Nov 18

Howdy!

Transfer calls were last night and my companion and I are staying in Bryan. It'll be nice to be with the people I know for the holidays but I have to say, I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is next week. It's so nice and warm here and the trees are still mostly green. It feels like School should be starting, not time for Christmas decorations.

President Pingree is the best mission president. We also had stake conference this weekend and it was also mostly focused on missionary work, so they had Pres. Pingree speak.  He tells crazy stories about how he teaches parts of the first lesson to people at Walmart and will go on walks with his wife to find people to teach the gospel to. The great part is that he makes it sound super easy and when you really think about it all your doing is telling people what you know to be true. I think that is one of the biggest things I've learned since I've been out - that missionary work, first off, isn't your work, its the Lord's and second, people want peace& happiness and that is what we are giving as missionaries. It's nice because most people here believe in God and they recognize His role in their lives so I often feel that I am learning from others more than I am teaching. 

Pres. Pingree is also great because he lets us listen to Disney music or any other music that doesn't distract from the Spirit. So we listen to a lot of movie instrumental music, the piano guys, Aladdin, Tangled, the Lion King, etc. Also, maybe you've already heard of this album, I think I told you about it... but its called Nearer: a collection of hymns or something like that...but it is the best church music I have ever heard. It is so good. I would highly suggest listening to it and I won't even suggest buying it because you'll probably want to after you listen to it. 

As of right now, we don't really have any new investigators officially but we have quite of few people who may become investigators. This ward is really taking the whole member missionary work to heart. Every time we go to dinner its seems like the members will talk about people who they want or have shared the gospel with. So I predict that things will start to really pick up even though things usually slow down this time of year (due to people being gone for the holidays). It is just so exciting to see everyone truly wanting to share the gospel. Its awesome! One of the recent converts we visit with, Abby, always has her nonmember friend over when we're there. They're both 13 so they're a little crazy but they are so great. Shelby is the nonmember friend and she always tries to answer questions in our lessons even though I don't think she knows what we're talking about (ex. priesthood, temple work). We waiting for Shelby to get permission for us to teach her the lessons but she's already learned a lot from the lessons we teach Abby.

That's funny that Harrison adds things to my letters. Just so everyone knows, I love Rachel and Christian too.

That's too bad that it is cold in Reno. Oh, speaking of Reno, there is a lady in my ward here that is moving to Reno and I think you should be her friend. She is sad because she really loves Texas so I've been trying to tell her all the great things about Reno. Its harder than it sounds. Anyway, she is super cool and has super cute kids. I think you would love her, so I'll get her email and number next time I visit her. Her name is Erin Silito.

I'm not sure what my favorite food is...mexican food is always a winner. We ended up having egg Mcmuffins because that is Sister Gregson's favorite food. Isn't that funny? They were pretty good.

I love you,

Sister Davis

Nov 11

Howdy (I really like saying howdy)

That's cool that people read my blog. I'll try to say more inspiring things for them to read.

Hmm I'm trying to think of things I might need...Could you possibly send me my blue zip up hoodie? Its in the closet in, I think, the blue crate. That's all I can think of but I feel like there is something else I could really use...maybe I'll think of it by the end of this email.

The ward is really good about feeding and we have had a couple people invite to thanksgiving. Its kind of funny because we have a set of sisters and a set of elders in this ward and our calendar fills up significantly faster than the elders calender :) People like us. Families also send us home with left overs so we really don't do much cooking. Poor Cathy, how in the world does she only eat one meal a day? I have never been so hungry in my life. There is something about teaching the gospel that just makes you hungry. Can you send me her address? Also, how many stamps would I have to put on it?

So transfers are next week! I can't believe I am practically through my first transfer! I think that my companion and I will stay in Bryan because I'm still training, however, anything could happen. I definitely hope that I stay here. I think we actually find out Sunday night if we are transferring and then on Monday we find out if either of us are training (it seems crazy/scary but there is a possibility that I might train). With the last transfer our mission now has barely more sisters than elders, go sisters!

Next week is stake conference and all the missionaries in our zone and I think 2 other zones have been asked to sing. It'll be interesting.

