Family,
Well it sounds like you are all having a great time back home. I am glad that Mom and Dad enjoyed there time in Anaheim. Sounds like Nicole and Eric are doing really well. How are the boys doing with school and sports? Also it blows my mind that Bryce is about to graduate. How is that going, you holding in there? I am glad that you two were able to go to the mission prep fireside. That is cool that you were able to speak with Elder Ford. To answer your questions yes it is hard but i never expected it to be easy. This is a work to bring souls unto Christ and something that important, i would expect it to be hard. Satan tries to stop the Lord's work from moving forward, but remember God will win. Plus when you look at all the blessings that come with it all you can do is be grateful and happy. I was actually listening to a talk the other day that talked about the loneliness of leadership and trials we go through. I love that they made the point that we will have hard times, feel lonely, and trials that seem unbearable, but if we use our free agency to stay on the path towards Christ and follow his commandments we have the promise that we will have the comfort, peace, and companionship of the Holy Ghost as we go through the trials and after they are through we will have grown so much and become one step closer to what God sees us as and what we want to become. We can do it! Well this was a good week. We were excited to find a new ami named Yannic. He is really cool and had so many questions. He told us how he had been looking for a church and now it has been a long time sense he has really gone to church because he could not find the truth. It makes his a little hesitant to listen, but also so great that he really is searching for truth. Also we have an ami named Serge and we were not really sure if he was interested or just meeting with us to be nice. Well this last RDV we taught the Plan of Salvation and half way through it he started to take notes and ask us a ton of questions. You could see that the spirit hit him and he just wanted to keep learning more. Another cool thing this week is the young family we taught last week. They are still really interested and have started to read the Book of Mormon every night. It is funny because i feel that the work has slowed down a little bit the last couple weeks, but as i am writing i see how many great things are happening. Well thanks for all the support you give me and know that all is well with me. Please pray for me and my companion (Elder Williams) so that we can continue to find people to teach. I love you all so much!
JE T'AIME!!
Elder Davis
FRANCE
FRANCE
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Hey Everyone,
Glad that everything is going great for all of you. I am also really happy to hear that Grandma is doing better. This week was a interesting week. It was a great week and at the same time a really hard week. It was hard because we had nearly everyone cancel on us for this week because it was a break and they were all going places for vacation. So that was hard not being able to see everyone we hoped to see. It did give us a lot of time to find more people, which is always really good. We found some people that i am really excited about.
A highlight of the week was our Zone Conference. It was really good. One huge thing they focused on was the power of a simple testimony. Often we go off on huge tangents and try to speak too much. When you share your testimony no matter how big or small, that is when the spirit will speak to the heart and they can feel the message is true. I really loved the whole training. I have seen as I have stopped and shared my testimony of this gospel more people have felt the spirit and understood the message we are sharing. Also during the zone conference I was able to reflect on the goals I have set for myself and I received ways on how I can better achieve them and set higher goals.
Well one other thing that was interesting this week. Right after me and Elder Williams had finished a lesson we were going to start an exchange with the other team here in Reims. Well we got a call and were told to meet them at the hospital. When we got there we found a member from the States who had come down to visit a friend here in France. His friend had passed out when walking into a café that morning and was rushed to the hospital. He did not speak any French and we came and helped translate for him. To make a long story short the lady he was visiting ended up being alright but had to stay in the hospital for a week for the doctors to watch her. The problem was the man's plane left the next day from Paris. So we had another member pick us up and we went to get his stuff and help him catch a train to Paris. It was a quit the day. One cool thing about it was he was telling us about how his son was 19 and did not know if he should serve a mission, but after we had help him he said he is going to go home and tell his son about it. He said that seeing us come to help him when he was lost and did not know what to do was an answer to his prays and he wants his son to have the opportunity to make a difference in others lives. It is funny because to us it was such a small thing to just go over and help translate, pick up his stuff and take him to the Gare (train station). Sometimes just giving a little of your time to others makes all the difference in their life.
