Sis. McCloy & Sis. Davis!
Sis. Davis, Sis. McCloy and Sarah!!
P-Day
Random Panda at the Zoo
Sis. Davis & Sis. McCloy showing off their new haircuts!Thursday, June 30, 2011
Week 19 - Pictures!!
Sis. McCloy & Sis. Davis! Sis. Davis, Sis. McCloy and Sarah!! P-Day Random Panda at the Zoo Sis. Davis & Sis. McCloy showing off their new haircuts!
Week 19 - Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Well I make a list of things I want to tell you all and today I just about wrote you my grocery list. :) I knew you'd appreciate it at least. Haha ps I was wondering, how much peanut butter do you put in peanut butter cookies? I wanted to make them but of course in my recipe I completely left out the most crucial ingredient! I'm a bit stumped as to why I didn't include it, but if you could lt me know that would be fabulous!
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So I've decided that ever since Leaving for the mission, i've kinda been a fan of change. Interesting right? I mean I not only got rid of 3/4 of my stuff at home, cut my hair, cut my hair again, and painted my nails Bright pink (yeah I know), but I'm also a bit stir crazy and I kinda want to move to a different place. I love the people I work with and we're getting lots of member visits and referrals and I enjoy the people and the center but I kinda want a change. Haha I guess my Mission President leaving tomorrow isn't big enough. It's actually really sad. We had a final Mission President's fireside with Pres. Donaldson on Sunday. Sis. Cluff and I have been trying to get the Donaldsons a gift before they left since we were companions, so we Finally got it to them at our practice. During the fireside we all sang with all we had. Amor (the lady in the District II video who was taught by Sis. Voyles and Zaldivar who was married to Teddy and had two kids) she actually gave her testimony at the fireside. It was really interesting to see her up close and realize she was real! And in mission lingo I realized that Sis. Voyles is my grandmother. :)
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Haha well we watched a mormon message called Moments that Matter Most and I suggest that everyone watches it. I Love it. And then Pres. spoke and pretty much everyone cried as he said it was his last fireside and we were the best missionaries ever! He closed by saying He knew our Savior and Joseph Smith. And we all knew exactly what he meant. We love President and we are going to miss him and Sis. Donaldson sooo much! But it's all for the best and Pres. Clayton will be awesome. I gave Sis. Donaldson like 4 hugs and Pres told me after the mission I could find him and give him a hug. Which I will be doing. :) PS if anyone is interested, who will be in Utah at the time, wants to listen to the Donaldson's give their homecoming talk in church they will be speaking July 10th at the Cedar Hills 10th ward at 9am (address = 9737 Chesterfield Dr. Cedar Hills, UT) just saying *cough cough* those who live in Utah should Definitely go! *cough* :)
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Well other than all that we had two miracles las week! :) One Alexis FINALLY answered her phone and wants to meet with us. Two, Jen talked with us again, she is willing to find out the truth and she Came to Church! If you knew Jen, you would be screaming with joy. I know I had to stifle back a shout of praise when she walked in. We weren't expecting her to show up at all! We still have qute a bit of work to do with her bc she isn't sure if she wants to change her lifestyle but as soon as she gets that witness we'll be miles ahead. :)
.
I feel like most of this week has been visiting members getting them to invite their friends, so we haven't really met with any investigators. It's a bit slow right now. But we're hoping to pick it up this week as we may get a new investigator through Mariah! And we're having every female in the two wards pray to know if there is someone they know who is ready for the gospel. It seems to be working, now we'll have to find a way to get the members to invite them. As much as I love the singles, sometimes they just don't feel obligated to do anything. But we're still working with them. There's always hope. :)
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I'm praying for everyone back home! And I realized last week that all my friends are returning, it's kinda strange. I think Perry may be home soon too. Tell everyone I say hi when you see them! :) It's really strange to think that I'll be home in a year and a month. I just got out, and i'm almost 1/3 of the way done! crazy.
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Well I attached pictures of the new watches we got, me, Sis. McCloy, me, Lynette and Josh (who will soon get engaged, don't tell Lynette); Sis. McCloy, me and Sarah, one of my favorite members ever; and Sis. McCloy and I with our new hair cuts.
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Well I love you all! Keep me updated with your lives!
