week 20 campout

Hey,

Well to start off WOW that is some big news, I hope that Bryce and Paul are doing good. And don't worry about me if that is where you need to go then do it. Well it is good to hear about Camp Out. It is funny because last night me and Elder Wood had our other companion Elder Coleman do the chiga cheer and he was just really confused and then just died laughing. I hope that everyone knows that i missed them and love them. I am excited that everyone wrote me and i am putting the address for the mission home at the end if you need it again. So this week as been really different because i am with the Blois Elders. They have a car so we have been able to go see some people that live farther away in our area. We have been getting a lot of work done and because we have two areas we are always driving back and forth and have tons of people to see. It is really good though, we all get along and work really well together. Also my french has been improving a lot because i have been leading everything in Tours. We spent a lot of our time this week in a city called Amboise and it was really cool because there is a really nice castle there and we meet an Amis there (Maxim) and taught him a lesson. We found a bench right next to the castle and we were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation. It went really well so we hope to see him again soon. Today we have to shop for and clean both the Tours and Blois Apartments so we won't have much time, but we hope that we will find time to go to a park by the Loire and find time to relax. So this week was also a really good week for studies. I read a talk about finding better ways to study and it seems to of really helped. I have started to really get a lot more out of reading the scriptures. Even tough it takes longer to read a chapter it is cool to see how much more you can see in a chapter that you have read so many times but you still find something new. One of the biggest things that helped is as you are reading write down your thoughts and after you finish reading look back out scriptures you marked and what you wrote and ponder on it. So i challenge everyone to try to get more out of your scripture reading it will help you so much. Some other random things about this week is that one day we were contacting and every person i contacted seemed to be a tourist and every person my companions contacted were French. It was just really funny because i would start talking to them and they would just look really confused and speak back in a random language or they would just ask if we spoke English, but every person my comp stopped were golden. Normally you can tell people are tourist right away but just not that day. Also we tried really strange pastries this week. I bought the first pastry that just sounded and looked really weird, but in the end they were really good. last random thing from the week is that at church we had tons of student visitors and old missionaries, also a lot of members speak English really well. So we almost had more people that spoke English at church then people who did not, it was just really funny. Well over all i had a really productive, busy week, but it was really fun and so exciting to see the work moving forward. I love you all and hope that everything is going well. Je t'aime!

Elder Davis

Elder Jerry Dee Davis
France Paris Mission
23 Rue du Onze Novembre
78110 Le Vesinet
France

Week 19

Hey,

So i have to start out by telling everyone to have a blast at Davis Campout this weekend. It is strange that it will be the first time i am just not going, but i know that i am doing more important things and it only makes it that much more exciting for when i can go in two years. Also tomorrow i am going up to Blois for two weeks until i get a new companion and i will be staying with Elder Wood and his companion so it is cool that i will still be with family and we will just have to have our own little camp out while serving the Lord. It is going to be crazy because we will be handling all the people in both our areas so I am getting ready to work really hard rushing from place to place to try to see everyone hahah. Well tell Bryce and Paul good job on there scripture masteries, that is so good. Also i hope that the surf is great. Tell them that i have yet to hear from them so after EFY i expect a letter or email from them telling me about everything and how their experience at EFY was. That is so great that it all worked out and they get to go to EFY i loved going every year it is such a good experience. Well i am glad that your talk went so well Dad it is funny because i was just thinking about that this week. How to have a true change of heart and it is so true that if humble yourself and love then you see the amazing change. This week was full of service and at first it was really tiring, but as i started to just humble myself and show an increase in love towards that people we were serving it became easy and actually really fun to help out any way possible. So you can all get a good image of me serving this week. Well we went out to the Soeur Taylor's house the lady with all the dogs, well she also has horses and she asked if we could come by to help out, so we went by with the Elders from Blois to have more helpers and she asked me and Elder Coleman to clean out the horse stables and it was crazy. They had not been cleaned in ten years and there was well horse droppings up to my knees in the whole thing and it took three hours of constantly shoveling into a wheelbarrow and dumping into a huge pile out back. It was so funny because we had to start at the door and we worked our way into in and at one point we were in the middle surrounded and the door was open so the horses came in and blocked our path and we could not move them, so we were just stuck with the horses while trying to roll a wheel barrow through everything and me and Elder Coleman just started laughing. Oh and Elder Wood and Elder Gardner were using sickles to cut down weeds and they both have allergies so they were dieing it was a crazy service day. Then latter in the week we went to visit some member and they were like where are your regular cloths we thought you were going to do some service so we just put coveralls over our cloths and worked in there yard it was so hot but really cool because they made us an awesome meal after. Then just yesterday there was a huge city program for kids going on and we were able to help set it up and take it down, and because of it a lot of people were interested in who we were and what we did so it was really good. Well Elder Gardner packed up today so it has been a strange day thinking that i will get a new companion in two weeks and that he is going up to the mission office. I am no longer going to be with my Trainer so wish me luck hahah jk. Ok well i love you all and hope that you have a great week.