It still amazes me as i look back at each day on the mission. I learn so much and can see the hand of the Lord directing his work. There is so much joy in sharing the truthfulness of this gospel. I invite you all to find a way you can share this joy with others. Whether it be giving a little more of your time, a small testimony, giving out a Book of Mormon, or just being an example to others, you can make a difference in someones life and feel the blessings of being part of this amazing work. I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week. Thanks for all that you have done and still do for me. JE T'AIME!
Elder Davis
Glad that everything is going great for all of you. I am also really happy to hear that Grandma is doing better. This week was a interesting week. It was a great week and at the same time a really hard week. It was hard because we had nearly everyone cancel on us for this week because it was a break and they were all going places for vacation. So that was hard not being able to see everyone we hoped to see. It did give us a lot of time to find more people, which is always really good. We found some people that i am really excited about.
A highlight of the week was our Zone Conference. It was really good. One huge thing they focused on was the power of a simple testimony. Often we go off on huge tangents and try to speak too much. When you share your testimony no matter how big or small, that is when the spirit will speak to the heart and they can feel the message is true. I really loved the whole training. I have seen as I have stopped and shared my testimony of this gospel more people have felt the spirit and understood the message we are sharing. Also during the zone conference I was able to reflect on the goals I have set for myself and I received ways on how I can better achieve them and set higher goals.
Well one other thing that was interesting this week. Right after me and Elder Williams had finished a lesson we were going to start an exchange with the other team here in Reims. Well we got a call and were told to meet them at the hospital. When we got there we found a member from the States who had come down to visit a friend here in France. His friend had passed out when walking into a café that morning and was rushed to the hospital. He did not speak any French and we came and helped translate for him. To make a long story short the lady he was visiting ended up being alright but had to stay in the hospital for a week for the doctors to watch her. The problem was the man's plane left the next day from Paris. So we had another member pick us up and we went to get his stuff and help him catch a train to Paris. It was a quit the day. One cool thing about it was he was telling us about how his son was 19 and did not know if he should serve a mission, but after we had help him he said he is going to go home and tell his son about it. He said that seeing us come to help him when he was lost and did not know what to do was an answer to his prays and he wants his son to have the opportunity to make a difference in others lives. It is funny because to us it was such a small thing to just go over and help translate, pick up his stuff and take him to the Gare (train station). Sometimes just giving a little of your time to others makes all the difference in their life.
It still amazes me as i look back at each day on the mission. I learn so much and can see the hand of the Lord directing his work. There is so much joy in sharing the truthfulness of this gospel. I invite you all to find a way you can share this joy with others. Whether it be giving a little more of your time, a small testimony, giving out a Book of Mormon, or just being an example to others, you can make a difference in someones life and feel the blessings of being part of this amazing work. I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week. Thanks for all that you have done and still do for me. JE T'AIME!
Elder Davis
Monday, February 27, 2012
Family,
It was good to hear from you all. I did not know about grandma. I hope that everything will continue to improve and that is so cool that everyone could go up and be with her. I will have her in my prayers. That is good to hear about Bryce and Paul, it sounds like things are going good for them. I am glad to hear that Nicole got a Job. Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!!!!!! I hope that it is a good one. I will be writing you a letter! Also it is great to hear about Grandma and Grandpa Davis, we were just talking about how much we wish we had a missionary couple here in Reims. It is such a blessing to the ward. It is just amazing how much this gospel has blessed us and continues to bless our family. Well this was a good week. We started planing Mairie-Blanche's baptism and she is getting really excited. It is amazing how much it has already changed her life. We found a lot of good people this week and just yesterday we taught a young family and it was so amazing. I felt like it was the perfect lesson. They were answering the questions and asking a lot of really good questions. They also shared experiences they have had that have strengthen their faith in Christ. They were truly prepared and i could not hold back how happy i was to see their family together and learning of God's plan for them. It was such a great experience. It made all the hard work and long days feel so worth it. I am excited to keep teaching them and hope that they continue on this path to Christ. Also another cool experience we had happened the other day. We were getting on the tram when we saw a big group of guys that saw us and started to laugh. So right away i judged them and walked to a near by seat. Then my companion started to talk to them and we learned that one of the guys was very believing and we ended up getting his number and setting a rendez-vous. It really showed me that i can never judge others, even when they are laughing and being horrible to me. It has been said that kindness is the key to enter a hard heart and stubborn soul. It is amazing how if we follow Christ example in all we do we have so much more joy. I am so grateful to be here on a mission and to be part of this amazing work. I have had a blessed life. Thank you!! Well i hope that your week goes great and you continue to be amazing examples to me and so many others. Je t'aime!!!!!!
