Hello familia,

 

It has been a good week. The He is the Gift initiative has been pretty effective in our finding. Since we don't have ipads to show random people the video we will usually just say "Hello, can we share a fabulous Christmas message with you?!" and then they say "yeah, sure, that's fine..." and we'll say "do you have a phone with internet?"....they pull out their phone and then we tell them to go to youtube and search/watch He is the Gift. And everybody so far has really liked it, I mean, who wouldn't? Then we'll usually rap it up with an invitation to learn more.  We're also committing the members to share either the video or pass-along cards with their friends...it's been a fun time.

 

I don't remember if I talked about Kendra last time...but she is a 15 yr old girl that we've been teaching. She is really sweet but she has a rough family environment. Mostly just her step-dad isn't very friendly. Her mom, on the other hand, told us to get Kendra baptized. We like to hear that kind of thing. Hopefully we can teach the mom soon but she's usually busy when we come over. Anyway Kendra is looking forward to baptism... it'll probably be in January.

 

Our other investigator that is progressing to baptism is Seth. He's really soaking everything up. His main hurdle will be to stop smoking but he can totally do it! Right now, he's planning to be baptized on Dec 27th. Any prayers to help him stop smoking will be much appreciated :) He has tried before but has never quite kicked it. I think that since he's living in a better environment with better folks, it'll be easier to quit.

 

I can't believe Cathy will be home soon! that sure is crazy! People keep asking me when I'm leaving and I just want to say "I don't know, I forgot...probably never."

 

I'm still learning something everyday.

 

I read this talk from general conference this morning, I liked this quote:

"I have found comfort in remembering that the Savior focuses on the individual and the family. His love and tender attention to the individual have taught me that He recognizes the great worth of each of Heavenly Father’s children and that it is essential for us to ensure that each individual is ministered to and strengthened by the gospel of Jesus Christ." -Elder Martinez

 

Its true, every single one of God's children are part of His great eternal plan and each one of them are super important to Him.

 

I love you!

-Sister Davis

 

I was thinking for Christmas can you send me a neutral colored sweater and some flats (they can be low-quality because I don't need them for too much longer...) or you can just get Sister Correia a Christmas present because she is super awesome.

 

ps. the reason we look so goofy in the picture I attached is because the Mortensen's wanted a funny picture of each companionship for the Christmas conference. So we took some funny pictures last pday.

Howdy!

Sounds like a fun trip you took last weekend.

We ended up having a pretty traditional thanksgiving. We actually were invited to a couple thanksgiving dinners but we did pretty good at only eating at one of them and just visiting the others. The people whose house we actually ate at was an older couple that doesn't have any family nearby so they were rather happy to be able to celebrate thanksgiving with more than just the two of them.

We've had a good week. We had two meetings - mission leadership council and zone meeting - I just love meetings...mlc is always really good and zone meeting was pretty good. Sometimes I just want to get to work instead of talk about work... but I can see the benefit of meeting together.

We had transfer calls last night and Sister Correia and I are both staying, wahoo! We're excited because Christmas is this transfer and we can meet each others families. Plus Christmas would be unfortunate if you didn't like your companion (that never happens).

Seth - the kid that Melissa is letting stay at her house - has really become quite interested in the gospel! He's already half-way through 1 nephi and he's only had the Book of Mormon for about a week (better than most members I'd say). He's also been coming to church and the ward is so nice to him. I think he'll be baptized pretty soon.

This week we got in contact with a lot of people who we've to struggling to see -  due to crazy schedules - who are on the verge of progressing. Sharon is one of them, she reminds me of King Lamoni Senior (when he's wondering what makes the sons of Mosiah such great guys...not when he's trying to kill Ammon) because she believes everything we say and is just so willing to learn, accept and apply the gospel.

President Mortensen really wants every companionship to have a baptism in December - making it a "white" Christmas. I think we can do it! It'll be a stretch but it is so totally possible.

I hope you have an excellent week!

I love you,

 Sister Davis

I will try and remember to take pictures....I don't know why I'm not good at remembering that...

Howdy,

I got your package, thank you very much! Those fleece-y ones are nice. I guess its suppose to get really cold this week because of some tsunami by Alaska....I'll be really loving the tights.

Sister Correia is a sister training leader and exchanges are way easier plus we can just go to meetings together instead of having to split with other missionaries. Sister Correia is super funny, she makes me laugh all the time but she also a really good missionary so we stay focused. She wants to make a title of liberty for the ward to help them become more excited about missionary work. I'll take a picture when its done.

Elder Corbridge came and talked to the mission on Tuesday. It was pretty awesome. He talked a lot about teaching the doctrine (destination), principles (route), and conclusion (application/commitments).

On Wednesday we biked a lot, looking back I'm not totally sure why we didn't just drive because it was pouring rain for most to the day. It was still pretty fun but we were totally soaking. Sister Correia would say to past companions (when they didn't have a car) "the spirit doesn't stop working when its raining!"

We started teaching a kid named Shaun, he is 19. He is the nephew of one of the members but is leaving with his uncle because his original home was pretty rough. He grew up hearing a lot of anti-Mormon from his parents but since he's been in Texas (he's been here for a couple month) he's been coming to church. We taught him the Restoration and he agreed to be baptized. He said that everything he's learned makes him feel really hopeful.

Melissa is doing great and she has completely quit smoking. Yay! A lot of people smoke over here, even the people who you would never expect to smoke. Anyway Melissa has been doing family history like crazy. The first time we started her on it we couldn't really find much but in the past two weeks she's been able to feel out most of her 4 generation pedigree. I'm not sure what's going on in the spirit world but I'm sure her ancestors are helping her out.

I love you! (when I say that I'm talking to the whole family)

  

-Sister Davis

Howdy,

Wow Harrison is living the life. That is a pretty cool picture! I looks like it should be in some outdoor/travel magazine.

So it has been a wonderful week. I mean, I just feel immensely blessed every day! I've heard a lot about this area because I've had two past companions serve here and they both talked a lot about how hard it is. This past week however, we've had a couple people accept to be baptized and on Sunday three members gave us referrals for people they said are "ready to be dunked". Its been awesome.

Melissa is super great. We're thinking her baptism will probably be on the 22nd because she still need to quit smoking. She's really close but not quite there. Her daughter was in town this last weekend and she's a recent convert so we were able to teach a couple lessons with her there. What was really awesome was last night there was a fireside for investigators and new/returning members. Elder Corbridge from the seventy came and spoke about how to bring Christ into our daily life/how to prioritize. It was great! Melissa and her daughter went.

