Monday, August 19, 2013

Week 8

HELLO!!! This week has gone much better than last week =) there were still difficult days but it wasn't everyday so... yeah. =) On Monday we had our first family home evening with the young single adults ward and it was really fun! slash really weird being with people my age. And especially weird because we had an activity where we went to like… a road house?? Ok no.. I don’t know what you call it.. it’s where people play music and you listen and eat.. it was really fun! We had someone in the ward performing so we all went and supported him! Oh but before we left sister Mickelson and I had the opening thought/lesson thing. Anyway we played the cup game and other fun games like that and talked and it got too late for us missionaries before it was the guy in the singles ward to sing so he just did a little performance for us and it was AWESOME!! He’s going to be famous someday and I’m going to buy his CDs! I haven’t heard love songs for like 2 months so it was really strange listening to his lyrics! Ha ha!

Me and Sister Mickelson
 
Ha ha Sister Mickelson and I had a scary/startling experience… We were going around meeting the members and the ward council gave us a list of less-actives and recent converts to visit so we decided to go visit this family with a less active mom and a recent convert son (13) and a non-member father (marine). Sooo we go over there and park in their big dirt parking lot area and we go knock on the door.. No one answered but we heard someone talking on the phone. We knocked again and no answered so we went back to our car and tried to figure out who we are going to go see next and we made some phone calls and we hear this pounding on the hood of our Jeep (yes we have a jeep) and we look up I’m sure with deer in the head lights eyes and it’s an ex-marine and he comes over to my window and I roll it down and say HI!! =) and he is says “ you know you are trespassing don’t you!!” and we are like……. Oh..no… sorry… =/ and he talks about how his 13 year old son is freaked out inside and almost called 911 because we are so scary……….. and he was being all hard and like trying to freak us out or something but by the end he settled down a little big and shook my hand. Ha ha it was a strange experience so now we are all paranoid to park anywhere (there were no trespass signs ANYWHERE at his house). 

This is Yucca Valley, my new area. DESSERT

The members here are AWESOME. I told you about sister Hobbs in my last email the one from Uruguay. She came with us to visit a recent convert this week and she was sooo great. She is such an amazing example of charity. She is ALWAYS looking for a way to serve others. That is seriously ALL she does is serves people all day. She cooks food and takes it around to people all day, she gives rides… she comes out with us to appointments and she is such a wonderful comforter. She always bares strong testimony and always relates to people. I want to be like her someday! 

This is a Joshua tree

We had a restoration lesson this week and we had a member couple come with us it was pretty funny trying to get to the appointment because it is located in the middle of NO WHERE so we were extremely late but he didn’t care so that was good… the restoration lesson is my FAVORITE!!! It just makes sooo much sense to me =) I felt my heart POUNDING though my shirt when I was reciting the first vision it was CRAZY!!! I know that Joseph Smith restored the Gospel that Jesus Christ established during his earthly ministry. And I am SOO grateful for his strength and everything he did and went through for us to have the gospel in this dispensation. Jacob understood everything, we asked him to pray about it and ask God if it is true. He’s been reading the Book of Mormon and has been coming to church and feels like God is directing him in a good path. We will definitely get a baptism date for him tomorrow =) having Brother and Sister Mecham there  was soo perfect! There are two types of conversion… social conversion and spiritual conversion! It’s your responsibility as members to take care of the social conversion and it’s us as missionaries to take care of the spiritual conversion. So get out there are go out with the missionaries, don’t wait for them to ask you =) I promise you can experience the happiness and joy that comes from being a missionary too =) 

This rancid picture is the result of me cleaning the drain in my bathtub. GROSS!

Ha ha so yesterday we spoke in church with two amazing recent converts. Nora was baptized in April and she is on FIRE! She actually got engaged a few days ago and is planning on getting married in the temple next April! We have met with her several times and have had dinner with her and her testimony is so strong! She gives us hope. Her talk was sooo professional! She sounds like she is already relief society president or something! I was sooooo nervous to speak for some reason!! It was sooo weird. Probably because I only had like and hour to prepare for the talk so I didn’t feel prepared at all.. I was shaking and I don’t even remember what I said! I also forgot to write down a scripture I meant to share so that was an awkward few minutes trying to find it, then trying to recite it ha ha. I talked about the atonement and how it’s central to our Heavenly Father's Plan for us. If there wasn’t atonement and if Jesus Christ didn’t endure through the temptations, the beatings, the humiliation, the abuse, and the bleeding through every pore we wouldn’t be able to return to our Heavenly Father. We wouldn’t be able to repent! We wouldn’t be able to ask for strength from our Heavenly Father. This life would be hopeless. Because of Jesus Christ we can be families forever. 

 This is what they call a "wash"
 
This week we met a monk from Thailand. He was really kind! He reminded me of my Weber state coach Tommy =) I am so bad at understanding people with accents… I have to say what like 40 times or I just misunderstand completely.. he was wearing an orange robe and everything! He lived very simply, with a one room house and very little inside. He has a few monk friends that live close to him and they are planning on building a temple! Crazy! There are so many people out here that have sooo little.  It makes me think about how blessed I truly am! I have already decided that I don’t even care anymore about having a nice house or nice things I just want a happy family and the gospel and I will be totally fine! 
BEAUTIFUL! But... I don't know how people live here!

Yesterday we were teaching a member family. Half are from Africa and the other half are from the south or something but the teenage boys were soooo annoyed with us being there and talking to them! Ha ha it was sooo mmm… I don't know... one of the boys kept making faces like… rude faces when we were talking and I said y’all once and he totally chastised me! Ha ha he was soo rude and everything we were saying he was being a smart aleck, every comment! We have realized that asking families for referrals does NOT work so we created a family mission plan and that is what we are planning on inviting ever family we see this week to do. It is a plan to strengthen relationships in the family and friends so that you will eventually be able to share the gospel with them. The first step and first thing we invite them to do is pray and fast to know who they should focus on, then the second step is to write down the names, then the 3rd step is to write down goals on how you will do whatever. We have ideas on the back for them to look at how they can introduce the gospel or befriend people and get them interested or whatever and every family that we have invited to do this has been way excited! Except those two teenage boys…… but oh well.. everyone has their agency to choose =) 

 One of our investigator's closest neighbor is 3 miles away... We get lost a lot and go off roading a lot. Ha ha!
 
Well… I don’t know what else to tell you about. I love you and hope everyone is doing well =) endure to the end! Key word… everything ends! Rest will come. If you endure to the end you will be exalted on high!
AH CHELSEA GETS MARRIED TOMORROW!!! Take pictures so I can look at them and cry my eyes out!





Be courageous! Have faith.
Our Heavenly Father has a plan for you.
Ester 4:14

Love,
Sister Davis

Let the Savior Lead you to….

………happily ever after 


p.s. one of my favorite Mormon messages:
 
AH! I love love =) We watched this with Nora this week... I know that one can only experience eternal happiness through a celestial marriage. I see so many part member families and it breaks my heart that they aren't sealed together... they don't even know that families can be together forever... but! That's why I am out here. To help families achieve eternal happiness.

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