Elder Davis
It was good to hear from you all. I did not know about grandma. I hope that everything will continue to improve and that is so cool that everyone could go up and be with her. I will have her in my prayers. That is good to hear about Bryce and Paul, it sounds like things are going good for them. I am glad to hear that Nicole got a Job. Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!!!!!! I hope that it is a good one. I will be writing you a letter! Also it is great to hear about Grandma and Grandpa Davis, we were just talking about how much we wish we had a missionary couple here in Reims. It is such a blessing to the ward. It is just amazing how much this gospel has blessed us and continues to bless our family. Well this was a good week. We started planing Mairie-Blanche's baptism and she is getting really excited. It is amazing how much it has already changed her life. We found a lot of good people this week and just yesterday we taught a young family and it was so amazing. I felt like it was the perfect lesson. They were answering the questions and asking a lot of really good questions. They also shared experiences they have had that have strengthen their faith in Christ. They were truly prepared and i could not hold back how happy i was to see their family together and learning of God's plan for them. It was such a great experience. It made all the hard work and long days feel so worth it. I am excited to keep teaching them and hope that they continue on this path to Christ. Also another cool experience we had happened the other day. We were getting on the tram when we saw a big group of guys that saw us and started to laugh. So right away i judged them and walked to a near by seat. Then my companion started to talk to them and we learned that one of the guys was very believing and we ended up getting his number and setting a rendez-vous. It really showed me that i can never judge others, even when they are laughing and being horrible to me. It has been said that kindness is the key to enter a hard heart and stubborn soul. It is amazing how if we follow Christ example in all we do we have so much more joy. I am so grateful to be here on a mission and to be part of this amazing work. I have had a blessed life. Thank you!! Well i hope that your week goes great and you continue to be amazing examples to me and so many others. Je t'aime!!!!!!
Elder Davis
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Family,
Well it sounds like it was a fun and busy weekend for everyone. I am glad that Mom and Dad had a great time in northern California visiting Aunt Patti. Happy Birthday! Also i hope that everyone enjoyed having Kira down for Brittney's wedding. That is crazy Britt is married i hope all went well at the wedding. Well it was a good week. We were sad that Elder Newell left, but excited to have Elder Lee here. He is so great he is Tahitian and does not speak any English. It is good though because it makes us speak french all the time and we have him around to answer out vocab/grammar questions. We all get alone really great and i think it is going to be a great transfer. The work here is still moving forward. We were able to set rendez-vous with everyone this week. Also Mairie-Blanche is going to get baptised the 10th of next month so have her in your prayers. It was sad this week because we found out that our bishop here in Reims passed away on the 16th. We will being going to his funeral on the 22nd. It was really sad he was recovering from cancer and all seemed to be well and then he passed away in his sleep unexpectedly. So it was a hard week for the members here, but also it really pulled everyone together. Sunday was really sad but it is amazing how great this gospel is, to know that there is a plan for us and that it is not end after we die. Also he passed away on the 4th anniversary of being sealed in the temple with his wife. It is an amazing story he came out of inactivity a few years ago and prepared himself to be sealed with his wife and soon after became Bishop, Wow. It all started just because one of the members invited him back to church because they cared about him. It really is amazing how if you help someone, purely out of your love for them, you can be the first step of endless joy and blessings for them. This gives me more of a drive to love the people i meet and do my best to bring people one step closer to Christ. There is so many blessings and so much Joy in this Gospel and all we need to do is open up our mouths and love people a little bit more. Well everything is going great on the end of things. I am still loving Reims. The members are great and i really like the city. We were able to see more of it the other day because i may or may not have left my bus pass and we had a list of addresses to stop by. It actually was really nice to walk through all the streets and see more of the city we are serving in. Well i hope that all is going well for everyone. I love hearing from everyone! Je t'aime! Make it a great week! Vous me manquez tous!