A member from a different ward gave us a referral for a lady named Sharon, who lives just up the street from us. We went over on Saturday and oh my, I think she's probably the sweetest old lady (she's probably in her 60s) I've ever met. She was super accepting of the Restoration, she kept saying how happy she felt about it. There was no hesitation when we asked if she'd be baptized when she found the truth out for herself - she's totally on board. Her husband died about a year ago so when she found out we believed in eternal families (her friend took her to the temple grounds awhile ago) she was pretty thrilled.

Being on a bike is really fun and its way easier to talk to people. Its also nice to have a car for people who live too far away. I'll try to take a picture of us on our bikes this coming week.

I like this part in Jesus the Christ "Such then is the need of a Redeemer, for without Him mankind would forever remain in a fallen state and as to hope of eternal progression would be inevitably lost. The mortal probation is provided as an opportunity for advancement; but so great are the difficulties and the dangers, so strong is the influence of evil in the world, and so weak is man in resistance thereto, that without the aid of a power above that of humanity no soul would find its way back to God from whom it came. The need of a Redeemer lies in the inability of man to raise himself from the temporal to the spiritual plane, from the lower kingdom to the higher."

I love you! I hope your week rocks!

-Sister Davis

Howdy,

Conference was SO GOOD!!!!! I loved it. That's fun that Rachel and Daniel were in town. The talk by Elder Ballard reminded me of them because he talked a lot about river rafting. I also really liked Elder Oaks talk and I really liked Elder Klebingat's (sat afternoon) talk. It was super great. Honestly, I just loved every talk. I wanted to print some today but they don't have the words on lds.org yet...bummer.

It has been one crazy week.

Last Tuesday I went to a meeting in Houston with the other sister training leader. We left college station at 6:30am and I didn't get back to Brenham until 8 pm. It was the longest meeting of my life! Yet, it was very inspiring. The main focus was how to raise our vision overall and with specific things.

It's fun being able to go to those meetings because you get to hear first-hand what is going on in the mission. There's quite a few changes being made!

On Thursday I went to Caldwell on an exchange and on Friday we were in College station for half the day for zone meeting. I felt like I spent more time out of my area than in my area. And then it was conference weekend. Zone meeting was good. I'm trying to figure out how to be a better leader. I want the missionaries to be more excited and happy. Something that's been hard is that it is so different working in a branch than it is in a ward. In our zone we have a ysa ward, 3 family wards, and 3 branches - a good variety.

Even though its been busy, its been slow. I don't know why but we've just had the hardest time finding to new investigators lately. The work is definitely moving forward....well, I think last week was just a slow week. Next week we'll be better! Sometimes slow weeks just happen.

Between sessions of conference on Saturday we helped judge a scarecrow contest in Chappell hill (that's probably the place that teacher likes). I guess they have a hard time finding impartial judges so the lady who we help at the museum archives thought we would be perfect. It was fun. Its a really small, cute little town. Its been around since the restoration! Haha. Not really, I just thought that sounded funny. I think it was actually est. in the 1880s

Tranfsers are on October 21st so I still have two weeks here :) and who knows....president might just transfer Sister Carling instead.

The GPS works great! thanks a bunch.

I love you! thanks for the prayers :)

-Sister Davis

I haven't had headaches recently however, I'm not sure where my Excedrin went. My allergies sure have been having a grand ol' time.

Howdy,

That video was great. Jack has such tiny little legs and he is so long. How is the middle of his body even supported?

(Click here for the video of Jack)

That's crazy that the temperature is so low there. We actually had some cooler weather but it was still pretty warm. Everyone is saying that it probably be a cold winter because we had a pretty mild summer.

Jordache's baptism was pretty great. We actually tracted into Jordache. Its pretty cool because the day we found Jordache we also got 25 contacts (25 daily contacts is one of the mission goals and its kind of difficult out here). So it just goes to show that when you really stretch and are diligent to the standards good things will come about! His friend Anthony baptized him and the other priest was one of the witnesses. It was pretty cool for all of them. Jordache is kind of goofy, when he got in the baptism font he smiled and waved at everyone. I was actually thinking that him and Christian would probably get along quite well - same sense of humor. His confirmation blessing was really neat too...We have kind of talked to Jordache about serving mission and he's rather hesitant about the idea. Well, in the blessing Brother Jarnagin very specifically said that he would serve a mission and also, that his decision share the gospel would be key to helping his family accept the gospel. Pretty neat! I attached a picture, I don't know why they aren't smiling....they were all pretty happy.

On Wednesday we got to watch "Meet the Mormons" and it was so good! I think it will be super great for the world. I want everyone to see it. Its a documentary but its not boring. The church has some serious talent in filmmaking. We're actually not suppose to use it in our proselyting but we are encouraged to encourage members to see it and to tell there nonmember friends to see it. I think it comes out in October.

We had hit a rough patch these past couple of weeks in terms of work being kind of slow but I think it is almost over.  We have a few really promising potential investigators. We have talked to one of the ladies, Nettie, we do volunteering with about different gospel topics but we had a good talk about the Book of Mormon a couple weeks ago. She told us that her husband would probably love the Book of Mormon so we gave her a copy for each of them. Well, last week she rescheduled the appointment we had with her but when we were volunteering she said that her husband has already started to read the Book of Mormon and he loves it! Apparently he said that its been answering some of his questions about the Bible. Hopefully we can get an appointment with them this week!

We also got a headquarters referral but the apartment number wasn't on the text so we ended up calling her. Her name is McKenzie and she is also excited to meet with us. We just talked to her on the phone but she wants to watch conference.

So things are looking up :)

Unfortunately President basically told me that I was getting transferred in 3 weeks :( 

I was pretty bummed on Saturday because the Wi-Fi (they're working on getting cable) at the church kept cutting in and out during the women's conference so I probably only saw about 30 minutes of it...I'm feeling pretty spiritually deprived! Its sounds like most of the branch will actually watch conference at the building. We may end up going to member houses that are watching in their home to avoid technical difficulties :)

Well, I love you!

Have a gooood week!

-Sister Davis

Howdy family,

It has been a pretty goooood week. That's nice of the bishop to send me a gps. I did get the teddy bear package....the ward does send me a lot of stuff so I settled on sending thank you cards every couple of months. There are missionaries in this mission that live with members but I'm not sure how many. This is the first area that sister Carling hasn't lived with a member. I think its a good idea, the missionaries I've talked to seem to like it for the most part.