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Love, Sister Maureen Davis
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So I've decided that ever since Leaving for the mission, i've kinda been a fan of change. Interesting right? I mean I not only got rid of 3/4 of my stuff at home, cut my hair, cut my hair again, and painted my nails Bright pink (yeah I know), but I'm also a bit stir crazy and I kinda want to move to a different place. I love the people I work with and we're getting lots of member visits and referrals and I enjoy the people and the center but I kinda want a change. Haha I guess my Mission President leaving tomorrow isn't big enough. It's actually really sad. We had a final Mission President's fireside with Pres. Donaldson on Sunday. Sis. Cluff and I have been trying to get the Donaldsons a gift before they left since we were companions, so we Finally got it to them at our practice. During the fireside we all sang with all we had. Amor (the lady in the District II video who was taught by Sis. Voyles and Zaldivar who was married to Teddy and had two kids) she actually gave her testimony at the fireside. It was really interesting to see her up close and realize she was real! And in mission lingo I realized that Sis. Voyles is my grandmother. :)
.
Haha well we watched a mormon message called Moments that Matter Most and I suggest that everyone watches it. I Love it. And then Pres. spoke and pretty much everyone cried as he said it was his last fireside and we were the best missionaries ever! He closed by saying He knew our Savior and Joseph Smith. And we all knew exactly what he meant. We love President and we are going to miss him and Sis. Donaldson sooo much! But it's all for the best and Pres. Clayton will be awesome. I gave Sis. Donaldson like 4 hugs and Pres told me after the mission I could find him and give him a hug. Which I will be doing. :) PS if anyone is interested, who will be in Utah at the time, wants to listen to the Donaldson's give their homecoming talk in church they will be speaking July 10th at the Cedar Hills 10th ward at 9am (address = 9737 Chesterfield Dr. Cedar Hills, UT) just saying *cough cough* those who live in Utah should Definitely go! *cough* :)
.
Well other than all that we had two miracles las week! :) One Alexis FINALLY answered her phone and wants to meet with us. Two, Jen talked with us again, she is willing to find out the truth and she Came to Church! If you knew Jen, you would be screaming with joy. I know I had to stifle back a shout of praise when she walked in. We weren't expecting her to show up at all! We still have qute a bit of work to do with her bc she isn't sure if she wants to change her lifestyle but as soon as she gets that witness we'll be miles ahead. :)
.
I feel like most of this week has been visiting members getting them to invite their friends, so we haven't really met with any investigators. It's a bit slow right now. But we're hoping to pick it up this week as we may get a new investigator through Mariah! And we're having every female in the two wards pray to know if there is someone they know who is ready for the gospel. It seems to be working, now we'll have to find a way to get the members to invite them. As much as I love the singles, sometimes they just don't feel obligated to do anything. But we're still working with them. There's always hope. :)
.
I'm praying for everyone back home! And I realized last week that all my friends are returning, it's kinda strange. I think Perry may be home soon too. Tell everyone I say hi when you see them! :) It's really strange to think that I'll be home in a year and a month. I just got out, and i'm almost 1/3 of the way done! crazy.
.
Well I attached pictures of the new watches we got, me, Sis. McCloy, me, Lynette and Josh (who will soon get engaged, don't tell Lynette); Sis. McCloy, me and Sarah, one of my favorite members ever; and Sis. McCloy and I with our new hair cuts.
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Well I love you all! Keep me updated with your lives!
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Love, Sister Maureen Davis
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Week 18 - Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
Thank you for the letters! It so good to hear from you all!
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And thank you mother for all the kind advice you give me. I'm trying my best to be good at being healthy. As for Mission Prep class, it's going well! We talked about Revelation this past week and this week we'll be discussing Teach People, Not Lessons. I really like it, though we tend to just discuss the topics then have a seminary-type lesson.
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I hope dad had a god Father's Day, know that even though I couldn't call I was thinking about him. We had a dinner with the Robisons and Browns and we were each asked to talk a bit about our fathers and how important they are to us. Everyone seemed to have one defining trait about their fathers. Guess what dad's was? Funny. It just purely defines you dad. That's all I can say. :)
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As for finding, it hasn't been going too well. It is just strange trying to find people while working at the Center. But we're working on it and Heavenly Father still blesses us even when we don't deserve it. :) He's too good to us sometimes. Just this week this lady named Gena randomly walked into the center asking us for a Book of Mormon. We found out she has been less active for the past 30 years and now she's trying to straighten up her life. So she's been readine Book of Mormon and yesterday she met with us. She wants to be re-taught the lessons so that she can become fully active again and be with her 1st husband who she is still technically sealed to! I can't tell you how excited I am for her! Coming back after 30 years, Still knowing it is true! We told her she needs to reconfirm her testimony and that as she keeps reading, praying and asking through life, she will keep that testimony strong. She just soaked in everything we said, we told her to contact her bishop so that she can get things worked out and she said she would this week, before Sunday and she'd go back to Church on Sunday. We are soooooo happy for her and blessed to be a part of this experience! I was really happy and excited as I talked to her, I hope she didn't find me too strange. Sometimes I just can't contain my happiness.... oh well!