Elder Davis
Well it sounds like it was a fun and busy weekend for everyone. I am glad that Mom and Dad had a great time in northern California visiting Aunt Patti. Happy Birthday! Also i hope that everyone enjoyed having Kira down for Brittney's wedding. That is crazy Britt is married i hope all went well at the wedding. Well it was a good week. We were sad that Elder Newell left, but excited to have Elder Lee here. He is so great he is Tahitian and does not speak any English. It is good though because it makes us speak french all the time and we have him around to answer out vocab/grammar questions. We all get alone really great and i think it is going to be a great transfer. The work here is still moving forward. We were able to set rendez-vous with everyone this week. Also Mairie-Blanche is going to get baptised the 10th of next month so have her in your prayers. It was sad this week because we found out that our bishop here in Reims passed away on the 16th. We will being going to his funeral on the 22nd. It was really sad he was recovering from cancer and all seemed to be well and then he passed away in his sleep unexpectedly. So it was a hard week for the members here, but also it really pulled everyone together. Sunday was really sad but it is amazing how great this gospel is, to know that there is a plan for us and that it is not end after we die. Also he passed away on the 4th anniversary of being sealed in the temple with his wife. It is an amazing story he came out of inactivity a few years ago and prepared himself to be sealed with his wife and soon after became Bishop, Wow. It all started just because one of the members invited him back to church because they cared about him. It really is amazing how if you help someone, purely out of your love for them, you can be the first step of endless joy and blessings for them. This gives me more of a drive to love the people i meet and do my best to bring people one step closer to Christ. There is so many blessings and so much Joy in this Gospel and all we need to do is open up our mouths and love people a little bit more. Well everything is going great on the end of things. I am still loving Reims. The members are great and i really like the city. We were able to see more of it the other day because i may or may not have left my bus pass and we had a list of addresses to stop by. It actually was really nice to walk through all the streets and see more of the city we are serving in. Well i hope that all is going well for everyone. I love hearing from everyone! Je t'aime! Make it a great week! Vous me manquez tous!
Elder Davis
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Happy Valentines Day!!!!
Family,It was so good to hear from you all this week. I miss when all the family would come over to our house. I hope that everyone had a great time. Well Valentine's day is tomorrow and because as a missionary that does not mean much i guess i can can just say I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!! And take this holiday to also focus on the love of the savior and how you can share his pure love with those around you.This was a good week! We got the e-mail for the transfer and i am staying in Reims with Elder Williams, i am so excited about it. Also we found out that Elder Newell is leaving and the new Elder coming to Reims is Elder Lee and all i know about him is that he is from French Polynesia. I will let you know more after he gets here on Wed. He has been out for a couple months, so i don't know if he speaks English. Well the work was really good this week. In the middle of the week we got stuck in Paris because the trains home were full. We ended up having to reschedule some rendez-vous, but after that everything went great. This week we did a lot of finding, well we always do a lot of finding, but this week we found some really good people. Yesterday was such an amazing day. Really it was just a day of miracles for both me and the other team here. One really cool thing is that one of our amis got really mad in church and started to yell at everyone because she got really offended by what someone said and then she told us she was done being taught. So we just started praying and first she decided to stay for sacrament meeting. After that the whole meeting seemed to just be so full of the spirit and after she knew that she needed to keep going with the lessons and forgave the people who offended her. Then on top of that she ran into a friend and started to share the gospel with her and we got her number. She told us that her friend had so many questions and she wanted us to teach and answer them. She even invited her friend to church. As the day went on we kept seeing more and more miracles and that night we started to tell the other Elders about our amazing day and they had just as many stories to tell us. We are on the lords mission and he does direct it. Well a few other things about the week. The temperature is going up so i am happy about that, after it snowed two more times hahaha. We were able to get a hold of all our amis that we lost contact from and things are going well. Last I just finished transfer deep cleaning and i think that our apartment has never looked so clean. This morning i was actually reading a talk on learning and it talked about before we have good teachers we must learn to be good learners. At first i did not really get it but i ended up getting so much out of it and learned a lot on how i can improve. Some things that stood out to me is that if we are ever bored in a meeting, lesson, class, sacrament, ect.... It is your fault. The spirit can be there and will testify and bring you personal revelation but only if you put in the effort. The other thing was to always be learning. Look for opportunity and pray for it. Well that just really hit me on how much more i can be getting out of each day and how important it is that we constantly are growing and improving. I Love you all so much. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! JE T'AIME!!!!Elder Davis
Monday, February 6, 2012
It Snowed!!!!!
