariest part was the kitchen. I better get dad over there because some of the pots had mold growing inside. Service is service, however and we are just so happy to help.

Saturday was kind of a rough day. All of our appointment fell through and none the less-actives we had hoped to visit were home. I think, from what I'e experienced thus far, is that missionary is hard work mentally. It is so easy it to get discouraged but at least for me, knowing that everything happens in God's time has really been a comfort. I just need to be more patient.

Also, something I've become more aware of is all the tender mercies that we're blessed with and how they're a sure sign of how God is keenly aware of us and our circumstances. Whenever I feel kind of discouraged or like we're not accomplishing much something happens or someone says something that reminds me of my purpose and that no effort is wasted.

On a different note, it is getting a little colder here. I'll probably want to eventually get a warm coat b/c apparantly it does get pretty chilly in the winter.

That is so exciting for Cathy! Yay!

Yeah Sister Pingree is the one that does all the blogging and I imagine she also does the newsletter (I didn't know we had a newsletter) but it is a really awesome mission. I haven't met a lot of the other missionaries but so far everyone seems so focused and happy to do the work.

People to teach just keep popping up. Its great! And they're all so prepared.

The ward is really nice, mostly the people that feed us are people with missionaries out or people who are about to send missionaries.

I think its best to send mail to the 2300 address but if its labeled 2301 I should still get it....

Anyway, what is new with the familia?

I love you all (not y'all)

I have some more time so here's a funny thing that happened:

We met with a Sister who just moved into the ward and she's a single mom with two really cute/crazy young kids.

While we were talking to her, her son whose probably 3 was getting into something in the kitchen. So the mom went to go see what he was doing and from the living room we heard her say "Kellyn (thats his name), you..." and before she could finish, Kellyn, in his cute little voice said "...stinker."

Oct 14

There were 34 missionaries headed to the Texas, Houston mission with me. If you're thinking that, that is a lot its because it is a LOT. Some of the them are waiting for visas to go to Brazil so we'll see how long they stick around. I think it was about 18 or so of us that are sisters so that is pretty neat! The mission president is so great and his wife is the epitome of a 'Sister missionary gung-ho enthusiast'. They are really young, probably 40ish but they have kids in junior high and high school. 

Anyway, I'm in TEXAS! Woo. So right now I'm serving in Bryan,Texas in the Bryan 1st ward, its a very nice family ward. Its about as far north as you can get in this mission, my companion calls it 'being in exile' mostly because our area and the neighboring area cover half of the entire mission. In other words, it is super spread out. Its kind of fun because out here there are a lot more 'true texans' plus we're right next to college station so there are a LOT of Aggie fans. I don't know if its this area or just Texans in general but goodness gracious people really love to talk here! Maybe its also part of being a missionary but people just feel the need to pour out their life stories to us. So my listening skills have improved greatly.

My companion/trainer is super great, her name is Sister Gregson. She is from Holiday, Utah and she has been out since February. She has trained every companion (besides her first of course) since she's been out, so she is a pro.

There are absolutely zero mountains here, I've never seen a place so flat! It is, however, really green and beautiful! Even out here in the boonies. The weather has been kind of rainy the past couple days. Two nights ago, there was a HUGE thunder storm at probably 2 am, I do not think that I have ever heard thunder so loud. I thought the world was ending. When we woke up the was a puddle in the middle of our living room, which is weird because around the doors it was completely dry. We're still trying to figure that out, our neighbors actually had to pull up their carpet b/c it flooded so much. Fortunately we have linoleum floors so it was no problem. By the way, our apartment is cute and little. It's two stories but the upper level is just a loft.

So I committed someone to baptism!! Yay! We had a referral for this girl named Erica, so we of course contacted her and set up a time to teach her the first lesson. Remember what I said about people here liking to talk? Erica, who I had never met before, told us everything that had ever happened to her. She has had a really rough life but she is trying to pull it back together. So we taught her the first lesson and it went great. So we had her say the closing prayer and then I asked her if she wanted to be baptized. We're planning on Nov. 9 if she comes to church and what not. Anyway, that was a really great experience. It is really awesome to see someone who has never had the gospel in their life be able to feel and recognize the spirit.

Mostly what sister Gregson and I are doing is working with the less actives because there are I lot of them here. Also, we do a lot of  work with part member families.

Oct 4

Hello!

My companion's name is pronounced 'eye' this is exactly what she says when people ask her " Ae, like the letter i or your eyeball" I've heard her say that a lot. We haven't actually watched the rs conference yet because we're waiting to watch it when the Elders have priesthood session. If I had been here just one week earlier I could have been part of the choir but oh well! They provided the shirts for them haha

Hey, that is so awesome that, that lady understands the Word of Wisdom! Yay!

Yeah, I got the garments. They actually have a garment center here so I don't know why they told you they didn't....? And I got the shoes in perfect timing! I think I got them on monday, right before the service project. The district leader gets all the mail and if you have a package you just get a slip that says to go pick it up.

So for conference we all watch it where we have the devotionals and what not. Watching in the living room sounds way nice because the seats here are NOT comfortable.

