December 2, 2013

Dear Family,

 

Holy crap its already december time is really flying by i cant believe it! Its so much fun to be a missionary and to be serving the lord at this time when the work is moving ever forward in fifth gear! SO this week logan is getting baptized on friday at 4 pm im so excited for her and that she is making this covenant with Heavenly Father! In other news i love giving trainings to my district of missionaries they are the best missionaries in the whole world and that the lord blesses us the most when we have no more to give we have done all we can then the lord takes over and it happens when we carry the spirit of the lord with us!

 

Thanksgiving was amazing this year we spent it with three part-member families and taught them as we were eating they were so amazing they are ready to make the final steps to be a eternal family they are just scared of the commitment factor and that they feel comfortable where they are they don't want to turn their backs on there family. But i know that as we work diligently to teach the lords children everything will work how he wants it to and i know that it is in the best interests of the investigators to live with him again some day SOON! I waited to open that package until on the first you know how much self constrain that took haha lots! Thank you so much for the tree and the cowboy santas haha it makes us feel like we are at home even though we are so far away its just two christmas so not so bad you will see me soon enough!

 

I love ya'll stay smiling!

 

Love

 

Elder Davies

November 18, 2013

Well, an amazing week here in Sedalia!  We have had one of the most amazing and fun weeks of my whole mission.  My new companions name is Elder Bateman and he is from Anacordis,  Washington and he is an amazing missionary.  He has been out for 12 weeks and loves to work hard just like me.  This week we set 7 investigators with a solid baptismal dates, three of them are brothers, and we had 10 investigators at church.  We were so blessed this week of having miracles happening because of our obedience to the mission rules and the commandments of God. So it has been great teaching all of our investigators in the trailer park.  They are all progressing and they are accepting the gospel in there lives. Being district leader is amazing!  I love being able to strengthen the other elders with my own testimony and progress the work forward.

That is amazing to hear about you calling the mission office and talking to sister Hipwell.  She is a great sister and I love her and well I guess she knows a great missionary when she sees one, haha. I love being able to teach all of these amazing people out here even though sometimes they just don’t understand and we both get frustrated.  We still love being able to talk about the restored Gospel Of Jesus Christ.

Man, Hunter, I thought he would put up a fight.  I got into a tussle with a guy out here trying to steal my wallet, I punched him and he ran away. Sonnett is doing well?  That is great to hear!  I am so glad that my little man Miles says the important words of “Moo and Neigh,Neigh” now all he needs to say is “I love Uncle Jon”  :0)

I love you and pray for ya'll!

Elder Davies

District Leader

Dear Family,

 

 

So this week has been one of miracles! To start out the members have been stepping up and we have had team-ups for almost all of our teaching appointments .This week when we were visiting one of our investigators in a trailer park she wasn't home, then we were walking back to the car and a man ran over to us and asked us if we could help his family move a couch into their trailer. So we went over and picked it up and helped them move into there house they said you two are very hard workers what church are you from? We replied from the Church Of Jesus Christ! They asked if they could come to our church and learn more so we gave them the address of the church and our number we taught them the restoration and they enjoyed it. I know that they will have numerous blessings because they also committed to read the Book of Mormon. Five new people to teach! We are getting blessed so much from the Lord and I know its by our obedience. We are still on for Logan's baptism she is so excited and she is bringing her best friend to learn more so I'm so excited as well. New news is that i got called this morning to be a district leader! And my companion is leaving and I'm getting a new missionary! I am super excited for everything! I know that the Lord trusts me to help His children understand His gospel and that we will be able to teach them will the convincing power of the spirit.

 

I have been really blessed with everyone in my life and I can't name all of the people that have blessed me with helping me along to this point of my life. I want to say that I love you and thank ya'll for making me into the man I am today.

 

I haven't received any garments but I'm sure they are on there way. I'm excited for you mom to get some new members into the ward it should be a tremendous blessing to you and the ward. How was St. George? I bet its a lot hotter there then its here... I am freezing haha but its all good. I just hate the humidity-makes everything horrible.

 

I love Ya'll

 

Elder Davies

October 28, 2013

Dear Family,

Well its just a great day to be a missionary! Other than me being sick for the last week with random things, its been a great week of teaching all of those investigators that we do have and I'm super excited to teach them some more as the time goes by. Its super amazing to see their conversion. I can tell you if that doesn't make you cry nothing will! I was having an appointment with Logan and we taught her the plan of salvation she was all smiling then she started crying when we talked about the atonement and we explained it to her that Jesus Christ has felt all of our weakness, struggles, sins and everything. He took it upon himself to loose the bands of death, He loves us soo much that he died for US. She then told us that she has been praying and reading a bunch in the Book of Mormon and she said she got her answer that no doubt in her mind that this church is true! That Joesph Smith was a prophet and that the gospel is restored to the earth, I busted out crying. Man I haven't seen this a lot on my mission, but seeing someones conversion from the beginning is a precious thing. I love her so much and she is getting baptized December 6!

Other news haha we have been teaching another guy and he is a black preacher! Man he is a great guy and he knows his bible but we invited him to church last week he went to stake conference and it was great other than he took a scripture out of context. The scripture that says the sheep I have that are not of this fold those too will inherit the Kingdom of God. He took it as we were claiming to be that other fold haha he is crazy. He started using his loud yelling preacher voice in the appointment we were having with him and I said I'm going to leave if you don't lower your voice and show me some respect cause I'm talking all calm. Man he finally calmed down and he and us discussed it and he understands it now which is great and he is watching conference talks on lds.org while were not able to be with him!