I feel like we're teaching the whole world how to to family history. We've had a couple appointments this week where we taught less-actives and members how to do family history. We had a pretty cool experience with one sister in the ward. After we shared a message about inviting friends to do family history this Sister said that she needs to figure out how to use familysearch.org first. We had some extra time so we helped her log on and get started. She told us about how she had been having dreams about family history work and people just kept randomly bringing it up in her life. When she finally got on the site (it took awhile to set up) there were several close relatives who still needed work done. The spirit of Elijah was pretty strong, I think her family was in the room with us, it was awesome. It was a good experience for that sister to see why she had been having the prompting to get started on her tree.

Its actually kind of funny that we're teaching family history so much because neither of us really know what we're doing. Just enough to help someone get started.

We had tacos with Tricia one of our investigators this week. She's the best but she doesn't want to be baptized until her husband joins as well and he doesn't even like to be in the house when we're there. I don't even know what he looks like. So we're kind of stuck. She's been investigating for quite awhile and has even given up coffee.  We think family history may help. Its kind of our answer to everything these days.

Jordache is a funny kid. We asked him what it is about the church that is motivating him to keep coming and be baptized. He said that whenever he's gone to churches before he would always fall asleep (even though they were less than 3 hours)  and he would wonder why something that should be so important was putting him to sleep. Well, when he came to the LDS church he stayed awake the whole time and was actually interested in what was going on, not just that but he agreed with/liked what was being taught. He also said that he is at a point where it was "now or never" in terms of baptism, so Heavenly Father has good timing.

Thanks for sending me a bag! Mine just becomes sadder every day.

Every single one of my companions so far writes about twice as much as I do in there weekly letters home. I think most of them go day by day and tell there family everything they did. That just seems like a lot.

It was a pretty rainy weekend! I like rain but it sure throws a loop in our plans.

Yeah, I can't believe I've been out for a year almost. Sure doesn't feel like it! 

Thanks for all your love and support :)    (that sounds like something on a thank you card)

I love you!

Thanks for the article! I'm not really suppose to use websites that aren't authorized by the church but maybe since its ran by an LDS group its okay? Not sure about that one. President Mortensen is starting to do Mission President Firesides once a month at different stakes in the mission. They're meant to bring in lots of nonmembers or less-actives. Basically its mostly a musical program put on by missionaries but there's also testimonies given by recent converts. So maybe that coach would be a good person to have speak! That would definitely bring in a lot of non-members.

I'm doing well. Its been a fairly decent week. Definitely one of those weeks where you feel like nothing happened but somehow you were still busy the whole time. We're really trying to find new investigators. I don't know why but its been really hard lately. It hasn't been this difficult in awhile. Its all good. I have faith.

We've been working a lot with family history. We're helping a couple less-actives get started on there's and we've also been helping Priscilla get her's going. Its been pretty cool because Priscilla hardly had any information on her dad and grandparents. We were able to find her dad's information and we found her grand-parents and great grand parents and her mom's side. Its exciting! She is really looking forward to going to the temple but unfortunately it is closed this month. Our mission president is also really pushing family history. He wants us to start teaching it after we teach the Plan of Salvation.

Jordache is still doing excellent. The two other priests in the branch are really good friends with him now. The youth sunday school teacher always tells us that Jordache answers a good portion of the questions asked in class.

We've been doing a lot of service lately. Its nice because we can do service during the hours that are hard for catching people at home. Service is another thing that Pres. Mortensen is encouraging us to do more of...its pretty neat. He wants each companionship to do ~10 hours of service a week. For all the missionaries out in the country this is very good news. Its not an official change that has been made but its in the near future. Part of the perks of being a sister training leader is getting to hear the future plans for the mission.

Nobody really knows when we're getting ipads. All we know is that it is before the end of the year. I'm not sure how paying for it works either...Pres. hasn't said anything about becoming an online proselyting mission. Honestly I'm not sure if this mission is quite ready for that... but President thinks we may start doing online stuff next year. 

I'm sad to hear about grandpa and aunt Lois. I'm happy to hear that Grandpa is probably going to be just fine. I'll keep him in my prayers.

Did I tell you that sometimes we help in primary? Usually with the sunbeams. If there's a lot in the class, then they usually ask us to sit in with the teacher to help keep things from going out of control. Or sometimes we end up actually teaching a class if the teacher isn't at church. 

I love you!

I hope you all have a goooood week.

-Sister Davis

Also, my bag is kind of a sad sight. Its sort of falling apart. Do you have any good missionary bags that you aren't using?

Howdy,

I'm emailing at the church building today. We're lucky.

I didn't know about the flooding in College Station, its seems that weather there is worse than it is here...Its mostly just hot here. People say that it stays hot in September and then sort of starts to cool down. 

Its been a pretty wild week. I went down to Houston on Tuesday for MLC so Sister Carling did a little exchange with the other STL's companion in College Station. MLC took a really long time. We had to leave at 6:30 am and we didn't get back until about 6:30 pm. MLC is always a good time :) its like a mini-zone conference. 

When Sister Carling and I got back to Brenham we were only there for about an hour before we did a real exchange with the Caldwell sisters. So our week didn't really start until Thursday and by that time we were real tired of driving.

We had to go back to College Station on friday for Zone meeting. It was a pretty good meeting...its harder to tell how things are going when you planned the meeting. Its been a pretty humbling experience to be in a leadership position because you really understand, as King Benjamin puts it "your own nothingness". I've realized the best way to help the zone is to just follow the spirit with everything you plan and teach. Its not so much that I'm helping anyone, but that the Lord through me is helping the zone and that is neat.

Jordache is just soaking everything up. He is a pretty cool kid. We asked him if he's ever thought about serving a mission and he has! He's not sure how his Dad would handle that but his dad is cool with him getting baptized so who knows...

Everyone in the branch loves him.

Tomorrow is transfers but Sister Carling and I are staying. Yay! Pretty much everyone else in the zone is changing.

Here's the funny quote of the week. Sister Carling and I were about to go into a member house for dinner so we said a prayer in the car before we went. I guess I was tired because I said in all seriousness "we grateful that the Knox's are kind enough to eat us..(Sister Carling - also tired- starts laughing)...I mean feed us."

Its just been a fun week.... :)

I love you! Hope you're enjoying your labor day.

-Sister Davis

Howdy!

That is a lot a fun stuff going on in the west (that's how a Texan would say it). Did Christian get the postcard I sent? Also, thank you very much for the package with the necklace and also the one with the vitamins. I really like the necklace. Its very cute and I wear it a lot! Thank you!!