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President Donaldson leaves next week. :( so we're having a last fireside in Poway on Sunday. We're sad but excited to meet our new president.
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So as finding by ourselves can be somewhat unproductive we are trying to find more through members. Mariah is one of our star members! Last wednesday we talked to her about missionary work and who she knows that is ready she said there is a girl named Stephanie who is ready. She wanted to know how to talk about the gospel so we role-played, which I still dislike but when I was doing it with Mariah it was so easy! We talked about sharing our testimony and letting people know why we find the gospel so important in our lives. And she was like "yeah I need to do that!" so she said she would. Well yesterday she texted us and asked if she could meet with us. We met and se told us she has some goals for missionary work. Yep! She said that she wants to work on 3 of her friends and she thinks they are all interested and then she wants to help two of her less active friends come back. So we're currently working on plans for them. We met Stephanie last night and we're planning on meeting with her this week sometime! Because new members usually want to work on missionary work more we also talked to Becky about it and the next day she had talked to her dad about the church, she suggested websites he should visit to learn more and she also told a friend in Florida about the church. Although neither in our area, we are so very proud of her and her desire to share. :)
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On a sad note, Emily dropped us. And Jen and Ilima, our only two other investigators are seemingly not interested. We're still working with them though it is difficult. Jen's boss contributes to our challenges and Ilima's lifestyle makes it hard for her to want to change. But we pray for pretty much Everyone!
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We have a new member named Taylor who is going through a Very difficult time. She just found out that her ex-husband who abandoned her and her children is getting full custody of the kids as she doesn't have a job. And she was deathly sick the other day And her roommate Hates mormons. She's having a very hard time with it all but we're working with her trying to help her see that no matter how difficult life is, Heavenly Father has a divine, eternal plan for her and she can't see it all right now. If she finds a job before august and works to have a income and a house she can get her kids back after a certain time period but it is still terrible that they won't let her have them now. Well we brought her brownies the other day and stick-note attacked her door with awesome comments so that she knows she's loved and she was so grateful for them. We saw her yesterday and asked her if she wanted a priesthood blessing, she said she did so we're trying to organize away for her to do it when her roommate is away and when her hometeachers are available. It's tricky but She's far more than worth it!
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Thank you for letters! They were a wonderful surprise!
.
Oh something I learned this week - Instead of asking Heavenly Father to help and bless others we should be asking Him what We can be doing to help these people! It is through others that Heavenly Father blesses us. :)
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Last but Not least ... drumroll..... Guess what?! Bro. Thomas is getting BAPTIZED!!!! I know I talked about him before. He's in Clairemont and he is the one we had to tell we couldn't visit bc he wasn't ready yet, and the one who's wife was upset we didn't warn her beforehand, and who Sis. Cluff and I absolutely love!!! And after four LONG years of missionaries talking to him he finally decided to be baptized! The day is July 9th and he asked Sis. Cluff and I to sing at his baptism. :) We're so happy!!!!
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Well I love you all! I'm so happy to be a missionary and to be out here. It's such a blessing! I'm so glad everyone is doing well and that things are working out right now. Life is Awesome! :) I love you!
.
Love, Sister Maureen Davis
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And thank you mother for all the kind advice you give me. I'm trying my best to be good at being healthy. As for Mission Prep class, it's going well! We talked about Revelation this past week and this week we'll be discussing Teach People, Not Lessons. I really like it, though we tend to just discuss the topics then have a seminary-type lesson.
.
I hope dad had a god Father's Day, know that even though I couldn't call I was thinking about him. We had a dinner with the Robisons and Browns and we were each asked to talk a bit about our fathers and how important they are to us. Everyone seemed to have one defining trait about their fathers. Guess what dad's was? Funny. It just purely defines you dad. That's all I can say. :)
.