I love you and thank you for the Halloween box it was great my companion loved it and I love being in Zion!

Love

Elder Davies

November 4, 2013

Just another happy fine day here in missou-ery!

haha :)

 

Well its a great day here in Sedalia, kinda brisk but not too bad. Still wearing my short sleeve shirts cause I'm crazy! But this week was amazing in the member involvement. We had members come with us to almost every teaching appointment that we had set and they have been fellow shipping those investigators that we have brought to them. We had a Halloween party the day before the actual day it was amazing! I had 6 investigators that attended with their families and participated in the fun. We were able to talk to them as well as have a blast with them at the party. The work is really moving forward and the adversary is working ever harder for the small simple tasks get hard to do such as getting up on time, planning for the next day, getting along with your companion, but I know that when I get out of bed Satin dreads it. He starts to get afraid because of that priesthood that I hold and the teaching with the power and authority of the holy ghost its amazing. Stay strong and just let'r buck, you just got to hold on and let the adversary try to get ya sometimes its so funny to see him try!

Well sounds like its starting to get cold and wintery there in Utah i miss it and i miss the amazing mountains but the good thing here is the trees. Its sooo beautiful! All of the colors make us happy and smile. Remember YOMO DnC 58:16 you only mission once so make it count and that's what my plan is: to bring those souls unto Jesus Christ that need my Testimony to witness unto them that this will bless there life and its for everyone, no matter what you have been through!

Love you

Elder Davies

October 21, 2013

Well Good Mornin,

 

To start out I want ya'll to know how much I thank you for all of the prayers and support from home. It helps the work move forward faster than we could ever comprehend, and I also want to thank my sister Shannon for fixin' my pants. That was a lifesaver and I will be using them at president interviews this Friday so I will look sharp. Story of the week: so my companion's dad sent me a gps out of the blue. I asked him because he works at Garmin and to see how cheap of one I could get so he just sent me one and said take my son out to lunch sometime and so it was a deal. Until one day after zone conference we got back to Sedalia and walking out of our church building to walk to dinner I saw a big grub (like on quigley down under the movie). I made a deal with my companion if I ate the grub I didn't need to take him to lunch. So we made the deal and he video taped me as I did it. MAN IT SUCKED and it didn't taste very good but it was definitely worth it haha and i would probably do it again.

 

Then yesterday we talking to one of our investigators Delorus, she is a 80 year old lady who lives by herself and loves our church and I invited her to be baptized and she said yes! The only problem is that two months ago she almost died: she had a stroke and passed out on her floor for two days before someone found her so its very hard for her to read and to walk. So I found a wheel chair we can get her to church and I got her audio recordings of the Book of Mormon. She will be baptized on the 9th of November should be a very good service. This week me and my companion and some members in our ward participated in doing service Saturday which was loading 100 trucks and trailers full of food about 75 pound boxes over my head for about 8 hours. I just about died but I loved doing it and it was called Festival of Sharing.

 

Well stress is a major cause of giving middle aged grandmas gray hairs so watch out mother haha, you might just end up with a head full of gray hairs. Oh buddy that's super exciting that the stake got re-organized. Hope that he does great in his calling and tries to magnify it whenever possible! Well I can't believe I'm missing the Halloween party but I guess I will just have my own here in Sedalia at the church. They are having a trunk or treat and we were going to get some candy at that (hopefully) then go home cause missonaries have to be home at 6 that day for safety reasons - crazy huh. How about you just eat a extra bowl of chili for me and a piece of pie as well! That would be great!

 

Love Ya'll

 

Elder Davies

October 14, 2013

Dear Fam or howdy!

 

 

Well just me here in Sedalia haha love it out here. I get to see cows and horses everyday and the smell out here is sooo good, it reminds me of the ranch. I have been working on getting up and working out... it sucks when its soo pickin' cold outside! There is frost on the grass every mornin. My new companion is great. He is from Caldwell, Idaho and he is a great missionary. He is quiet though and doesn't like social interaction very much.

 

So I hope that I am rubbing off on him! I love being confident. People can tell when you are teaching them and that they will respond better when you are. Well the trouble with this new area is that it used to be a full-time car area untill i got here now its part-time and it sucks cause we live five miles out of town! We gave up the car today so hopefully I lose some weight! Our church is simple on the outside but its like a beautiful log cabin in the chapel. I love it. There are about 200 members and I'm just fine with that.

 

Well the members here are ok, a lot of old folks and not very much member missionary work which sucks. I had 12 sit-down great lessons but no member would come with us so we will be working on that. Other than that its great! No cute girls in the ward means to me no distractions haha jk its so much fun though, a lot of rednecks and black people. There is also lots of excommunicated members that we work with out here its interesting! 

 

Well tell Sonnett to stop putting herself under so much stress! That's what's happening but I agree that she needs to have that baby in there as long as possible. Tell Shannon that I have been praying for her to pass her test! I have been cooking a lot of eggs farm fresh, I get them for free and I wish someone had fresh milk I would like some of that!

 

Love you all TTYL

 

Elder Davies

October 7, 2013

Well this week has been great! I got transferred to Sedalia, Missouri and its super great its country/city. My area is huge and I love the people reminds me of home. I love my new companion his name is Elder Hartwig. He has been out the same amount of time I have and he is really fun. Conference is the best isn't it?? I loved they said that cause that was what one of our investigators needed to hear. Man, personal revelation at its finest. Well still learnin' my new area and its super fun. We live with members but we live in the basement and its a dungon. It kinda sucks haha but its whatever we have a ping pong table and a pool table so that makes up for it haha. SOO many cute sister missionaries its crazy. Its so hard not flirting with them cause I have a flirty personality but after the mission should be great!

