Week 13

Pictures are of his visit to the castle mentioned below. One of Dee with 2^nd Cousin Elder Tanner Wood (also district leader) and the red head is his companion Elder Gardeners.

Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND PAUL!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking about it this week i hope that you both had awesome birthdays. And ii know Paul did he got a new surfboard and gets to go surfing, but what about you Dad. This week was Elder Gardeners Birthday also and i made him homemade brownies and a cake. hahah so it was also and memory of you too. You would be impressed with my cooking skills haha i keep suprizing myself. I mean i follow a cook book but we only have a 1/3 cup and a table spoon so i guess almost everything and i have to convert all the stuff from different measurements used and here and the ones i know. And so far most not all but most of it has turned out really good. Pro brownies i must say hahah. Well to answer your question the pain au chocolat is not as sweet as it looks but it is really good and some other pastries i have had are really sweet. Also i know that in time the language will come. It was funny because at church the branch presidence kids always come and talk to me and i always just nod my head and listen because they talk so fast and little kids are really hard to understand. Well i was remembering some of the stuff they told me and later i asked Elder Gardner what they said and i learned that one was telling me how his brother was stupid and how he was so mad at him and i was just smiling and nodding hahaha it is just so funny that i these little kids are so much better at French then me hahaha oh well just keep practicing. It sounds like you all had a really good week. For sure have bryce write and tell me all about his trip, i am really excited to hear. Well this week i went on exchanges with both the zone leaders and the APs so that is really strange but it was really good. Both times i was with Elders who were in there last transfer so they gave me some really good advice. Also this week we did some english class contacting it is where you contact some one in english and if they are like oh i don't speak english we tell them about are english class and if they already speak english we share a message. I really liked this because well i could actually fully understand everything and it was english ahahaha. We did interviews this week and they did it in Tours that is why we had the exchanges with the APs because they came up a day early. It was a really good training about comp study and also Baptism Calenders and helping people more fully after they have a baptismal Date. Also i got all my mail becasue when it is sent to the mission home you get it every other month during interviews so it was nice to get all the mail. Well i want to tell you about to day i will attach all the pics i think i will just send all the pics i took if i can find an easier way to attach them. I mean if Elder Gardner helps haha. Well the pics will be fist of some home that we pass while walking to an amis house and then the rest are of the castle we went to today. The missionaries from Blois Elder Wood (my cousin) and Elder Coleman have a car so for p day they picked us up and we went to Chateau de Chenonceau. We were going to go to Chateau d'Ussé which is one that disney used for one a modle for one of the disney movies but i was out voted haha we will go there hopfully on another p day. Well the one we went to It is really cool it is a castle that is built out over the water and it had huge gardens and a forest all around it. Also it had a maze that was really fun. We had a lot of fun there and after we helped a member move a some things out of there apartment into storage and some new stuff back into the apartment. haha they live on the top floor so we that was fun hahah. Then i had my first Kabob it was really good. Well some other things about this week is that we have been listening to conference a lot in the morning at night and lunch time, well all the times we are actually in the apartment and it is so good. It is amazing how you can just keep getting so much out of it. I encourage everyone to study the conference not just listen to it once all though that is really good but if you take time to study it more you will be blessed and learn so much. This week has been really cool becasue i changed so much well my out look on the gospel that is. In studies and doing missionary work has helped me see so much more how this gospel can bless us in everyway you can think of. It is such an amazing blessing that brings so much joy. Also from conference (well out side of the fact that we need to all get married hahah jk) i loved how much it talked about serving others. Also the differnece between doing and being. When we become someone who truly loves and sees others as chirst would we will serve and become better people withourt even knowing it. If we become the people God wants us to be then actions will follow and you will do what is right because that is who you are. But at the same time in order to get there you do need to do what is right first. I hope that it all made sense sometimes i feel like what i write in not clear. Well i want you all to know that i am happy. I love life and not because i am in france and having all these fun esperiences but becuase i know i am doing what the lord wants me to do and i know this gospel is true. Thanks for all the prays. Je t'aime. Hope to hear from you all soon Elder Davis

ps Thanks everyone who wrote me that was really nice also thanks for the family news letter Grandpa I really loved reading about all the other missionaries in the family and hearing how everyone is doing.