Family,
It is so good to hear about all the missionary experiences that you are all having back home. Keep it up Bryce and Paul that is so great. Wow, Dad i did not realize that you traveled so much. Let me know how it all goes. Mom you are the best. I love getting your emails. It is so funny how much yours and Dads emails correspond to each other, it made me laugh. I can't believe that Brittany is getting married so soon. Well it is good to hear that everyone is doing so well. So i will send pictures as soon as i can. I have been having trouble sending them because i used to always barrow the card converter from my companions but right now no one i am with has one so maybe i will have to look how much they are or find another way, but i will send pictures as soon as i can. It snowed this week!! It randomly dropped like crazy and has been really cold. Haha i lost one of gloves on the Metro, so i need to get new ones because waiting for buses is starting to get hard. Luckily Sunday was supposed to be the lowest and now we are going uphill. Well the work here is going great. Yesterday both Marie-Blanche and Stela came to church and we set a baptismal date with Marie-Blanche. Also we finally met up with a man that we saw our first week here and it went really well. The work just keeps moving forward and we are excited to continue to find, teach, and bring more people to Christ. This is the last week of the transfer, can you believe how fast that went. We find out on Sat what will happen, i believe that i will stay, but you never really know what the lord has planed for you so i will keep you updated. So i feel that i finally am really used to typing on a french keyboard, just thought i would share that with you. This week i found an old conference magazine in our apartment and started to read through it. To my surprise i remembered a lot of the talks. I guess that when i was little and i was so focused on finishing my bingo (in between my naps hahaha) i really did get a lot more out then i thought. Thanks Mom and Dad, i really have seen how much all that you have done for me has blessed me. JE T'AIME!!! One other cool experience i had this week was after a long day of finding and it being really cold i felt a little down because we had spent all day working hard and i felt there was nothing to show for it. I had prayed that we could at least find one person who was ready for the gospel. We got on the bus to go back to the apartment and then a man sat across from us. We ended up talking to him, after one of the moments where they are trying really hard to read your name tag and trying to be sly about it but really they are way obvious. We got his number and it was a testimony builder to me that sometimes it is when you have gone to the edge and felt that you can't give any more and turn to the lord to find that strength, that is when miracles happen. Well i love you all so much and pray for you. Make it another great week.
Elder Davis
JE T'AIME!! Tu me manques!