Apparently a couple missionaries died recently so the people we were eating with thought they should send a picture to our parents so they could see that we were still alive. They're funny.

Its been a slower week but still good. We had a Zone conference on Thursday which was way good. President Mortensen is SUPER smart. I think he knows almost everything, especially relating to the gospel. 

We had a stake correlation meeting which is basically when the stake president, mission president and his counselors, and missionaries with their branch presidencies meet together to talk about missionary things. Afterward each missionary brought one of the leaders from the meeting to a teaching appointment. We ended up bringing the branch mission leader to a lesson with Jordache. It went super well. Jordache just got a job and school is starting so we thought we'd teach about keeping the sabbath day holy. On Sunday Jordache was saying that he told his boss that he can't work on Sundays. yay!

We did a lot of searching this week in regards to people on the branch list that we don't know. We ended up getting lost a couple of times. Did I tell you about how much I like cows? For some reason (texas is wearing off on me) I just love cows. I think they're adorable. 

Life is good. I can't think of anything to email about! I'm doing good but those weird red bumps around my knees are coming back....I just say whatever. I imagine it'll go away when its not so hot. 

I attached a picture of a texas shaped chip because they make those here. 

We were listening to Elder Bednar's conference talk in gospel principles class yesterday and I really like this part:

"The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah. I testify and promise the Savior will help us to bear up our burdens with ease. As we are yoked with Him through sacred covenants and receive the enabling power of His Atonement in our lives, we increasingly will seek to understand and live according to His will. We also will pray for the strength to learn from, change, or accept our circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to change our circumstances according to our will. We will become agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon. We will be blessed with spiritual traction."

I think those are good words to live by....someone made a comment that our efforts may seem small but as long as its our best effort, Jesus Christ will make up the difference.

Sorry, more things will happen this week. Be excited for next week's letter :)

I love you!

-Sister Davis

Subject: Re: I think these are the dog days of summer

Hola (spanish for howdy)

It has been a good week. We've been trying to find some new investigators and let me tell ya', the people we walk by or see when we're going into an appointment are people Heavenly Father has placed in our path. I have seen this very clearly throughout my mission thus far. A couple days ago we had parked and were about to go into a house to help some people move. We noticed a lady across the street sitting on the steps to her apartment and so we decided that we'd go talk to her. Her name is Tanaysha, she's probably in her 20's and has a really adorable 1 yr son. We talked to her for just a little bit about our purpose and asked if we could come back and talk to her more about the church. She said that we could come back. On Sunday we went back with a member and taught her the Restoration. The lesson went really well and she accepted a soft baptism invitation. The cool part, however, was after the lesson Tanaysha's sister (she had come in at the end of the lesson) followed us out and talked to us a little bit on their porch. She mentioned how Tanaysha is actually on medical release for anxiety/schizophrenia that was triggered from a recent tramautic experience and that she had a hard time being focused/calm for very long. During the lesson she was totally attentive and had a lot of questions, you really never would have guessed that she had any health issues. The experience reminded me a lot of the scripture Alma 31:5 "And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them"

We also tracted into a former investigator (a lot of the teaching records in our area book don't have addresses) which was pretty cool because she was super willing to have us come back. We called one of the sisters that had taught her and apparantly the only thing that kept them from teaching more was that she left on vacation. So now that she's back we look forward to continue teaching.

I can't remember if I said this already but Priscilla is moving into her own apartment this week and it just so happens to be in the same complex that we're in! We will be neighbors, yay! We did some family history with her this last week and it was really fun. We found some really cool records on her great-grandparents. She is really excited about going to the temple.

Jordache is basically a member. He told the sunday school teacher that he wouldn't mind teaching the class if he ever needed a sub. He also came to church in a white shirt and tie, not because anyone told him to but because he wanted to.

One of our investigators got into a lot of anti-mormon stuff this past week and basically doesn't want anything to do with us now. For little bit we tried to answer questions but it got to the point where we just had to bear testimony and leave it alone. This is sad but whenever stuff like this happens I feel the roots of my testimony grow a little deeper. In hard circumstances we can pray for Heavenly Father's comfort, and we should, but if we prepare ourselves each day/qualify for the spirit, it seems like He is able to send comfort immediately. I'm not sure if that quite portrays my thoughts. I like this scripture: John 14:18-19 'I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.'

I feel like I learn something new every single day. Its like I'm getting 20 years of wisdom/learning condensed into 18 months. Its awesome! 

Well, I love you! Happy Birthday to Christian!

-Sister Davis

On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 9:02 AM, Marianne Davis <maridavis.71@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Sweetie,

I believe dad and Harrison both wrote you kind of long emails so I will keep this one short.  I know your time is limited and valuable :)

I got a call from you friend Amanda this week.  She was talking so fast I missed some of what she said but mostly she is getting ready for her wedding next year.  She found some shoes on line that are perfect and only $15 so she needed to know your size.  I said 8 1/2  Hope thats accurate.  She is quite excited about this wedding. And thought you were coming home to help her sooner that you are.  I don't know what help she is expecting, and how much help can she need since she's been planning this thing for 2 years already.  I kind of wanted to say step back and get some perspective  young lady!  I'ts good she's excited of course but everything in moderation -right.  I am so glad that your energies are being spent differently right now.  I'm not  sure if she is in Reno or not.  I didn't think to ask that.

Christian turns 17 this week.  Did that just blow your mind?  He does act like a teen age boy most of the time.  We are going to see Brian Regan (comedian) for his birthday.  I'm excited for that!

We are finally finishing the laundry room.  We kind of have to because the old washer broke and leaked lots of water all over.  So we are getting a floor in there -finally- and putting the machine in the correct place. and We bought a new washer and dryer..  It's ok because our old ones are just barely younger than you.  It was our first real purchase in Reno.

I sent you some vitamins.  Let me know when you need more.  I think , don't be too concerned about someone telling you your markers are off (or whatever is was) just try to be healthy.  I believe in taking a daily vit. but not everyone agrees with that and think it's mostly wasted.  I say 'what can it hurt"

Harrison says he gave you some good advice about dealing with companions.  I hope it really is good.  When I was a missionary I had many, many difficult comps.  And it was by far the hardest part of being a missionary.  I think with the current guidelines most of them would not have been called.  They just weren't healthy enough-physically and /or mentally.  My only advice is this.  You can't make a person be or do anything.  All you can do is influence, hopefully for good. The only effective way to influence someone is through love and concern.  I know that is true in regular life and probably on mission life too.  My concern is not really for your companion (hypothetical) but for you and how your holding up.  So many missionaries I know of are coming home early with anxiety and depression.  Please realize that your efforts are appreciated and enough.  God knows your heart and loves you for your willingness to serve so fully.  He also loves your comp.s and understands their heart too.  So do the best you can, be obedient and prayerful.  If it really is bad, not just a little frustrating, talk to your leaders.  That's what they are there for. And don't be too hard on yourself.  You are incredible and enough is enough.! (Mosiah 4:27)

I love you, try to stay cool

Mom

Howdy,

I can't believe Christian is a junior, that is super crazy.