Elder Davis

Week 18

Hey everyone,

It was good to hear about all the exciting things this week. Bryce i hope that prom went well and you had fun. Also i did not know Joe was getting married, but tell him congrats. Well this was a really crazy week it started off really slow and we were not seeing to much luck but then as the end of the week came things really started to pick up. Well i will start by telling you what happen to me on Thursday. Ok well me and Elder Gardner had just missed the bus so we were sitting waiting for the next one. While we were waiting another bus came by and some girls got off. Well they were walking by and one stopped and started to walk up to me and i thought she was going to ask me for the time (because people ask us for the time alot), but as i was looking at my watch to see the time she grabbed by head and kissed me. I went in complete shock and turned to look at my comp and he was looking the other way and did not even see it happen. But the girl then turned to him and as he turned to see what she wanted she kissed him and then walked off. It was so strange and we found out that it was a bachlerette party and ya so that was a crazy day. Well any ways on Friday i went up to Belgium to do legality stuff but we had to wait for an elder that was late so we did not have any time to go see anything while there. But it was really cool because Soeur Cope was there and i was able to talk to her and see how she was doing. It was really cool to talk to her. On our way back we waited in Paris for a while and we were able to just walk around and go eat at a little cafe. Saturday was a really long day and we took a bus our to see a less active family and they were not there and the next bus was not til that afternoon so we were stuck in a little town all day and we thought that we had just wasted a day, but the next day at church a man and his came to church and we found out that he had served here 18 years ago. He started to ask about families and he asked about the family we tried to see and said he did not know there new address but had baptised there whole family, so he drove us out there to see them with him and they were there. It went so well and after we visited for a while they they said that they wanted to come back to church and promised to come next week and talked about how much he missed the church and that his two daughters had not grown up and they church and he wanted them to have it in there life. So we are going to start teaching there family it was really funny because we thought that we wasted our day but because we had found there house we were able to bring them there and now have a less active family that are going to come back. Oh also at church a random girl showed up and said that she found us online and wanted to see what it was. We were able to teach her the second hour. She does not believe and God but after we taught her she promised to read the book of Mormon and she prayed with us, it was really cool. After she had such a good time in sacrament, i really have never seen any one so happy in sacrament. It was exciting to see how well she got along with the members and after church she hung around for a long time just to talk. Then she told us that she is going to read and pray and she will see us next week at church. So cool. Ok well to answer your questions i don't know where i will be for the next transfer but i did find out i will be up in Blois with Elder Wood and his comp until the end of this transfer and we will just cover both our areas, but i am thinking after this transfer i will do one more in Tours. We will see. Well i love you all so much. Je t'aime

Elder Davis

Week 17

Family,

I loved talking to everyone yesterday. It was so nice to see you and hear how you are doing. I love you Mom and hope that you had an amazing Mothers Day. Well this has been a crazy week and this next one will be just as crazy. Well this last week we had zone conference and then stake conference and i can't believe how much i learned. So i am excited to start trying some of the advice given and starting to work even harder. Also we found out that my comp is going to become the secritary for the mission and mission president, so he leaves in two weeks to get trained and i will just have to wait and see what is going to happen to me for the few weeks befor the next transfer. Also we just found out about an hour ago that i am going to paris and then Belgium on fri to do legality stuff and Elder Gardner gets to come with too start his training because legality is one of the secritaries responsablities. So we are really excited for that. Well today for p day we ened up not going anywhere crazy because we had travel all over this week. So we played valleyball and frisbee, it was really fun and nice to just go to a park and relax. Well it is funny because i don't know what to say because i just talked yesterday. I just want to say to everyone thanks for all the love and prays i can feel it. It is such a blessing to know that i have people that love me and that are supporting me every step of the way. Well keep being strong and working each day to become the amazing people that God knows we can be. Je t'aime!!!!

Elder Davis

Another To me from Dee!!