 

Man this mission thing is flyin by and I am loving it out here in Sedalia. Its super fun being able to talk to all the country folk Im lovin it! But on Tuesdays we volunteer at a place called Open Door which is a food pantry and I'm excited to finally do some indoor work. All I have been doing is outside hard manual labor which I love (building fences, landscaping, building decks, and installing in-ground pools) haha so much fun and not forgetting moving a lot of people. 

 

Well Sonnett sounds like she is having wayy too much fun with baby on the way and the little rascal, Well I love her and I know the lord is watching after her and He doesn't put anything in front of us that we can't accomplish. Thank you for fixing my pants and yes my suit is getting worn but its all good cause its because hard work that we are doing. You could always send anything else in the package as well. I'm running low on jerky and Shannon my lovely sister I would love ties from you: some colorful ones! Its the only piece of missionary's wardrobe that you can show your personality.

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Davies

September 30, 2013

Dear family,

    

 Well this week has been one of bounteous blessings and miracles!  I can’t even tell you how much a mission has blessed my life and all of those around me. We had a wonderful week and we have been teaching Logan and Gavin.  They are brothers and they both were baptized on Saturday and had the wonderful experience to have their mother at their baptism.  Their mother is not a member and at first she was really apprehensive about having them join the church, but she was softened and she cried through the whole baptism, the most spiritual one yet!  I don’t know what it is but I started crying when I was asked to share my testimony that I know this church is true and the plan of salvation is for families to be together forever. On the 17th of October the Swoffer family is getting sealed in the temple and they asked me to be a witness.  I am so excited to go with one of the families that got converted to the gospel and that they would give me the privilege of being a part of it. 

It is a sad reality that Brother Dascomb died.  I prayed for him and I prayed that the lord would grant unto him what he stood in need of and that he might be able to endure what it was his path to do. Mom, it sounds like there were some powerful experiences that you had with the hospital and with the funeral.  I know that God puts trials in our path to test our faith and that he only does that because he loves us so much and wants what’s best for us. I conducted a fast for him over here and want you to know that Blue Mills Ward sends their love to the family. It’s hard to have death come into our lives but being on a mission has really put it in prospective for me.  I teach everyone about the plan of salvation and how families are forever.  I know that they are forever and I want to see Grandpa R again and be with our family forever and I love sharing that message with everyone I come in contact with that families are forever!

It hit me hard when I started thinking of what would I do if I had a close family member of mine die while I was on my mission.  I was talking to my companion about that and I said I don’t know what I would do.  All I know is that I would have the comfort of knowing that I would be able to see them again, and that the church is true. I don’t know if I would have the courage to stay out on my mission. I think that I would come home and comfort those that stand in need of it but with the determination to try to come back out and teach all those that are in need of the gospel.          

Me and my companion are getting along way great!  We are best friends out here.  We both love to push each other’s buttons and he is a lot better than I am. We love teaching the gospel together.  It just flows when we teach with the convicting power of the spirit. I am having a bad feeling that I am going to be transferred this week and I don’t want to leave.  I don’t want to leave all of my converts, Dad I don’t know how you did it.  I know they are in great hands but it’s hard. We get to know by Tuesday night.  Hopefully I’m not getting transferred, but come what may that I know that by the things I have done here and the people that I talked to and taught more about the gospel, they will be blessed. I know that my converts will be strong members of the church and I know that by my obedience and diligence in teaching them everything is possible that they can live there lives to the fullest.

           

             Yes about grandpas package-thank you a million!   I was getting low on my rations and now they’re gone again!  I shared all of it with my comp and we loved it.  I love the dried plums. They are sooo good and I love the fruit leather. I am looking forward to conference too this week.  I can’t wait to hear the prophet speak and to be refreshed with all of his words. Transfers are this week and I don’t know what’s going to happen but I really don’t want to leave because the work is exploding here but I want to bless others with my testimony and I know that I will be able to where ever I go.

Well Dad, that stinks that no hunts are planned and you’re going through withdrawals, haha, me too! We are in the same boat but iI saw a huge white tail that one of our investigators shot, it’s massive. The last couple years the Lord has blessed us and I know he has! There will still be meat in those freezers until I come home and we will need to replenish it with the trusty 300 mags!  Now my little Miles can say those words?  His next word needs to be my name, haha, so he can remember me when I get home!  

           

          There is a package coming that I sent this morning.  It’s a box that has some pamphlets that we give out and has one pair of my suit pants they need to be fixed. Take them to Mr. Mac and please dry-clean them while you have them, haha-bad days playing basketball and one wrong step and rip- hahaha! I love you and miss you bunches.  I better be getting some of those dried apples you all have been doing!

 Love you,

Elder Davies

September 16, 2013

Great day to be a missionary!  This is Elder Davies,

 This week has been a great week for having solid sit down lessons with our investigators.  We have been having members come with us to the appointments and it has really affected our teaching because now we can teach by the spirit through three different witnesses of the truthfulness of the gospel which is so amazing!

 We have been teaching Logan and his brother Gavin. They are amazing and they love learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Their parents on the other hand are a little bit more apprehensive about our teaching.  

 They will come around because they love the great people and the way all of the members act.  They are really impressed by our standards!

 As well as teaching other investigators this week we had dinner with a pmf or part-member family.  We were teaching Jeff.  He is a big time hunter and loves to talk to the missionaries.  