Thanks for that quote! That is my favorite talk from conference, actually, probably my favorite talk since I've been on my mission. I've read it several times and still like it.

It has been a good week. A little difficult at times but still good. We had to go a million different places, which means, we had to do a lot of driving. The car is like a black hole, too much time in the car means less time working. I just feel like there are people around us that we aren't reaching when we are in the car too much. Joseph Smith says “It is not needful for … mine elders to be moving swiftly … whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief”  I say amen to that!

On tuesday we went to MLC (mission leadership council) and it was SO good! Its all the sister training leaders and zone leaders in the mission and President Mortensen, Sister Mortensen, and the APs teach us different things. This time we learned how to be "Master Teachers" and how to use the socratic method (asking questions because the truth resides in the learner). I really enjoyed it because I think a lot of time I get so excited to teach but I really need to just ask some inspired questions and have the investigator figure it out on there own. We've been trying to apply it in our own lessons and the spirit is so much stronger! Its amazing to see the spirit really working in the person, bringing light to the doctrine being taught and then having the "learner" testify of the things they are understanding.

We also have a new mission statement "Our disicipleship is settled. We will be faithfully prepared, exactly obedient, and lovingly bold. We will see miracles and accomplish our missionary purpose as we unite with the Lord to hasten His work. We are the Texas Houston Mission." At first I wasn't really sure what to think about it but now I really like it.

On friday the zone leader, the other sister training leader and I taught the material we got from MLC to the rest of the zone. That was up in College Station. It was a pretty good zone meeting.

After all that we had to go down to a dentist Bellville b/c sister Carling had some teeth needing to be done.

  

Yesterday Priscilla got called to be the Beehive advisor, she excited about it but she's really nervous. It'll be a great calling for her.

We moved Jordache's baptismal date up a month so now he's planning a getting baptized on Sept 27th. The branch has really welcomed him in, he goes to church, mutual, sports night (we have a sports night for lessactives and nonmembers). He is really liking the branch family. Hopefully he'll go to seminary too.

We had a neat experience the other day. We were tracting one night and we stopped because we felt like were needed elsewhere. We decided to go by a potential investigator from about a month ago. The people we were looking for were not home but the mother, Gloria, answered the door. She lives in Belize but has been in Texas visiting her grandchildren. We talked to her for a little while and she said that the missionaries in Belize had given her a Book of Mormon about a week before she left for Texas. We shared a scripture and bore our testimony. She wants us to come back before she goes back to Belize! Heavenly Father leads us to the people who need us when we are willing to listen.

I love you!

-Sister Davis

Howdee,

Sister Murphy is kicking the Brenham bucket (she is getting transferred). This was the fastest transfer of my mission, I just can't believe that 6 weeks have gone by already. She was really excited when I told her you served in Kent. She lives by the green river in the valley/downtown part of Kent near the golf course and apartment complexes, I guess its pretty close to Kent-Kangley Rd.

Our branch and two neighboring branches had a bbq for pioneer day. It was a good time but nothing too crazy. Everybody is really simple in the country but they do make some pretty good bbq.

I checked out the pioneer heritage on familysearch. It is super cool. It has been pretty fun doing the familyhistory class, you can really feel the spirit of Elijah.

We had interviews with our mission president a couple weeks ago. He keeps hinting at a bunch of changes that he's going to implement but he hasn't told us quite yet what those changes will be. I think he's been really busy with interviews and all the craziness of being a mission president. A LDS family in Spring, Tx was murdered a couple weeks ago and a lot of missionaries have worked with the family so he's been dealing with that as well. This new transfer should be interesting. I would definitely say he hit the ground running. Its seems like he has been a mission president his whole life.

Those were some nice pictures of Christian, he looks really happy about life. I hope he feels better soon.

Its been a slower week but a good week. We got to go to the temple on thursday and I took a name I found on Familysearch, Lucy Catherine Winfree. I have no idea/can't remember how we're related, probably 32nd cousins.

Priscilla and Jordache are our main investigators. Priscilla is getting baptized this saturday. She is just beaming with joy. I'm a little stressed now that Sister Murphy is leaving but it'll be okay. Its all planned out and ready to go. I'm really excited. I wish you could meet her because she is really cool. She's made a lot of changes the past couple of weeks but there is no denying the increase of light that has entered her life because of it. She was saying the other day that she just feels so happy and she wants everyone to "hop on this train because its awesome!"

I feel like Jordache could be a member already. He's made friends with the two priests in our ward and that has made a big difference in his conversion process. He's a pretty typical high school senior but he seems to be more with it than the rest of the world.

We've been having some success with the less-active members in our branch. We've been visiting a lady named Alma and she's come to church twice now. I think its been a couple of years since she's attended church. She's really sweet and has been very receptive to us when we visit. She always expresses how she feels like she's not just learning but understanding the gospel.

I hope ya'll have a good week.

I love you!

-Sister Davis

Howdy familia,

I'm thinking it would be a good idea to have zebra companionships (one english, one spanish) in this area because there are a lot of spanish speaking people. The closest spanish missionaries are 45 min away so that's a little hard.

Anyway, it has been such a busy week! So we have the goal of 25 contacts a day which we've been really trying to get. Here's the problem, we have found people to teach so.... we have been too busy teaching them that we don't have time to find all 25 contacts. I know....kind of a ridiculous problem. I'll figure it out.

Priscilla is still scheduled to get baptized on August 2nd and she's really excited. Let me tell you about how tough she is...at work (she's a welder, its pretty cool) her trainer is always trying to give her coffee and every one takes smoking breaks but she avoids it all. She said that sometimes her trainer will set down a cup of coffee next to her and she'll just wait till she walks away and then throw it away. She has two sons (10 and 11 yrs old) that she wants to bring to church but her ex-husband is not the most kind so he doesn't allow them to come. To compensate she just teaches her sons everything we teach her.