As for finding, it hasn't been going too well. It is just strange trying to find people while working at the Center. But we're working on it and Heavenly Father still blesses us even when we don't deserve it. :) He's too good to us sometimes. Just this week this lady named Gena randomly walked into the center asking us for a Book of Mormon. We found out she has been less active for the past 30 years and now she's trying to straighten up her life. So she's been readine Book of Mormon and yesterday she met with us. She wants to be re-taught the lessons so that she can become fully active again and be with her 1st husband who she is still technically sealed to! I can't tell you how excited I am for her! Coming back after 30 years, Still knowing it is true! We told her she needs to reconfirm her testimony and that as she keeps reading, praying and asking through life, she will keep that testimony strong. She just soaked in everything we said, we told her to contact her bishop so that she can get things worked out and she said she would this week, before Sunday and she'd go back to Church on Sunday. We are soooooo happy for her and blessed to be a part of this experience! I was really happy and excited as I talked to her, I hope she didn't find me too strange. Sometimes I just can't contain my happiness.... oh well!
.
President Donaldson leaves next week. :( so we're having a last fireside in Poway on Sunday. We're sad but excited to meet our new president.
.
So as finding by ourselves can be somewhat unproductive we are trying to find more through members. Mariah is one of our star members! Last wednesday we talked to her about missionary work and who she knows that is ready she said there is a girl named Stephanie who is ready. She wanted to know how to talk about the gospel so we role-played, which I still dislike but when I was doing it with Mariah it was so easy! We talked about sharing our testimony and letting people know why we find the gospel so important in our lives. And she was like "yeah I need to do that!" so she said she would. Well yesterday she texted us and asked if she could meet with us. We met and se told us she has some goals for missionary work. Yep! She said that she wants to work on 3 of her friends and she thinks they are all interested and then she wants to help two of her less active friends come back. So we're currently working on plans for them. We met Stephanie last night and we're planning on meeting with her this week sometime! Because new members usually want to work on missionary work more we also talked to Becky about it and the next day she had talked to her dad about the church, she suggested websites he should visit to learn more and she also told a friend in Florida about the church. Although neither in our area, we are so very proud of her and her desire to share. :)
.
On a sad note, Emily dropped us. And Jen and Ilima, our only two other investigators are seemingly not interested. We're still working with them though it is difficult. Jen's boss contributes to our challenges and Ilima's lifestyle makes it hard for her to want to change. But we pray for pretty much Everyone!
.
We have a new member named Taylor who is going through a Very difficult time. She just found out that her ex-husband who abandoned her and her children is getting full custody of the kids as she doesn't have a job. And she was deathly sick the other day And her roommate Hates mormons. She's having a very hard time with it all but we're working with her trying to help her see that no matter how difficult life is, Heavenly Father has a divine, eternal plan for her and she can't see it all right now. If she finds a job before august and works to have a income and a house she can get her kids back after a certain time period but it is still terrible that they won't let her have them now. Well we brought her brownies the other day and stick-note attacked her door with awesome comments so that she knows she's loved and she was so grateful for them. We saw her yesterday and asked her if she wanted a priesthood blessing, she said she did so we're trying to organize away for her to do it when her roommate is away and when her hometeachers are available. It's tricky but She's far more than worth it!
.
Thank you for letters! They were a wonderful surprise!
.
Oh something I learned this week - Instead of asking Heavenly Father to help and bless others we should be asking Him what We can be doing to help these people! It is through others that Heavenly Father blesses us. :)
.
Last but Not least ... drumroll..... Guess what?! Bro. Thomas is getting BAPTIZED!!!! I know I talked about him before. He's in Clairemont and he is the one we had to tell we couldn't visit bc he wasn't ready yet, and the one who's wife was upset we didn't warn her beforehand, and who Sis. Cluff and I absolutely love!!! And after four LONG years of missionaries talking to him he finally decided to be baptized! The day is July 9th and he asked Sis. Cluff and I to sing at his baptism. :) We're so happy!!!!
.
Well I love you all! I'm so happy to be a missionary and to be out here. It's such a blessing! I'm so glad everyone is doing well and that things are working out right now. Life is Awesome! :) I love you!
.
Love, Sister Maureen Davis
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Week 17 - Thursday, June 16th, 2011
SOOOO Many Questions to Answer! Haha okay I'll begin by answering ALL of them:
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1. I'm doing well. The work is definitely keeping me busy. We have some lulls every now and then and we're trying to fit in as much finding in those times as we can. We don't have many investigators so we have to do a lot more finding!