Nicole,

I am excited that a letter is on its way and wanted to say how nice it was talking to you yesterday. So just a small thought that i have been thinking about and wanted to share. Always look at your self and others as the way that God sees them and you will see over time that it will change you and others. We all become the kind of people that we think we are and by treating people as if they are someone greater then what we can see on the surface they will rise to become what they know you see them as. Also it starts to become easier to serve, love, laugh, and it makes life in a way easier because the joy of seeing the best in yourself brings you to see what God has in store for you. Haha i hope that makes sense i just have been thinking about that this week and felt like sharing it with someone so you are the lucky winner haha well you and kira because i love hearing from you too. Well i send me a the catigories that you want me to have stuff for in the blog so i can put it in my planner and remember to write them down when they come to mind because i always forget when i am on the computer. Well love you!!! Hope you are having a great day.

Elder Davis Your little bro

Week 16

Family,

Well it sounds like everyone is doing really well. Good job Bryce and Paul on all your sports it sounds like you are both owning. Well this week was crazy I was able to e-mail a different day because the random holiday and it was vacances so the internet place was closed so to e mail we just went to the liberary. So what has happen sence that last e-mail, on Saturday we taught a lesson to an amis named Jean Karimba (that is how you spell it Nicole) and it went so well. We taught the Restoration and watch the video and it was so cool because he understood it and after asked if he could keep the video to watch again. He also commited to reading so we we were really excited about that. Also our amis Maxime is still moving along really good he is an English student and loves English so he has been going to the lds websit to read and watch the mormon messages in English and he loves it. We also were able to teach a new amis named Mariah she is difficult to teach because she always just loves to talk, but this sunday we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon and why it ios so important and she agreed to start praying. The work is really going. Also we are doing a lot of work with less actives and at first it was hard to find them but things are turning around we have got a hold of a lot of the families and have set times to come by and visit. Well there was a big improvment in the french this week and i have started to really focus on it. We went to another castle today it was really exciting but funny because for half the castle then had put modern art in it and it was just confusing and out of place hahah. It was the Le Chateau de Chaumont-sur-Loire. It over looked the Loire river and it was really cool i will send a picture. I can't wait to talk to everyone on sunday i am really excited. Ok so some other random things from the week. I gave myself a hair cut and i just have to say, i miss Nicole's hair cuts that i actually liked. I messed up and by the time i even it all out and made it look ok i might as well of just shaved it really short. Thanks for that poem Dad it is really good. I did not know about it and i copied it down so i can read it on hard days hahah so thanks. ok Here is what i want to share with the ward.

Thanks for being such an amazing ward. We are all so lucky to have the bishop, leaders, teachers, and members of this ward. Thanks for all that you have done for me. I am doing great here is Tours, France. I am loving the country, people, food, language, and most importantly the work. I want you to all know that it is such an amazing feeling to know that i am doing exactly what the lord wants me to be doing. I hope that everyone that is able is planing on a mission because i have only been in France for two months and i have already learned and grown so much. We have the fullness of the gospel. We are blessed to know the truth. I want you all to know that i know that this church is true and that if we always follow by the teachings and do the simple acts of reading our scriptures, praying, and going to church, we will always have the joy that comes with it. I want to let you know that Jesus Christ is my savior and because of him i will be with my father again. Always remember this and keep being amazing examples to everyone you know. I love you all thanks!

and you can just say whatever else you want to Dad hahah. Well i love you!! Je t'aime!! Can't wait til sunday to talk to you all. I love you Mom!!

Elder Davis

Prayer List!!!

Nicole,

I loved hearing from you. I like the plan of both letters and emails. Well i dont have much time and i have so much to say, because i am in a liberary with a time limit because the internet cafe is still closed. Love the french and all there vacations hahaha. Well i just sent you a letter and a post card yesterday so be looking for it. Thanks for the blog that is so cool you are the best. Thats cool to hear that it is the purest french. oh ya!! Well i can give you my amis to put on the pray list thats really cool. Mary Joe, Maxime, and John Carimba. (guess on last name spelling for john). Well I will be thinking on what i want you to post ok. I forget that you have a whole other side of the family now hahah that is cool though and so cute she can say your name. Thanks for all the support and love i can really feel it. My advice would be to really read everyday. Starting with a pray to have the spirit and then ponder with you read. "there is a big difference between pondering in your mind and in your heart" you need them both. Well i love you. It was nice to hear what Eric said that is just takes time for the language to come haha. I was laughing that i really have to think when i talk. It is hard after year of just talking because you can and it is all natural. But i am doing it and my comp is helping so much. I will also start making a list of words i really like and write them down so i can give them to you. Well Thanks for all you do in means a lot. I love you, JE T'AIME!!!!

You brother Elder Davis.