We met a teenager, his name is Jordache, tracting last week and he is really soaking up the gospel. He lives with his dad but it seems like his dad is never home. He is 18 so we don't technically need parental permission but it would still be good since he still lives with his dad. He is from Jamaica but he tries not to speak with an accent. Last time we had a lesson we taught the plan of salvation and set a baptismal date for oct. 25! Even cooler than that is when he came to church yesterday we found out that one of the youth, Anthony, in the branch is on his soccer team at school. That was really nice because its always good when they can have a friend. After church we told Anthony that he has a baptismal date and he was pretty excited about that, we think he'll probably baptize Jordache. 

I did an exchange with the YSA sisters last week so I got to go to the Texas A&M campus to contact. It was pretty fun. Since its summer there aren't as many people but still enough to stay pretty busy. They can easily get 25 contacts every day but its kind of hard because everyone is rushing to class.

The branch has started a family history class on Saturday ran by Sis. Murphy and I, its a little nerve-racking because I really don't know a ton about how to maneuver familysearch. So far, the problems people have mostly stem from basic computer-usage skills - I can handle that.

There's about 85-95 active people in our branch and there's probably about 20 kids in primary. Its a fun group but everyone seems so busy and they all live far out. Its pretty functional. We have a really good ward mission leader and I think we've been gaining more trust with ward members because we've had more referrals and opportunities to do service from them.

I sure do like it out here in cowboy country...lots of cows....and dirt roads....and greenery.

Also, thanks for the package! It was a pleasant surprise.

I love you! I hope you have a super nice week.

Sister Davis

Howdy family,

Life is good in Brenham. We have been so busy. I love the people here... they sure are an interesting bunch.

Last tuesday we had personal interviews with the president and specialized training. President Mortensen is super gung-ho about everything. He has some exciting plans for the mission, he hasn't really told us what they are yet. However! We will be getting ipads soon. I think we have to pay for them? Or maybe if we don't want to take it home we can just sort of rent it? I'm not totally sure about that. Anyway, it seems like he's been a mission president his whole life. I'm not really sure how his family is doing but I'm sure their all doing great.

One of the Texas Houston mission goals is to invite 25 people a day to hear about the gospel. Pres. Mortensen really emphasized that in the interviews and training. After interviews Sister Murphy and I had the day planned out and it didn't include tracting/contacting but we decided that we really needed to meet the goal of 25. President Pingree always said that if we talk to 25 people each day, we will find people to teach. We were able to talk to 26 people in the span of two hours (that by itself is a miracle for Brenham)! Better than that was we found 5 new investigators! I really believe in the "25".

I'm trying to fulfill my duties as sister training leader by going on exchanges but it has been surprisingly difficult to plan. I did go on one exchange with the College Station sisters but the transfer is almost over so I'm getting a little anxious.

I gave a talk in church yesterday. It was about covenants and ordinances. I thought it was pretty good. The first or second counselor asked me if I could talk about how the come follow me curriculum helped me prepare for my mission. I told him "I'm old and I don't know what you're talking about.". Just kidding, I didn't say quite those words but ....I am kind of old.

Thanks for the pep talk. Its just what I needed to hear!

I love you!

Sister Davis

Sorry this was short...we really are busy all the time, I promise.

Howdy,

The fourth of july was pretty low-key, probably because we're missionaries. They didn't have anything in Brenham but there were parades and fireworks in the neighboring little towns. A part member family had us over and we helped them cook dinner, that was fun. We actually got to meet the Mortensens (the new presidents family). They seem super great. They have 6 kids and one of them is on a mission, the youngest is 5. I think this change will be really good for the mission. President Mortensen seems very nice but I think he is going to be pretty strict. We had a conference on friday and the whole family introduced themselves. Sister Mortensen was describing President and she said that when he used to coach he would take the losing teams and make them winning teams. So I'm bracing myself for some big changes.

I've actually been thinking for awhile that I just wish missionaries would be more obedient. Its true that obedience is the key to missionary work, it effects everything! One missionary's obedience not only effects their work but the effect carries over to the rest of the district, the ward, and probably the mission in whole. I just wish missionaries would understand the gravity of the work that they are taking part in. Yeah, I've really been thinking a lot about this and how I can help. I think I mostly just need to love everybody/be encouraging. I think a lot of missionaries become disobedient when they become discouraged and think there isn't work to do. I just thought I'd release those feelings. I really am going to miss the Pingrees but I think the change will be good for everyone.

The rest of the week has been pretty good. Its getting pretty hot out but everyone keeps saying that August and September are the worst. So far, its been pretty tolerable. I think Heavenly Father gives missionaries greater tolerance towards extreme weather.

We do a ton of service which I really like; its been a good way to find new investigators. We volunteer at two old folks homes, a goodwill type center, and a rehabilitation center. Its been fun.

We taught Priscilla the word of wisdom last week. I'm always a little worried about what will be the response to the word of wisdom but its seems like teaching it has actually been a good way to find out if people are really prepared to change. Priscilla was very accepting and even said that she stopped drinking alcohol after we taught her for the first time a couple weeks ago. Its cool to see how investigators are naturally inclined to live the word of wisdom when they decide to live righteously. Priscilla does drink a lot of coffee but when she came to church she showed me her orange juice and said "Look, I'm doing better!". She's really great.

I love you!

I hope you have a wonderful week.

-Sister Davis

Howdy!

 

I love it out here! I just want to say yee-haw all the time. I wish we could wear cowboy boots, that would be fun. I might ask President Mortensen if I can wear them. There's about 100 active members in the branch but there are quite a few less active members.

 

This last week we visited some of the little towns that are included in our area. The idea was that we could walk around and talk to people unfortunately these towns are really small and there wasn't a whole lot of people out and about. We did have one pretty cool experience. When were in a tiny town named Chappell Hill, we walked by a museum and had the impression to go in. There was only one person in the whole building, her name was Christine and she actually worked there. We started talking to her, she's pretty familiar with the church and is super smart. She probably has 4 master degrees in History. Anyway, we got on the subject of family history and she became really interested so now we're going to teach her how to do family history (and probably teach a few other things too)! It was cool because we had the random impression to go in the musuem and by doing so, we found a new investigator. Heavenly Father really knows His children, even the ones that live in tiny little texas towns.

 

I can't remember if I told you about our investigator Priscilla. She is super sweet. She has a baptism date for Aug 2nd and she is just so excited. She has had a pretty rough life and talks a lot about how she is happier now than she has ever been. Its real neat.