 He and I just mesh together very good.  Last night’s lesson got a little heated between him and his wife and ended up him going sitting in the kitchen because his wife is just being hotheaded and is just frustrated because he hasn't joined yet.  I went in the kitchen and started talking to him about how sorry I was if I offended him and started talking about what concerns he has about the gospel and how can I help him. He opened up to me and said he is just frustrated because his wife always is getting on to him about joining. I started telling him my story and everything and how there was a reason why they left me here longer in this area and that maybe he is that reason.  He stared at me and said I think you’re right and I said the spirit has told me that you needed to talk to us and that all the time I have been in this ward me and you really have connected and I know that I can help you. He said well I would like to talk to you and your companion without my wife here so we can just discuss things.  I said I would be super excited if he would do that.  I am so excited to teach him!

 I love the Book of Mormon.  I just finished it two weeks ago again and I’m in Jacob 5 now and I love learning all I can so I can share it with others! I challenge you and everyone reading this to read the Book of Mormon and really pray to ask God if it’s true and I know you will get an answer by the power of the Holy Ghost. I love you all and know that you will all be blessed according to your faithfulness to the commandments of God.

 Well sounds like life at home is being quite fun! I’m glad I’m not in the drama of that but I love to hear how everyone is doing and that the Lord is blessing us so much and we take it for granted every day. Well Dad having a Facebook page?  What is this world coming too?  Haha!  Well, I told him he would get one eventually haha!

September 9, 2013

Well howdy Family,

 

 

I send all of my love to you and to my home ward, this week has been a week full of trying our hardest to stay busy finding more people to teach because our teaching pool is all getting baptized or they are dropping us cause they wont keep commitments and they love us coming over for company but thats not what were here for and they just wont try but its all good we are finding more and more people that want to hear more about the gospel and i am so excited!  A member in our ward just got off his mission last thursday and he wants to fully engage in missionary work back here and his family is all for it as well. They have been working on a kid named Logan and his family he already wants to go on a mission and he is twelve years old and he is excited to get baptized into our church he has a firm testimony of the church and wants all his family to know of the truth so we are having a dinner appointment this Wednesday hopefully it goes great! Well other than that last week was sooo hot here i hate the wet heat out here it was like113 with 100 percent humidity and we were tracting all day but haha i think i lost five pounds that day it was fun!

 

Well sounds and looks like you and dad and the boys had fun in alaska i am glad that you had some time with dad without us kids to interrupt you guys haha well i look forward to hearing more about it. Just so you know i hate planes and i am not getting on one to go home you and whoever can come pick me up and we can go to all of the church sites and we can visit all of my converts and areas that i served in when that time comes! Um well i will send you my email from last week in the email i send soon. I hope work will be made easyer for you but that you will be able to accomplish the tasks that are put in front of you. I really miss all of you and i hope that everyone is doing ok haven't heard much from everyone but i send you my love and hope, pray for you daily. Send my package to my apartment 18925 east tepee court independence mo 64056.

 

Love you if you need anything just ask!

 

 

Elder Davies

September 3, 2013

Well Howdy Family!

 

 

This week has been an amazing week for finding new investigators and it has been great for me personally, was reading over my patriarchal blessing and i just hit me this week that i really need to work on being exactly obedient i have been this whole week and it shows that we have had better week of visiting and contacting new people to hear about the message we share one experience i would like to share. We were walking through my favorite part of town which is the getto part and we were tracting out a neighborhood with a member, the member said to knock on this certain door so we did, a younger lady answered the door and said how are you and we said we are missionaries and we share a message about Jesus Christ and how it blesses our lives she immediately opened the door and invited us in i had a distinct impression to share about the plan of salvation so i did five minutes into the lesson she starts bawling starting flowing out of her eyes said that i really had a screwed up life im a recovering addict and that i feel like there is no purpose in my life i want to find out where i belong. Then she started talking about how she had a abusive husband she got divorced to about a year ago and that she lost her brother to a drug overdose. She Started crying even more when i asked how would you feel if you could see your brother again and live with all of your family forever? She said it would be perfect and i would do anything to have that opportunity. She then told us the rest of her story and i love her to death and she said well where is your church i want to go very bad i want to change my life, We told her where it was and she was like well my car was stolen last week im new to the neighborhood and is it possible to get a ride i said we can get a member to come pick you up and we will be waiting at the church and help you and your kids in church. She was so excited to hear that she wanted to give us hugs and i said we cant but i can give you a hand shake haha sucks sometimes but its all good. We are actually going to see her today and i am very excited to be able to teach her the restoration!

 

Yea i'm jealous that mom and dad are in Alaska i always wanted to go but know when i leave they decide to up and go and i think its a good thing for them to get away they deserved a little time to themselves! Well all i can say is that i better be getting some shrimp mailed over or just drove here! Well i love my new companion we are doing work as a companionship that we are teaching a lot more and he thinks it would be funny if i stayed here for a year i don't think that's very funny i would gain wayyyyy toooooo muchhhh weight haha well were the lord needs me i will be and there is always time to lose weight!

 

Tell me more about Alaska i better be getting a bunch of pictures, well i love you have fun up there dont die i still want to see you in 17 months!

 

 

Love,

 

 

 Elder Davies

August 19, 2013

Omar's Baptism

This past week has been a week of miracles. To start off, for one of our dinner appointments no one was going to be feeding us so I decided that Papa Murphy’s Pizza sounded great for dinner, a vegetarian with chicken and bacon added to it and a cowboy pizza, my favorite!   After we got the pizza and were walking back to our car this lady stopped her car right next to us, rolled down her window and said “how are you two great looking guys doing today?”   We said were doing great!  She said, “So, what are you two doing around Independence?”  We told her that we are missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. She started talking to us saying that her parents were baptized to our church years before and they gave her a Book of Mormon and she was debating whether she should read it or not and she wanted to talk to us and find out what our message was all about and she just found us by herself. She wants to get taught the gospel and she is excited to learn all she can.  I hope we can teach her and help answer all the questions she has been having about things that have been bothering her for a long time.  I love her already and know she will be baptized!

