Happy Birthday Dee!!!

Bonjour!

Thanks for all the Birthday wishes! It was so nice to hear from all of you. I think that this year it will be an easy answer to Mom and Dads birthday question. Favorite thing of my 19th year Well ummmm GOING ON A MISSION!!!!!! It is just so good! I hear that i got a package in Cholet from the Hjelmstads and they are bringing it up to me this weekend. Tell them thanks so much and they are amazing. oh and Dad thanks for renewing my license. That is exciting that you got all the Christmas decorations up. I found a box of some Christmas stuff in our apartment storage and we did a little decorating. It is kind of sad but it still made me happy to have something. Also in China Christmas is not that big of a deal so Elder Liao keeps laughing because i get so excited about Christmas, but hey what is there not to get excited about. It is great to hear that Bryce and Ralphy are enjoying Wrestling. And good Job Bay and Ralphy on working towards eagles. It is cool that Grandma and Grandpa go to the MTC today, they are so great. When you see them give them a big hug and kiss for me hahaha. I have not seen the Christmas devotional yet but i hope i will be able to. Well this week started off just crazy and i was so tired from running around everywhere. But once when i got used to it, now i love it so much. Also this last week we have been able to teach so many people and i have just been loving everything. One day we went contacting for a long time and right when i was feeling kind of done we turned the corner and there was the Eiffel Tower and that gave me exactly what i needed. I am so happy to be here and i am going to just keep giving it everything i have because this Gospel is just to amazing. Well Juan and Alejandro and still on track for getting baptized this week. I am so excited! Also we have just started to teach Lauren and Audrey, and they are just the perfect amis. We are also working with François and Gracila. And it is so true i feel like i have been teaching people from all over the world. All over Africa, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Philippines, Elsalvador, and even an american amis. It is so great. Well today i went to Hard Rock for a birthday lunch and have been going all over Paris to just see things. It was a good day s far, I do miss all of you but i am glad to be here. So Christmas here is cool each day the city just gets more decked out. Also there is a lot of Christmas music and concerts coming. We have a Christmas party this week and the Christmas mission conference. So it is going to be a busy week along with the Baptisms. Well i hope that everyone is enjoying the Holiday Spirit and sharing it with others. Life is going great here. JE T'AIME!!!!!!

Elder Davis

HEY,

I was so happy to hear that you had a great Thanksgiving! So i have to start off and say sorry if my email is all off the key board I am using is French and i can't change it. But i think i am getting it, just a little bit slower. Well this has been such an amazing week i cant believe it! I will start and say i love my new comp Elder Tehaai. He is Tahitian but his English is really good. We do half the day in French and the other half in English, it is hard trying to get out of just a missionary vocabulary and just talking about life. But i am happy because it will help my French a lot. So the start of the week was all cleaning and saying bye to people in Cholet, then i left to Paris and got in Wed after noon. So basically i have just been running around everywhere and just loving life. The pace here is so fast but i love just running around and talking to everyone. We have two baptisms on Dec 11th it is really exciting. Also we found two people this week who we had a first lesson with and it went so well i cant wait to see them again. So all day long i walk by famous things and i am still a little star struck but my comp says it gets normal after two weeks hahaha. We had three Thanksgiving Dinners it was so great, because there are a lot of Americans in the Paris Ward. Church is crazy because everything is being translated into English, Chinese and Spanish and there are so many tourist visitors that we are running around talking to everyone trying not to miss if a non member comes. Also i spoke my first week to introduce myself and bare my testimony, it was good. My apartment is fun because four languages are being spoken all day (English, French, Tahitian, and Chinese) it is so much fun but some one is always confused and translating what others are saying hahahaha. So all the missionaries from the Paris area met today and we had a Turkey Bowl, it was so much fun. We did in on the grass right outside of the Tomb of Napoleon. We could see the Eiffel Tower and everything, it was so great. Right after this we are going to go up the Eiffel Tower to see Paris from above at night. I just feel like i have so much to say. I guess i just want to say the work here is going great i am loving everything about the mission and am surprised how much i have learned this week. It really is a life changing experience. Well i hope that you are all doing great. JE T'AIME!!!! Make it a great week!!

Elder Davis

PARIS!!!!!!!!!! OOOOLALA!!

Hey,

How is everyone doing? So this week was a crazy week. We were just all over the place with my comp going home. He just left a few hours ago, it is so crazy. Well we found out about this new transfer and i am going into the heart of Paris hahah, it is unreal. I am really sad to leave the members and people here in Cholet because they are just so amazing. I will be saying good bye today and tomorrow. Then on Wed i will head into Paris. Then i will meet my new companion, all i know is he is Tahitian and i have heard a lot of good things about him,.so i can't wait. Well i can't believe that Thanksgiving is this next week. I hope that you all love it, i will tell you how mine goes. The only thing i do know is that president has ok a Turkey Bowl so i am really excited for that. Sorry it is so short this week but i just want to say that i hope that you are all doing amazing and i am so grateful for all your prayers and support. Keep being examples. JE T'AIME!!!!!!!!!