 

So the "send off" for the Pingrees was all the missionaries doing an endowment session in the temple with them. The picture on the blog is two zones combined. It was so great because after the session we went into one of the rooms in the temple and got to ask the temple president any question we had about the endowment session. It was really really cool. Definitely felt like a little piece of heaven.

 

There was a Whipple family in Bryan. Is the new missionary related? Spring is in my mission. Maybe that will be my last area. I imagine I'll probably have one more after Brenham. Oh that reminds me, did you know that my half way mark was last week? I don't like thinking about it, it makes me sad.

 

And by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!!!! You've had a birthday shout HOORAY. I like to email you today! One year older and wiser too. Haaaaaappppy Birthday to you!

 

I hope you have a nice day tomorrow!

 

I'm going fishing today with a family from the branch. Don't worry we are only fishing from the shore. We are not allowed to go in a boat.

 

I love y'all!

-Sister Davis

Howdy,

I have been transferred back out to the boonies (I can't believe it). I am in Brenham, TX and it is truly country. I thought all the true Texans lived in Bryan but I was definitely wrong. They all live here. I'm actually serving in a branch, that is how small/spread out it is.  Everyone at church wears a huge belt buckles and they're fancy pair of cowboy boots. Behind the church building they have a pasture for people who rode their horse to church. I'm just kidding, they all drove cars to church but if someone did ride their horse I would not be surprised. Its great, I like it so far. Every missionary that has served here says it is their favorite area. Definitely a lot different than the suburbia land of Brigdeland.

Here are some interesting facts about Brenham: the home famous Blue Bell ice cream factory, Brianna salad dressing is also made here (I think you used to have some in the fridge) and Texas' declaration of independence from Mexico was signed here. Pretty cool!

Also, I got called to be the sister training leader for the zone. I'm not really sure what that all entails besides going on an exchange with each sister companionship in the zone. I think I also help out with the zone meetings. It'll be fun.

My new companion is Sister Murphy and she is from Kent, Washington. She is really nice and is excited to get work done. From the sound of it, this has been a difficult area for missionaries. The ward doesn't fully trust us due to past experiences. That will all change soon! The ward is really friendly and everybody has a southern drawl, so that's fun.

It has been an interesting week, it seems like this last transfer was a big change for the district. The missionaries that came in are all pretty steadfast and the ones that have been here are ready to get to work. So in this last week alone there have been a lot of great miracles. We set a baptismal date with a lady named Priscilla who for a while had not been keeping commitments but now is really ready to change. We also found a couple new investigators. Out here we do a lot of service but it has proven to be a really good way to find people to teach. My testimony of obedience grows with each transfer. Sister Heaps was the most obedient missionary in the world and we had a lot of success in Bridgeland. I'm excited to be able to carry that pattern of obedience over to Brenham.

I'm thinking I'll probably be here for awhile because I'm the sister training leader.

I love you! I hope you are enjoying your summa!

-Sister Davis

My new address is;

1120 Green St. apt #3

Brenham TX, 77833

May 28

Howdy!

I'm pretty short on time today! Sorry if this email is shorter that the usual.

It has been a great week. There must of been something in the air because a lot of our investigator have decided that they should actually read the Book of Mormon. It has had a positive effect on their progression. yay!

Today we went to the temple. Love that place.

It has been raining cats and dogs and armadillos and alligators. Literally! (of course, not literally. I know you don't like it when people use the word literally wrong.) It has been raining a lot. I'm not sure how to drive in the rain when it gets as bad as it has been. I actually think the way to drive in crazy rain is to not drive in it. 

So highlight of the week: We got a dream referral. I mean, every missionary wants this kind of referral. Her name is Brandi Noah and she is so great. She is engaged to a recent convert (so she referred herself) and she is really excited to learn more. She even said that her fiance is working on getting the higher priesthood so he can baptize her and then get sealed in the temple. She actually said that! She has four kids and she seemed very open to having them learn as well. She is super nice and cute.

The craziest thing happened last night. First, Sister Heaps is still waiting for her visa to Brazil so she is still practicing Portuguese everyday. Last night our appointments fell through so we decided to tract (the rain had stopped luckily) and we tracted into the kindest Portuguese-speaking grandma I've ever met. Her grandson translated the whole restoration for us but Sister Heaps said the first vision in portuguese. It was pretty cool. At the end, we asked the grandson if he would also be interested in learning more and he certainly was! The grandma is going back to Africa (I didn't know parts of Africa were portuguese speaking) next week but its cool because I'm not sure if we would have gotten in the door had she not been there.

Have a good week. I love you!

Sister Davis

It has been a great week. There are a lot of good things happening here in the Bridgeland ward. 

I can't remember if I told you about Jackie Yarngo or not....she is a less-active member that we tracted into. She is super nice and she is from Libya. She took the lessons in France and then got baptized when she moved to Minnesota. Her testimony is still super strong. We've actually started to teach her 10 yr old daughter, Ikelynn, and we're planning on meeting her husband tonight. He's not a member so we're hoping we can start teaching him too. Her daughter is super cute. Last time we were over she said that she would like to be baptized so we're just waiting on her dad's approval.

We had some interesting lessons with Phyllis this week. On wednesday we taught some of the commandments but it turned out that she had read some anti-mormon things. It was actually pretty cool because she thought it was really disrespectful and said she'll never be looking at that stuff again...only mormon.org and lds.org. A lot of people shun away pretty quickly once they've been exposed to anti-mormon stuff but because Phyllis has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying she had that spiritual booster to recognize it as bad news. We helped her download the gospel library app on her ipad and she loves that. Every time we go over she tells us how much she loves that app.

She wasn't able to make it to church because she got pretty sick with a sinus infection. Well, we told her about priesthood blessings and she said she would like one. Last night we read 3 Nephi 17 and then Brother Brown and Brother Allen came over and gave her a blessing. It was so great. It was Brother Allen's first time giving the anointing. The really cool part was right after the blessing, Phyllis expressed that the pressure in her head was gone and she was just so happy. I don't know if I've ever seen someone so cheerful. The blessing was just a simple blessing but the effect was truly great. It was really awesome to see someone who has never had the priesthood in her life be able to witness the power of the priesthood and see how it can bless her life.

We taught seminary on Tuesday. It starts at 6:00 am here, that part was unfortunate but overall it was pretty fun. I couldn't believe that some of the kids were falling asleep but then I thought back to my seminary days and I'm not sure how awake I was everyday.... I guess 6 am is pretty early. The ward likes us to do different stuff like that. Last Sunday we taught a little bit of priesthood, I felt a little bit out of place during that class. Next Sunday we are teaching Young Womens. 