Some crazy girls in our Blue Mills Ward

 Well, sounds like school is starting back up and sounds like the drama will too! I always hated that about high school - that was the worst part. That training was great was it i hope you can tell me more about it and it talked about how every member needs to do their part in the missionary work it is so true that everyone needs put there foot forward and help us with this amazing work that blesses so many lives. Omar's baptism was so amazing. It was a very spiritual service. He and all of us were crying throughout the service.  It was so great to see him go into the water and come back up a new man, so clean and pure. It makes me so happy. After the service he personally thanked me for helping him along his way and teaching him.  I told him that transfers were this week and I am probably going to move and he started crying and I said that I will always remember him and I will keep in contact with him. Transfers are this week and I know that most likely I am going to get transferred and I will be ok with it even though I love this ward as my family and I know it will be hard to leave, but it will be doing the Lord’s work.

 I only have one request whenever you send a package. Wait till I email you next week and I need a new CTR ring.  I picked out which one I wanted- Titanium with White Carbon Inlay CTR. I gave my last one to one of the priests in the ward to remember me by and that I will always remember him. Anything else you want to send would be great!

 I love you,

 Elder Davies

August 5, 2013

 

Well Howdy Ya'll

 How are all of you doing to start out anything I can help you with if so just shoot me an email!

 Well my week was a great amazing week! Just another week in paradise of bipolar Missouri and I love it! To start off, my investigators are doing great!  Omar is progressing very well and he loves learning all he can from us.  

 Sometimes he just wants to talk all about what stories we know about the Book of Mormon because he is so excited to read it he can’t wait to read about it himself. But I love teaching him as well as all of my investigators.  

 He is one of my favorites even though they are all my favorite people.  It is going to be soo hard leaving here.  I don’t want to leave, but I know it will happen eventually.

  

Cheyenne -  sounds like you had an amazing experience at trek.  I wish I had that chance to go to on trek and have those long lasting experiences with all the people I love. Cheyenne, remember that I love you and that your Heavenly Father loves you.  Read the Book of Mormon and treasure the message it contains.  It will help you throughout your life, including in high school.

 Now mom, am I going to have to write a letter to your job telling them to not kill my mother while I’m on my mission?  I hope that you start feeling better.  Mom, is there anything you need? I will pray for you not to work so much this week, hopefully it helps.

 Logan sounds like fun. Tell me how it goes. Well you will at least have fun up there even if you can’t go to the temple. But the sisters you stay back with will appreciate your kindness.  Tell dad that his next calling I’m predicting is bishop, haha.  I have a strong feeling that he will be bishop when I return off my mission.

 BJ needs to drink some more power juice and let me have some too, hope he starts feeling better and that he will be healthy and strong.

 Sonnett, thank you for your letter! I love hearing from you and Miles!  It puts a smile on my face when I get any letter from you I love you and will see you soon.

  

CRAZY I HAVE BEEN OUT FOR THIS LONG!  I WANT TO START OVER!  WHERE IS THE RESTART BUTTON!

 I love this work I love all of you that are supporting me!

 PS..I was bit by a brown recluse spider last week. After a quick visit to the instacare and some heavy medicine, all is well!

 Love

 Elder Davies

July 29, 2013

Well to start out Howdy,

Just to say to ya'll that this week was a completely amazing week because of some certain things that have been happening. One of the main things that happened this week was the fantastic baptism of my man Chris. He was so excited and he was ready to be baptized. The service was small but the spirit was sooo strong and the amazing part was that one of the recent converts, Bro. Swoffer, baptized Chris. The other thing that happened was that President Keyes came to the baptism and gave a short talk of how proud of he was of Chris and his decision to be baptized. I can’t believe that he took the time out of his day to come to Chris’s baptism.  He felt so special that he came to his most important day.  President told him if he ever needs anything to ask the wonderful missionaries for whatever you need no matter what.

 Another really amazing thing that happened this week was with one of my investigators that has a really severe problem with the word of wisdom. So, do you remember how I had to have my mountain dew?  That I would always have at least two 32 drinks a day if not more?  So out here, the members always say, “do you want anything?”  They buy us a ton of stuff. I feel bad but they used to buy me mountain dew to drink until I made a deal with my investigator that I will never drink any pop again on the condition that he stop drinking beer and smoking and that kind of stuff .  Well,  I have been off the pop now for two weeks and will never drink it again! So GREAT NEWS he stopped drinking for starters no more drinking and because he was such a heavy smoker he would smoke about three packs a day and now he doesn’t buy box cigarettes anymore and he only smokes a mini cigar one a day so he is doing amazing! I love that he is making so much progress!

  

Well to answer your question for Sunday, I think that being all committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important thing you can do on this earth not only in your actions but in your heart. The most important thing to me is not just going out in the day looking for numbers to fill my planner cause I have to but going out and looking for people to change their lives and mine as well.  It doesn’t just effect their life, it ultimately effects my life as well. I love being able to go out and find those in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ and see when they start to cry when they feel that spirit of truth telling them that we are here to share with them the key to living with their families forever.  What better job do I have than this?  I would say nothing!

 Sounds like that the parade was long but fun.  I wish I could be there.  Well hopefully you had fun camping.  

 Glad that my ATV worked out for you.  Well, that Miles, my little dare devil,  sleeps in the sight of danger, haha, funny kid! 