Elder Davis

next week i will let you know how Paris is :)

New address:

Elder Jerry Dee Davis
11, rue des Roses
75018 Paris, France

HEY EVERYONE,

So I am glad to hear that everything is going great back home. Bay good job in CIF that is so cool that you went to second round. It was so good to hear all about your season, Write me and let me know more hahahah love you. Bryce I am excited for you to start wrestling I don't know if i said but my comp right now was a huge wrestler and he was all excited to hear that your season is starting. He kept asking me questions about your team and your wrestling, It all just came down to he is really good hahah that's about all i know, so you too i would love to hear from you and how wrestling is coming. Well to answer your question no one really celebrates Halloween like we do, it is almost non existent here. But because we are Americans we kind of made it happen hahaha. It is so good to hear how well the missionary work is going back home. Dad have fun in Mexico this week. Thanks so much for your letters i love them and it was so great to hear a little more about your mission. Well so i find out what is going to happen for this next transfer on Saturday so i will let you know. I think i will stay in Cholet because my Comp is finishing his mission, but you never know what God has in store for you. Ok so this last week was well ridiculous. First to sum it up we got stuck in Paris until late Fri night. But then again is it really that bad to be stuck in Paris. Hahahah. No we had a lot of fun it was just sad because we had to cancel some RDVs. Well so to start off we got to Paris Tuesday Morning and when we went to buy the tickets back we found out that it was all full for the next day and that Fri was a holiday so the only way home was a late train Fri going 1st class. So we ended up having a lot of time looking around Paris. We saw the Eiffel Tower at night, the Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, and only the outside of the Louve because we did not have time to go in. Also the catacombs were closed for the holiday so that was to bad also. (my camera ran out of batteries so i am going to get all the photos from another Elder and i will send them next week). It was really good though because my comp only has one more week and he had never been to Paris because he came from the other mission when they merged. So it was so good that he was able to have that extra time there. Well now on to Zone conference, It was so amazing. Elder Kapischke (the president of the European missions) Came and spoke to us. It really was life changing. It is hard to say all that i learned, but i think the best lesson was just how to really listen to the spirit and receive and follow personal revelation. We started the meeting at 10 and did not finish until 5 that afternoon but it was just so good it did not even feel that long. Well after we got back from Paris we started saying the goodbyes for Elder Porter. This next week will be interesting, because we have stake conference up in Angers and an exchange in Nantes and Elder Porter needs to pack to go home and finish saying goodbye to everyone. So i hope it does not get to crazy. Well I am excited to see what is going to happen next and i hope that you all have an amazing week. Je t'aime!!

Elder Davis

Family,

        This was a great week. I feel like i say this way to much but time really does fly by. I feel that it will get even faster over the next two weeks as my comp gets ready to go home. Well Halloween ended up being so much fun for me and Elder Porter. We went to a members house and had a huge buffet dinner. Then we played tons of Games. After they usually watch a Halloween movie but because we were they we watched a church one hahahah. I am so excited for Grandma and Grandpa that is so cool. The Riverside Mission, I think that you all might be seeing them more often now. hahaha So we have two Elderly sisters in our District and they are so awesome and they make our district that much better. They make me think how i am excited for that mission to have Grandma and Grandpa. So great! So this week i would have to say i have not really eaten anything interesting, but one lady tried to make a home made microwave pizza and i have to say that was well lets just say interesting, hahaha. It is the thought that counts. Good luck bay against Long Beach Poly! Mom I love you so much and am praying for you. I hope that this week goes well and that the pain greats better. You are amazing. Know that someone over in France is thinking about you and loves you. Well for the rest of this week we did countless hours of walking and porting (knocking doors)because every first week of the month the Car goes to the sisters up in Angers. So we can't see a lot of people who live outside of Cholet. But it was really cool to see the difference in attitude of the people we ported into. Also one really cool experience was when we had been porting a whole neighborhood and no one was home and we had been at it for over an hour. But we kept going and had a good attitude and on the last house a man answered and his wife invited us in and we were able to teach the Plan of Salvation to them. It is interesting to see that sometimes we have to wait until the end to find someone. (a quote from Elder Utchdorf) Some blessings come now, some come later, and some may not come until after this life. But they do come. I Love this church. One last experience i had was we visited this less active that we had seen a few times and we felt that things were going no where but in passing we invited him to the stake priesthood meeting. And to our surprise he showed up and enjoyed it a lot. I guess we just need to have hope and do our best. You never know what is going on inside someone and how God is working with them. Well this next week is full of meetings and for two days we are going up to Paris for a conference so we are so excited. I love you all and Thank you for the prayers. I hope that you all enjoy this next week. JE T'AIME!!!!!!