I like being a missionary. Sharing the gospel rocks.

I love you! Have a wooonderful week! I hope those fires get put out. I'll do a rain dance, actually I don't think missionaries are allowed to dance....Christian can do it instead.

-Sister Davis

May 5

Howdy,

Nothing too crazy happened this week. I know I've said this before but the mission has really taught me to be patient. Sometimes things don't work out the way you may have envisioned. I kind of feel like my area is a little plant that I'm trying to grow and I'm impatient because its a strawberry plant that grow triple as many strawberries than a normal strawberry plant. This scripture explains what I'm saying:

Alma 32: 41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life.

I guess its a little different in context but it works. Sometimes I feel like the work is slowing down but I'm not into that so we just keep being diligent and patient.

This is what Preach My Gospel say about patience:

Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully. Patience is related to hope and faith—you must wait for the Lord’s promised blessings to be fulfilled.

I like that.

Phyllis is our top investigator. She's looking forward to getting baptized but she has a hard time coming to church because of her arthritis. That is the only road block. Besides that, she could probably get baptized tomorrow.

I did get to go on an exchange with Sister Gregson last week! That was fun. It was just like the old days in Bryan.

This is the first day of a new transfer. Sister Heaps and I are still companions and we're still in Bridgeland. Our district leader thought he was pretty funny and tried tell us that I was getting transferred. It was a cruel joke. 

We had two pretty cool finding experiences. We tracted into two (seperate from each other) part-member/less-active families. Both of them said we could come back to share messages. Its cool because I've been praying to be able to teach a family. I think this may be my opportunity.

Well I'll talk to you soon. I love you. Have a safe trip back to Reno.

-Sister Davis

Apr 28

Howdee,

I'm not really sure what the mothers day plan is...church ends at 12 here so that is 10 (I think...) for you but we'll probably not chat until later...hmm I'm really not sure. It seems pretty flexible. I'll let you know next week.

We have had a good week! It was also stake conference here and it was also centered on missionary work. It was pretty great. Our mission president spoke about sharing the gospel one by one just like when Christ was in America and let the people come to him one by one. It was way good and true. When missionaries teach, we teach a lesson tailored specifically for each person's needs. He also said that the atonement isn't for everyone collectively but it is for each and every person individually. I liked that.

Have I told you about Phyllis? She's the best! Her name was in our phone and there was a note attached with her address and it also said 'Phyllis is a former investigator that loves the Book of Mormon'. So we've been teaching her again, I guess its been about 2 years since she knew the elders. She is soaking up the gospel and she really does love the Book of Mormon. She has some arthritis problems so its been hard for her to come to church. I feel like she is already a member and could have a calling. She is looking forward to being baptized.

We've started teaching our old investigator, Jonny, again - his wife is a member. Whenever we teach them, they seem way tired because their 8 month old baby keeps them up all night. Its cool because despite their crazy life of work and family they have made the decision to make time to learn about the gospel.

Transfer calls are next Sunday but I think (praying) I'm staying here. 

I feel like I've been learning a lot lately of the importance of each person's relationship with the Savior. Being on a mission is not so much about baptizing but about bringing people closer to Christ - baptism is an event along that path of coming to know the Savior. President Pingree has also given everyone the challenge to read the Book of Mormon before he leaves with the question "How can I use the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement?" on our minds. Its helped me see/think more about how I can actually apply what I read from the scriptures into my daily life.

I always feel like I skipping something important in these emails....

Here's a good quote from President Monson's talk:

 "Love is the very essence of the gospel, and Jesus Christ is our Exemplar. His life was a legacy of love. The sick He healed; the downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved. At the end the angry mob took His life. And yet there rings from Golgotha’s hill the words: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”⁴—a crowning expression in mortality of compassion and love."

I LOVE you! I hope you have a great week.

-Sister Davis

Sorry about not updating for the past few weeks.

Hi

Apr 6

me

When I was a missionary we used this as a case study to help members be missionaries. Hannah, Sister

Howdy,

Its been a pretty great week. We started teaching this man named Myles, we tracted into him and then taught the Restoration a couple days later with our ward missionaries. He's a really tall high school football coach. He seemed really open to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. He goes to a baptist church every Sunday so it'll be a change for him.

So the highlight of the week involves Susana. We had been trying to meet with her last week because we really wanted her to watch the Women's Conference but she had a lot of stuff going on with school and family. Friday night rolls around and we still hadn't been able to see her but we were determined to get her the conference. Well around 4 on saturday afternoon (still haven't talked to Susana) we drove by her house and she was sitting in her car outside her house! We turned around and had a good chat with her, she was feeling pretty stressed out from school and had a lot of homework to catch up on. So at this point I'm thinking that she'll probably be too busy to come the the conference. Nevertheless, we talked about the prophet, mentioned he was going to speak, told her that going to the conference would help her feel less stressed and that some of her questions about the gospel will be answered. She responded "Okay, I want to go". It was one of those moments as a missionary where you just want to jump around and say wahoo! but you don't because that might freak the investigator out.        Anyway we ended up going to the ward missionary's house and invited one of Susana's fellowshippers to come with us. It was amazing how well everything worked out for being an hour before conference started. Conference was sooo good. I'm not sure how much Susana understood but the spirit was present and that was more than enough. Sister Heaps and I gave each other the "well this is awkward" look when the prophet did not end up speaking. I don't think Susana minded. It was just so awesome to see how joyful Susana was after listening to conference. It really was a night&day change from when we had saw her earlier that day. She even took notes during the meeting! When we were talking with the Browns and Sister Corea (the members that were there) she said that she felt confused because she feels like she would be betraying her catholic background by joining the church. Sister Brown is a convert so she had some good comments about that. I really think Susana wants to join the church but it is just a matter of her reading/praying about the Book of Mormon and understanding the blessings that come from the gospel. 

I'm glad that Harrison took those names to the temple. That is wonderful. There seems to be more work for males than there is for females. What's that about? 

That is fun that you're on spring break. Not so fun that Dad has to work and Christian has Bronchitis. 

I got the skirt that sent, thank you!!! I like it! Blue, gray, green are good colors for tops (in that order :) haha) possibly pink or yellow. If you can't find anything one layer that's okay, its mostly because my downeast tees are running out of life.  Also (sorry to ask for so much stuff) I'm almost finished with my journal. Can you send you of those?

Enjoy your spring break! I love you!

-Sister Davis

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Mar 25

Marianne Davis

Hey Harrison, I can't remember if I told you this. The blog for Hannah doesn't have the zip