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2. Sis. McCloy is doing great. In fact this last Saturday we had our companionship inventory where we pretty much agreed upon the fact that whenever the mission gets hard, whenever we get tired or frustrated we tell each other to "deck satan." Don't ask. We just find it very entertaining, we laugh and then we work harder. so it works. :)
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3. The Robisons and Browns are awesome! We feel like we have a better connection with the Robisons probably because we think a lot alike. The Browns are awesome and very talented. We really need their talent here so we're grateful they're here. Their daughter actually started something called One Heart Bulgaria where they help orphans in Bulgaria. It's really cool and her mission companion (they both served in Bulgaria) actually has a mormon.org movie profile about it. The Robison's are very friendly and funny. In fact Elder Robison and Bishop McWhirter of the 18th ward remind me of dad a bit. They're both just goofy and they love to relentlessly tease us! :) They're fun.
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4. Yes we have a car still
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5. If we see tourists, I don't notice them very much. Probably because we spend lots of time at the center and not quite out and about.
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6. Our area is HUGE, because it's pretty much two stakes, as we cover two singles wards from different stakes.
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7. We really don't tract. Our mission is kinda a pilot for working with members a lot more. So we try to find through members more than our own efforts. But every now and then we will go out and knock on some doors. Most of them are potentials or formers though.
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8. Gospel essentials class? Like in church? I'm pretty sure it's like any other gospel principle's class. It's good!
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9. We don't cook that much. We've been fed by people a lot more lately and we just don't have the time to cook anything extravagent. The biggest thing we make is fajitas and we'll do that at least once a week. ;)
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10. I did get the package last week. Thank you so much! The inside had ripped so the insulation for the package had kinda mixed in with everything haha but the candy still tasted really good. ;) Thank you! I like the braclet and necklace too.
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11. We're still working on finding people.
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12. Becky and Dessa are doing great! Dessa is on her ship again and we don't know when she gets back exactly. But Becky is doing really well. She was sick on Sunday so she couldn't come to church but she went to the Elder's baptism for Leo this Saturday and she was still really enjoying it. She thought it was interesting to see what happened to her. :)
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13. Yes, I'm getting exercise. Probably not as much as I need as just walking around the Huge San Diego Zoo pretty much killed me. :)
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14. I'm eating well enough. Making sure I eat every meal, I have to make sure Sis. McCloy eats too. And i'm being more healthy then before so I think I'm doing well.
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15. P-days: we usually do e-mails, go shopping, write letters and if we have anything else planned, any other cool activities such as the Zoo, lighthouses, Balboa Park, etc. Pres. just told us to have fun on preparation days within our rules of course, so we try our best. ;)
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16. We are excited for our new pres. sad for Pres and Sis. Donaldson to leave but we know that Pres and Sis. Clayton have to be amazing to deal with this lot in San Diego. ;)
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Okay, I think that's all of them.
As for the jokes. Thank you much! They are much improved mom. ;) Haha I really like those ones. And thank you for all of your profound knowledge, it's much appreciated. It was really what I needed. Ah I love you all! Tell Olivia I miss her too but that'll just make it all the better when I come back. :) Oh and I love how all the pictures Olivia draws of us always include name tags and skirts with loops at the ends. :)
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And stake relief society second counselor huh? Hahaha oh mom, that's not my fault at all. ;) But it's true, something I do miss from home is the fact that we Do have the spirit there. It Is a place of learning, of prayer, of fasting, of faith, and every now and then a house of order. :) But it is a special place and it makes me excited to go back. Not only that but when we go to some houses, occassionally, they're nice but they're missing something and you can feel it. That's why everyone needs to be Baptized and receive the Holy Ghost! Elder Yi's motto is that we need to get everyone to their next ordinance... so he's at the stage where he's trying to get new converts to marry each other so they can get sealed in the Temple... we usually shake our heads and laugh. He's not the greatest of matchmakers. Still, the poor dear is trying his best. :)
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Haha I need to mention, as I just flipped through my scriptures that they're covered in notes and colors. I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. But at least they're being used very well and lovingly. I love the scriptures. It's sometimes funny how I thought they were so boring way back when... all of a year ago. Ok not boring, but I didn't seem to understand them. I don't know how the change occured. I guess I just seemed to understand them moreso then ever before and now I see things and think how could I Not have seen this before. It's really interesting.
Agh! There's too much to write and too little time!