 Anything I can help you with family while I am out here serving the lord, just mail me! Thank you Sonnett for the letter! I loved the picture on the back from Miles.  It brightens my day when you send me mail. It gets pretty routine out here!

 I love being out here teaching and fellowshipping everyone I come in contact with.  I hope this feeling never ends!

 I LOVE YA'LL

 Elder Davies

July 22, 2013

Well Howdy!,

 I’m doing great out here and I know the time is just flying by!  Can you believe that I have been gone as long as I have?  I know it doesn’t seem as long for you, but I feel like I have been gone for only a day. I can still hear your voices like your standing right next to me. I love hearing your stories from home!

 Well this week was an exciting week!  We had the opportunity to teach Omar and Chris again.  They are doing great! They loved the lesson about The Plan of Salvation!  It is completely amazing to see the change in them.  Chris’s baptism is this Saturday and I am sooooo excited for it!  I just love being around all of the members and my investigators.  They make my life a little bit happier every day.  I really admire my investigators!  It would be a shock to my system if someone told me that my religion is false but they fully understand when they read the Book of Mormon and pray to God for the truth

This week we had a lot of interesting food including tripe, ox tail, pig skin, and something I didn’t even know what it was. I had a dish called Occa.  It contains raw fish with fresh tomato, cucumber, and it’s in a milk and mayo sauce.  It is my favorite now.  I love all of the different food around here!

 Transfers were two weeks ago and I’m still here.  We will be moving to a new place because our current apartment has a broken water pipe and mold is growing everywhere. They won’t fix the problem and this has been going on for over two months, so we are moving to a nice duplex… standby for the address.

  You should have some serious fun camping.  Where in cedar are you going? You can take my XDM mom to shoot in memory of me. That would be great!  Tell Cheybug that she needs to do a great job for the Bishop and have her read the Book of Mormon instead of those crazy girly books.  It will greatly affect her life for the better!  It has changed my life as I am reading it out here! Tell Cheyenne to take great walking shoes on her trek and be glad that she is not here because on the trek here everyone got 5 ticks a piece,  nasty right?

 I love you

 Elder Davies

July 15, 2013

Howdy Howdy!

 What to say about this week?... THAT IT WAS AMAZING, hello!

 To start out, we have amazing people that are investigating the church and the two I want to talk about are very close to me and my companion.  We had two separate appointments with them. Each time they were crying and telling us that this gospel is what they have been looking for their whole lives.  They just hugged me and said “I am so glad that you two found me.  You are my heaven sent angels.”  You know, I just broke down into a slup.  I started crying saying that God sent me here so I can share eternity with my family and so they can spend it with their family. I can’t explain what this meant to them. I could never picture myself as something of that magnitude. I am just a missionary sharing the gospel. I never thought that someone would compare me to a heaven sent angel. But these two extraordinary investigators do not know each other. They are in different households, but there stories are the same.  One man is named Omar. He is 30 and is Mexican. He has a 2 year old son and can’t wait to our next appointment tomorrow when we share with him the plan of salvation. I am super excited!  He also can’t wait to be baptized and become a member of our ward family! The other investigator’s name is Chris. I have talked about him before.  He is a member’s boyfriend.  He loves talking to me.  He connects to me like fly paper, you know he is like I know everything you’re telling me is true and I want YOU to baptize me. I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is going to be a strong member of our church. I also know that he will serve a full time mission.  I just have a feeling that he can bless others with his testimony.

  Well I am proud of Shannon! Tell her great job graduating. I am so glad i will be getting free haircuts after I get home, haha, You better not be getting rid of my dogs MOTHER, haha. Sounds like the garden is growing some amazing stuff, I’m jealous. I wish I could have some fresh veggies.

 I love this gospel and I love being able to share this message, even though I’m not the best teacher and I’m not perfect,  I was set apart as a full time missionary and servant of the Lord and I love it!

  LOVE YOU ALL

 Elder Davies

July 8, 2013

Well howdy Family,

Can I just tell you how great it is to get emails from you! Well, it has been another super fantastic day in paradise! Who else can say that their mission is in Zion? So, if the second coming did happen I wouldn’t have to go anywhere! :0)

Well it has also been a very overwhelming week-just stressful and hot, and we were walking all week which was great other than the stupid humidity! haha But it does rain here at least 3 times per week.

We have been working with this lady named Shelly for a while now and her problem is she believes that our church is true and she loves everything about it. She just doesn’t believe that Brigham Young was supposed to be prophet. She believes that he did a bunch of stuff that isn’t true like he rebaptized all of the saints that went to Utah with him and that he lied to the people to get what he wanted out of them. It makes me laugh because she is RLDS and she likes to believe that Joseph Smith III was to be prophet because it says it in our church history apparently.  I love her to death but she won’t give us any head room to talk about what the spirit directs us to tell her and teach her.

This week has been fun we did a couple of big service projects. Thank you for sending my boots! That helped a million times better than my shoes, but we leveled out a person’s backyard, tore out their deck but we had to save the wood because they are going to reuse it.  We built a fence, and landscaped the whole back yard! All of this was done at the same house at different times and and different days.  I’m still having back problems from all of the hard labor. But I know we helped them out so much and I felt great serving them because I love them so much.

It sounds like you had a great Fourth of July because I know I did. We had a HUGE fireworks show at one of the member’s houses. Their neighbors buy like 10 thousand bucks worth of fireworks every year. They shut down the street and it was amazing to say the least! Maybe the parade next year will be better.

