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