Oh thank you Harrison, that's nice! I'd send pictures but as it turns out my camera is super broken. I probably should have tried using it before I got here...I will however send the pictures that the other sisters have taken as soon as they figure out how to get them on the computer. For some reason its not working on most of the computers here but we might just print the pictures and then mail them.

So last Sunday my comp. and I got called as the Sister Training Leaders for the zone! Turns out its actually kind of stressful because if there is anything wrong with any of the Sisters its on our shoulders to make sure all is well. So we have one Sister who is a type 1 diabetic and she's been struggling with it because she found out about a month ago. Also another sister has depression but she seems to have pretty good control over it, but it still is kind of worrisome. Its been an interesting experience however because its super humbling to see that despite any physical issue these sisters are super willing to forget about themselves and teach people the gospel.

Yeah, its pretty awesome here! My teachers are super great. On sunday night we watched a devotional that Bednar gave a couple years ago and it was sooooo good! It was all about the character of Christ. Something I really liked was, he talked about how missionaries can become impatient and want this and that with their investigators. He said "Who cares what you want, forget about yourselves!" and he talked about how Christ never thought about himself, He was always looking outward. It changed my life. Well, it changed how I thought about missionary work.

I leave the MTC on wednesday Oct 9 at 4:30 in the morning. I switched computers and know its really hard to type. Anyway, the zone went to the temple again today and that was really nice. I can tell that the elders in my zone will all be great missionaries but they are such 18 yr old boys! They drive the sisters in my district nuts but along with the call to be a missionary came the responsibility to be loving and kind. So we all get along just wonderfully. 

At mission conference I saw Renae Rowley (old roomate) and I was so happy. She's going to the Philippines but still has about 3 weeks left in the MTC. I am so glad I am here for only two weeks, I just can't imagine staying longer. It is so great here and the spirit is felt everywhere but I think I'm ready to actually do work in the field instead of a classroom. Sister Ae and I did have a really awesome experience teaching a TRC investigator. TRC investigators are people who are hired to have the MTC missionaries teach them two lesson and they can be members but some are real life investigators! So we don't know if the girl we taught was a member but she totally felt the spirit. If we had another lesson with her I think she definitley would have committed to baptism.

I don't know about this picture situation.....hey but could you send me our family picture in the mail I forgot to grab one before I left. Also that picture you sent was pretty funny, that was the face I intended to make.

LOOOOVVVVEEEE,

Sister Hannah Davis

PS I saw Rachel's sister in law, Maille, and she recognized me but I had know idea who she was until she said "Rachel and Tank said hi". So that was kind of awkward because I'm pretty sure I had the "who are you????" look. Hopefully I see her again so she doesn't think I'm a super uncool relative. Who would ever think that?!

September 27

Hello mamacita!

I'm doing great! I just sent you a letter but don't use the return address because I think its wrong.

Anyway the MTC is super awesome, there is such a great spirit here! I love my companion. She is so cool! Her name is Sister Ae and she is from Hawaii. Isn't that cool? She is also going to the Texas,Houston mission and together we've been practicing our 'howdys' and 'yee-haws'. The other sisters from my district (we're also roommates) are Sister Lambright from Mesa, Az and Sister Christenson from Layton, UT. Sister Lambright is also going to Houston but Sister Christenson is going to New Zealand. We've become such great friends, I love them! I feel like I've known them for years. 

I have learned soooooooo much. Yesterday we did a LOT of personal study which was fine because its nice to just have the Spirit guide you to exactly what you personally need to be learning. The guidance of the spirit in everything we do and say has been a major focus. There is definitely a difference I feel as I try to always be mindful of what the spirit is having me learn. The teachers here are really great and they are all super excited about being teachers. I've never seen so many happy teachers. Its hard to express the overwhelming presence of the Spirit in every classroom and workshop. It's everywhere and I just feel so blessed to be able to be here with all these other  wonderful missionaries.

So I forgot my running shoes :( I don't know what to do because I need them for gym time. Turns out they don't sell them at the bookstore either....I guess I could use the excuse of 'I need to break in my missionary shoes' if I'm using the treadmill but volleyball seems to be out of the question. If you do feel incline to send me my tennis shoes they are grey and blue nikes and they're located in a yellow crate in the room with all of my stuff. 

Guess who I saw today?! I saw Lizzy Benson. Isn't that crazy? My zone went to the temple today and as we were walking in she was walking out. So that was super great.

So much has happened that I'm not really sure what to write. I haven't been sleeping so great because my room is freeeeezzinnnggg! So I'm pretty tired but I'm also happy because this is just a great place. I can't say I'd want to be here past the 9th (when I leave), it'll be nice to be in Houston. Even though there are quite a few things I need to learn, I'm really anxious to start doing work. Yesterday one of the teachers said that every investigator has been prepared by God to hear our message. I thought that was pretty cool to think about, I'm definitley not the one converting people. I'm just the one pointing them in the right direction.

I think my next p-day is friday so I'll write you then. If you want to send those shoes that would be wonderful! 

I love you guys (we're not suppose to use the term guys here but I don't think Sisters and Elders is appropriate in this case)

-Sister Davis