The temple trip to Kansas City was great! I loved being able to go with my whole mission to the temple and preform those sacred things with them. The temple here is ALOT smaller than Provo.  You have to walk up the stairs to finish an endowment session but it is a very beautiful temple. I love the windows and I love the landscaping outside of the temple.  It’s amazing.

I have been getting better. I am over my sickness but now my left knee is giving me troubles. It pops in and out of place when I over use it in the day.  I haven’t told anyone yet because I don’t want to get sent home. I will just endure it.

I love this work!!  The people I have met mean the world to me and they love hearing more about the gospel and I am so glad to be one of the Lord’s missionaries at this time and age

I Love You All,

Elder Davies

June 24, 2013

Good Morning family or as I like to say, “Talofa!”

Thanks Mom! Haha, I remember you would always come into my room and start singing that song, “Good morning to you, Good morning to you…” haha it always woke me up and most of the time made me a little bit happier that day.

This week has been great for missionary work! We have been working with a lot of our recent converts and keeping them involved in the church as much as possible. It is so exciting to see them have family home evening together. We have has the chance to conduct a lot of them and teaching them that it is very important to hold those every week at a set time as well, they can see the blessings coming through their faithfulness. We have also been working with a recent convert family that has issues with paying tithing and we explained how we couldn’t afford not to pay our tithing because of how it blesses our lives and our families’ lives. We have also been teaching them about keeping the Sabbath day holy by not going fishing and not going to basketball games. We have the opportunity to teach their teenage girls and the mother about modesty and how we should not wear revealing clothing because our body is a temple and we should treat it that way! Other than that we have been working with all of the new investigators we found last week and they are learning a lot and starting to believe in what we are teaching them. It is the best time of your mission when your investigator gets his or her own answer and knows that it is true. I love this work!! It is moving forward so get on the freight train and join our army!

HOLY CRAP that is so great to hear about all the new mission calls! They will have so much fun on their missions. I can’t believe they are all going out of the country. I’m a little jealous, but I know that they have people over there that have been prepared for them to teach them the gospel with their own teaching style, just like the people in Independence had been preparing for me and they will all be blessed according to their faithfulness. Zane is going to Poland? That is crazy! I had a pretty good idea that he would be going out of the country. They each have to wait a while before they get to go to the MTC! Well, Hunter will be so great down there in Africa, haha just like Dillon Hales teaching the Lamanites. Emily will be great in New Zealand. She is going to work out a lot, because the members there are going to treat her well and feed her even better! Trust me, I know!

The missionary training was great! I loved every second of it. It was so true that it is up to the members to find us people to teach because only about 10% of tracting brings a baptism, so I am so happy they announced that change. That it will greatly affect missionary work as we know it. Did you hear at the beginning how he said that electronic media will be used to further the work? Facebook will be a vital resource as well as mormon.org and lds.org. They will greatly help us missionaries in this cause.

I love you and pray for your safety every day! Love you – more to come next week!

Love

Elder Davies

June 3, 2013

WELL HOWDY!

Well it’s ok that your email was short today, I don’t have much either from last time we talked.  I love it out here, even with the stupid tornados and the stupid humidity.  It has been a busy week finding a bunch of new people to teach and now we have 4 people on date to get baptized this month.  I really dread the day when I have to leave here because I love these people!  I love my investigators and my ward!  I love my new companion! He is a great elder.

 Tell dad we need a GPS!  If he doesn’t think so I will just go and buy one myself out here, we ain’t in the stone-age anymore and I hate maps!  That’s what I have already and it doesn’t tell me street numbers. The streets down here suck, just so you know!  There are like five Ponca streets, Lexington, and Arrowhead, haha, that’s why it would be nice so I can find the specific houses.

 Mom, it sounds like you had fun teaching about being an instrument in the Lords hands. I love how he explains it in Alma.  I have a firm testimony on what it explains. I am really in love with Alma chapter 26 right now. It talks a lot about missionary work!

 Well, tell Cheyenne to pack the jumbo marshmallows for girl’s camp for me and eat a bunch, haha, or dad will eat all the burnt ones.  It is a great opportunity to serve up there at girl’s camp as a priesthood holder.  Dad has the chance to bless all of the girls that need it. And good I can never get replaced, haha, jk. Nathan is a great kid I hope he knows that he is loved and we love having him around.

 This week has been fun like I said.  We have a couple people on date to get baptized this month.  It is very exciting to see their progress on how their testimony is growing as we teach them by the spirit.  My testimony grows every time I bear witness that what I’m teaching them is true.  I can only teach them so much, and then I have to say to them “It’s time for you to find out for yourself!”  So they pray and ask God with real intent, with a real desire to find the truth, and they get their answer by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 The high of the week is that I have a truck that I drive out here 3 weeks out of the month then I walk one week of the month, haha!  I actually get to drive the truck because my new companion doesn't have a license.  That’s how we do it out here!

 Dad, the baby deer from last week hopefully was old enough to survive on its own.  After I stepped on it, we found the momma dead like 100 yards away.  It looked like a car had hit it and then  it had walked a little bit and laid down and died.  Also, you asked what taro is.  Taro is a root vegetable like a potato and it is VERY good.

 Have a great week and I love you,

 Elder Davies

May 27, 2013

Well howdy y'all, it sounds like you’re having SO much fun with getting to visit with grandpa and cheybug getting to hang out with Nate.sounds like he is replacing me, at least that's what I heard from dad, haha, but that's OK.  He can replace me for 20 months then I get my spot back.  So is my room the grandbaby nursery yet? jk. It sounds like it was a very trying time for your friend Mary. I hope she is blessed and her family is blessed according to their faith, I know it would have been emotionally hard for me if it happened to us! I hope and know that Heavenly Father knows what they are going through and puts trials in our path to strengthen us and our faithfulness to him. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ suffered that same pain that her parents did and he knows what we go through. I am so grateful to know that even through trials there is always our Heavenly father looking out for us. I have experienced that this week.