The work has really slowed down, unfortunately. I don't know how but our investigator pool has slowly diminished. This past week was kind of rough because every single appointment with an investigator was canceled with the exception of one. The one appointment we were able to make it to however we're going to have to drop because we're just not making any progress. Its kind of discouraging because I know how important this message is but I can't force anyone to know its importance. So we are really focusing on finding people right now. My companion is more optimistic, she says that when things slow down like this it just means that good things are to coming. Looking back, we do have a couple potential investigators and the ward members we meet with always seem to be working with people they know.

Which London mission did Harrison serve in? It seems like everyone around here has a sibling that has served in London.

So what are Harrison, Rachel/Daniel, and Christian doing? Dad said that Christian is in the one acts? How is Jack (I really miss that guy, nobody here has a dog quite as cute)?

A lady in our ward works in a library and was telling me that high school librarians in Texas are librarians for more than one school and the person that worls in the library daily just has to have a high school degree. I thought you might find that interesting.

I love you!

Some pictures

Nov 4

*Dear Family,

*Especially Harrison because he is my favorite sibling*

It hasn't been terribly rainy here too much but we were talking to a lady in our ward and she says that in can get pretty bad. In some places where the road kind of dips, there will be a flood gauge on the side of the road that goes up to ~5 ft. So when we were talking to this lady we asked if it really does get that high and apparently it does! It just seems like everybody's house would always be flooding. Good news, when there is hurricane, the evacuation center is in Bryan. Let's hope there aren't any hurricanes too soon. 

The ward here did a big "Search Party".  During ward council they went through the ward list and anyone that no one knew they put on a list to go find. So one night everyone was put into companionships and assigned people to find. It was really great. Unfortunately, if people have moved we can't just send their records to Salt Lake. Their records have to stay in our ward unless we can send their records to where they have moved. 

Our mission hasn't started using social media yet, I'm not sure if it will. In February, we will find out when we get to start using iphones and ipads. So that's exciting! It would be way nice to have a mormon message or a conference talk ready to go on an ipad for less-actives or investigators during lessons. A gps would also serve a valuable purpose when trying to find dinner appointments or other people we've been asked to visit.

On Halloween we had to be in by 6:30 so it was pretty uneventful. We actually watched a bunch of old D&C videos from the 90's and it was rather entertaining. I did get your package! It was very cute, thanks! I like the coat and it fits well too. Isn't Christian too old to go trick or treating? What did he dress up as? 

So I had to go with the college station sisters last tuesday because my companion had to go to a training meeting (she's a sister training leader). Anyway, it meant that I got to go proselyte on the Texas A&M campus! It was pretty neat. The students, for the most part, are pretty willing to listen. It's cool because 98% of people down here believe in God and also that He has a part in their life. It makes it easy to talk to people but it also makes it hard because people are pretty set in their ways. It was definitely a change of pace being on campus. I had never done any contacting in Bryan so it was pretty neat just walking up to random students and asking them if they had ever heard of the Book of Mormon.

On friday we had exchanges so I stayed in Bryan with Sister Gutierrez and my companion went to Huntsville. I was pretty nervous because I still don't know the area very well (I was driving) and I've only met maybe a third of the ward members. It was okay though, I prayed a lot. Mostly that I wouldn't get super lost. Hermana Gutierrez is a very good missionary but she is also OCD so things were done in a very specific way. I'm very grateful for my companion Sister Gregson.

On Saturday we taught Mary about scripture study, sabbath day, and prayer. We brought Sister Young from the Relief Society with us and we also had our ward mission leader Brother Lowe give her a blessing. It was a pretty neat experience; Mary has pretty extreme anxiety, for which she takes medication. I did not know this but Bro. Lowe and Sis. Young have both had to take the same medication for depression/anxiety. They were able to empathize with Mary more than my companion or I would have been able to,  I think it helped Mary to have people who understood her condition.

I can't believe its November or that I have been gone for over a month! We have a couple people that want to feed us for thanksgiving. I really hope both my comp and I stay in Bryan for the next transfer because the next transfer includes Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I love you!

Sis. Davis