It is so good to hear about all the missionary experiences that you are all having back home. Keep it up Bryce and Paul that is so great. Wow, Dad i did not realize that you traveled so much. Let me know how it all goes. Mom you are the best. I love getting your emails. It is so funny how much yours and Dads emails correspond to each other, it made me laugh. I can't believe that Brittany is getting married so soon. Well it is good to hear that everyone is doing so well. So i will send pictures as soon as i can. I have been having trouble sending them because i used to always barrow the card converter from my companions but right now no one i am with has one so maybe i will have to look how much they are or find another way, but i will send pictures as soon as i can. It snowed this week!! It randomly dropped like crazy and has been really cold. Haha i lost one of gloves on the Metro, so i need to get new ones because waiting for buses is starting to get hard. Luckily Sunday was supposed to be the lowest and now we are going uphill. Well the work here is going great. Yesterday both Marie-Blanche and Stela came to church and we set a baptismal date with Marie-Blanche. Also we finally met up with a man that we saw our first week here and it went really well. The work just keeps moving forward and we are excited to continue to find, teach, and bring more people to Christ. This is the last week of the transfer, can you believe how fast that went. We find out on Sat what will happen, i believe that i will stay, but you never really know what the lord has planed for you so i will keep you updated. So i feel that i finally am really used to typing on a french keyboard, just thought i would share that with you. This week i found an old conference magazine in our apartment and started to read through it. To my surprise i remembered a lot of the talks. I guess that when i was little and i was so focused on finishing my bingo (in between my naps hahaha) i really did get a lot more out then i thought. Thanks Mom and Dad, i really have seen how much all that you have done for me has blessed me. JE T'AIME!!! One other cool experience i had this week was after a long day of finding and it being really cold i felt a little down because we had spent all day working hard and i felt there was nothing to show for it. I had prayed that we could at least find one person who was ready for the gospel. We got on the bus to go back to the apartment and then a man sat across from us. We ended up talking to him, after one of the moments where they are trying really hard to read your name tag and trying to be sly about it but really they are way obvious. We got his number and it was a testimony builder to me that sometimes it is when you have gone to the edge and felt that you can't give any more and turn to the lord to find that strength, that is when miracles happen. Well i love you all so much and pray for you. Make it another great week.
Elder Davis
JE T'AIME!! Tu me manques!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Family,
It sounds like the wedding went really great. I am glad to hear that everyone enjoyed it and to hear how happy Aubri is. That is cool to hear about your goal to go to the templemore, that is so great. I am excited to go to the temple again when i get back. Oh were you able to look at the website on the temple being built here? That sounds like a cool video that you were watching about two brothers growing up together and going on missions. It made me think about when we were all little and the games we used to play. They always ended and someone getting hurt, usually Bay hahah. I love you Bryce and Paul! Hope that everything is going great. Well this week was a great week. I had an exchange where i went up to Paris for a day. It was really nice, but it was the outer part of Paris not the area i served in. We did a service this week serving food to people in need. That was really fun and it was cool how you could really see that the people who were truly thankful and kept saying thank you were the ones who were happier. It showed me that if i will be more grateful and express it to God, companions, and amis, it will not only let them know that i care but i will also be more happy. We found two new small families this week. One we stopped by this ladies house because we ran into her on the street and she gave us her address, but did not really seem interested. Well when we stopped by she agreed to listen and then ended up coming to church on Sunday and we have another lesson planed. Her name is Stela. The other lady is Mairie Brigette, she is a lady that had heard the missionaries years ago but did not believe in God. They left her with a Bible and a few years after she found faith in Christ and then she ran into us and wanted to hear our message again. Also Marie Blanche the lady we have been teaching came to church and really enjoyed it and now said she is going to be praying for when she should be baptised. Things are just really moving forward here. Also the other team here is doing really well. And lets not forget that there are still a lot of people out there waiting to hear the good news. I am just excited for this work. Thanks for all the prays i know that they are being answered and i fell your love from back home everyday. Oh another thing from this week that i thought you would like to hear is we were at a members house and i showed some pictures of our family and some of cousins and they were all talking about how great you all look hahah. All is good here. Well except for i have spent my whole day trying to fix a leak in the bathroom. In the end we don't have water until tomorrow afternoon and we have to catch a train to Paris in the morning, so i think we are going to have to figure something out, hahaha. But despite that dilemma, I am still enjoying everything. My companion is great and Reims is awesome. Je t'aime!!! Have a great week!
Elder Davis
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