This week has been a fun and eventful week. We have been teaching a bunch of new investigators that want to know more about what we believe. We helped move a family into the ward, an investigator family. We are getting to know them very well.  We have taught them a couple of times now.   Their name is the Mulinazzi family.  They are golden and I love them with all my heart.  They have strong desire to know the truth. They have lots of questions for us that I usually call President Keyes for because I don't know all the answers, but I learn so much from them every time we teach them. They have a family of 7.  Four out of the seven are old enough to take the lessons and they are very interested. I know that as long as I teach by the spirit they will have a testimony of what I am teaching them is true and will be baptized by someone holding that priesthood authority.

Cool things that happened this week…Let’s see,  we have 10 new investigators, I have a new companion. At the ward camp out, that had missionary theme, you bring an investigator with you and every quorum had a skit or testimony's to share.  It was a big Luci with a big roasted pig and taro which is very good food- my favorite so far. We were walking through the tall grass and I stepped on a baby deer. It got up and started licking my leg. We took it back to camp and got it milk and petted it! Fun times!

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BATHROOM! Ha ha, well it got chickified! Wow, well it’s the girls bathroom now but it looks great! I love what you did with it and tall shower head so me and dad won’t hit our heads anymore! I need you to send out the car GPS with the charger or invest in one for me.  I need one!  It’s so hard finding addresses out here! I do not need garments yet probably in August- send me out some.  I'm good other than that just working hard. Missionary work is a full time thing- no resting time. I  love it! Money is just fine.  I haven't used my card ever yet so it’s all good.  Transfers were today.   We went and said goodbye to those going home.   We didn't get transferred and I'm glad.  I love my new companion. He is a Samoan elder from western Samoa, but he moved to Utah when he was 17.  His uncle and aunt live in Spanish fork by our stake center which is cool we are from the same place. He loves the culture out here and the ward loves him!   We get fed soooooooooooooooooo much it’s horrible- good thing we workout and play hard out here.

LOVE

Elder Davies

May 20, 2013

Well hello family!  This week has been full of ups and the downs.  To start out with I have four investigators with baptism dates and that’s pretty exciting!  Then we had a way loud, windy, and rainy storm yesterday.  It included some very large hail stones.  They thought there was going to be a tornado where we are at, but luckily the storm did not turn into a tornado in Independence. The clouds looked like it was going to happen, but thanks to the prayers of many, it didn’t happen. The humidity out here still is awful. I walk outside and am already instantly wet, but it is a good way to lose weight. I finally got my bike fixed enough to ride a little bit, but I prefer to walk because it is easier to breathe and there are some way bad hills out here.

There is some more news.  Elder Moody got a call this last Thursday morning by President Keyes and got called as a zone leader in the Platte City zone in St. Joseph, MO. It’s a little crazy because it is right before transfers. They aren’t for another two weeks, but I love him and I will miss seeing my best bud and “father”. I’m going to be done with training this month and I have passed off all of my lessons as of last Friday, so I can officially drive and train other new missionaries. I am SOOOO excited!

 In other news my new companion is coming from Olatha, Kansas.  His name is Elder Manalausua. He is Samoan.  I get to exchange and get to meet him tonight, so hopefully he is great and we can further the work here in the Blue Mills ward. I think we will have better success because he is Samoan, so he can relate better and he knows the culture a lot better than I do, so I’m excited!  I think I'm going to be safe at transfers.  I will probably stay here in Blue Mills at least till July maybe August, who knows, but I love it here. It looks like I will stay in the Independence Mission and not be moved to the Kansas City Mission when we split in July. I guess that could always change, but I don’t think so.

 Remember Sister Te’o?  My first investigator that got baptized?  Well, she recently got called as a activity leader for the young women.  It is a great calling for her.  She really has a very strong and powerful testimony!

 I loved talking to each of you on Mother’s Day.  It was good to hear all of your voices and not just have to read about what is going on.  I am glad everyone is well. Mom. thank you!  You and dad have been two of the most influential people in my life. You really made me who I am today. Thank you!   I know you have always said you were proud of me, but I took it for granted and did not really listen.  But, I know that what I’m doing out here is blessing our family and all those that I come in contact with. The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses all those who will listen to the message and take it into their lives!

 I love you all and I want more than anything to set an example.  I want those around me to hear and feel the gospel message and the blessing it can be in their lives.

  From the sounds of your letter it seems that you’re being productive, mother! Getting the weeds out of the garden is great.  But, tell BJ he needs to make you some garden boxes.  I don’t want you bending over and hurting yours or dads back.  You know you are both getting older an’ all , hahah, jk!  Sounds like Shannon is being herself getting the garden in.  It sounds like she is growing a salsa garden.  You will have to eat some fresh tomatoes for me after they grow. 

 The bathroom sounds like it’s really coming along with everything falling into place. The color it sounds like it will be a very nice bathroom! Keep me posted on how its progressing and need some pictures!

 Sounds like Alanna is going to have a bunch of fun in her mission in Philadelphia.  I know she will do great as long as she stays obedient to the rules of the mission and loves what she is able to teach to all those who don’t understand the gospel or have never heard about it.

 Cheybug, good job for sticking out another school year.  I always hated school other than my FFA buddies and seminary! I am glad you made it through another year and good luck on the 5k you will do great!  Put in your all and you will be rewarded!