Elder Davis

Happy Halloween from France!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN,

It was a good week here in Cholet. Thanks so much for the candy and watches. I will try to get them fitted and if not then i will just find one to buy at a market. It sounds like things are going well for everyone. It is good to hear that Mom is doing better. I LOVE YOU!! That Halloween pole vaulting sounds so fun. Good Luck Bay against Murrieta Valley. It sounds like the Ward Halloween party went really well i am glad. So the Halloween party thing did not work out, so me and Elder Porter made treats and gave everyone one in the Branch treats and candy and these little Halloween toys we found at a store. It was really good. We also put a little commitment with it to pass on the love of Christ as the Holiday season is coming up. It was really fun and as we dropped them off people kept inviting us in, so it was a really good way to do visits and get to know people also. Today a member invited us over to spend Halloween with them so we are really excited for that. This week was a really good week here in Cholet we found a new amis named Valerie and also a couple others potentials. We are just starting to see all the finding coming through and it is really exciting. We don't have the car this week so we can't see our new amis this week, but it will be a good time to find people that live here in Cholet. The weather here has been all over the place, but the cold is slowly coming hahaha. Church is really good. This last week we taught a lesson to the young men about having the faith in missionary work and how they are all missionaries right now. It went really good and I really had my testimony strengthen that when you are doing Gods work with faith there is no room to fear or doubt. You will be able to do what the lord wants and make miracles happen. To answer your question on new things i learn in France, well i learn random stuff all the time but this last week one big thing that i thought was cool was how every person that we stopped by to just drop off the Halloween treats invited us in for a drink and a to just visit. It was funny because it happened exactly the same at every place we stopped by. But it was cool to see how their culture is not always so rushed and if you just stop by you stay a little while and visit. One last thing that was really cool this last week was we went to play basketball for samedi (Saturday) sports and met a huge group of people that normally play on Fri but the did it on Saturday that day. They were really interested in what we did and wanted to start coming to our English class that we do each week. So we are excited to have more people come to English class and to see how things happen from there. This is such a great work, i have learned to see all the little ways that God is working with each of us and how to find joy in doing his work. I love you all so much and hope that you have an amazing week and Happy Halloween today. JE T'AIME!!!!!

Elder Davis

Family,

        

       I hope that this week went well. It is good to hear about everyone. I can't wait to hear where Grandma and Grandpa Davis get their call. That is so exciting. Mom I love you and i am glad to hear that all is good. Bryce congrats on the Eagle it sounds like it was a little rough but great job. Dad it sounds like you have been traveling a lot hahah well keep doing work and loving it. Well this week was a really good one. We had the traveling APs with us for a day so that was really good. We had two cars so we were able to drive out to two near by villes and do a lot of finding. We ended up finding three people who said that we could come by another time to talk about the Book of Mormon so we are so excited about that. The rest of our week was the basic life of a missionary. We were able to visit some less actives and do a lot of service. Also we had a really good lesson with an amis named Paulette. We are really praying that she starts to read the Book of Mormon and see the importance of it. Everything with the Branch is going great, they are so awesome. They are going to the temple this week in Switzerland, so it was cool to see the excitement at church with everyone preparing to go. Also we have been planning an activity for our Branch to get them excited about missionary work so we hope that is all goes well and they catch the spirit of God's work. It is amazing to hear how well everyone is doing back home in sharing the gospel. Keep it up. Your examples and the simple act of opening your mouth to share little truths with others are amazing. Some other things that i learned this week. Well to start my companion has been have a lot of fun trying new things to eat for dinner so far i am really impressed but i am still a little scared for what might come next hahaha. Ok so another huge thing that has hit me this week is the power of studies in the morning. I read a article in an old Ensign and it talked about taking that time in the morning to not just study but really ponder and let the spirit talk to you. It has really helped change my mornings from just getting up and going through the motions of the morning and getting ready. It you stop to think a little more about what you have that day, something you studied, a question that has been on your mind, or even if you just need comfort. The spirit speaks to you in the quit hours of the morning and it sets the mood for the whole day. One other thing that I have learned is that it is important to enjoy life. Yes not everything you do is going to be so much fun but as I have learned to not let one little thing set back everything else I have just enjoyed each day more and more. Also they just keep going by way to fast. Well that was the summary or my week. I hope that everyone has a wonderful week. Thanks for the prays!  Have a Happy Halloween. I love you and miss you all. Je t'aime!!

Elder Davis

Elder Davis