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Okay! So in Preach my Gospel it talks about the ward mission plan in the ch 13. You need to read that section and my suggestion, create a family or individual mission plan. It is so inspired! We need to set goals before we can ever realize what we can do, and the more specific they are the better. Man, life after the mission will be pretty much me getting excited over mission plans and scripture study book clubs or something. I think it's so funny how excited I get about these things. In fact, Sis. McCloy and I talk about our missionary prep class we're teaching and sometimes I get on my soap box and tell her how we should be implementing more and preparing more, etc. Haha it's funny, thank heavens she understands me. I really seem to have way more opinions then I ever did before, again I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. :)
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Our 9th ward council is finally understanding how it should run! It so exciting to see this dramatic change from focusing on all these activities and how we don't have time for service opportunities to "hey how can we help this individual come back to church or feel welcomed, etc." I LOVE it! And I have no idea how it started changing. I do know we owe a lot to our ward mission leader who is phenominal and who is in the words of president "getting it." We're working on the 18th ward now. They have a lot of energy but we need to direct the energy into the work. It is sure to be good. We're very excited about the Center right now. :)
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Our investigators as of right now are pretty much ilima, Jen and Emily. Yep only three, hence the need for finding!!! Especially when they only seem to meet once a week. It's really difficult to get any of them to keep their appointments actually, especially with Jen. Jen's boss hates mormons, he was one, and she happens to live in the same apartment as him... which makes things very tricky. I hate to say it but the Devil is definitely working on him, and getting him to keep Jen from really learning more. Her dad is mormon and he forces her to come to church with him at times. She doesn't think Joseph Smith is a prophet and she says the only reason she met with us is because she told us she would. It was a let down and if it weren't for our Sister trainer who was with us we may have died! But, fortunately we re-taught her the restoration and asked her to read and pray to know if it is true and she said she would. In fact her countenance had changed and become more soft. It was really cool
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Here's what I know. The church is true. How do I know? I've read and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true. I Know I received an answer and every day I testify of that to others I know even moreso. Because the Book of Mormon is true, because it is tangible evidence of the truth of God, I know Joseph Smith had to be a prophet, otherwise he couldn't have translated the book through the power of God. And because I know the Book is true, I know that what it teaches is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that because of Him we can return to live with out Father again, that because He lives, we will live, that because He knows Me, I never have to feel alone and His atonement can heal me. I know that the only way to have access to that atonement is through the ordinances. Without being baptized by the Proper Priesthood Authority, we cannot take part of the Atonement. It just makes sense! I know God loves us and that He has designed this amazing plan for us! Oh how wonderful a plan that is. I love it! I love Heavenly Father! I love this Gospel and I'm so excited to be working here! :)
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I love you all, and I wish you the best! Please write if you have the time. I'd love to hear from you all! :) Plus missionaries thrive off of mail. ;) haha jk but really.
Love Sister Davis
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1. I'm doing well. The work is definitely keeping me busy. We have some lulls every now and then and we're trying to fit in as much finding in those times as we can. We don't have many investigators so we have to do a lot more finding!
.
2. Sis. McCloy is doing great. In fact this last Saturday we had our companionship inventory where we pretty much agreed upon the fact that whenever the mission gets hard, whenever we get tired or frustrated we tell each other to "deck satan." Don't ask. We just find it very entertaining, we laugh and then we work harder. so it works. :)
.
3. The Robisons and Browns are awesome! We feel like we have a better connection with the Robisons probably because we think a lot alike. The Browns are awesome and very talented. We really need their talent here so we're grateful they're here. Their daughter actually started something called One Heart Bulgaria where they help orphans in Bulgaria. It's really cool and her mission companion (they both served in Bulgaria) actually has a mormon.org movie profile about it. The Robison's are very friendly and funny. In fact Elder Robison and Bishop McWhirter of the 18th ward remind me of dad a bit. They're both just goofy and they love to relentlessly tease us! :) They're fun.
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4. Yes we have a car still
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5. If we see tourists, I don't notice them very much. Probably because we spend lots of time at the center and not quite out and about.
.
6. Our area is HUGE, because it's pretty much two stakes, as we cover two singles wards from different stakes.
.
7. We really don't tract. Our mission is kinda a pilot for working with members a lot more. So we try to find through members more than our own efforts. But every now and then we will go out and knock on some doors. Most of them are potentials or formers though.
.
8. Gospel essentials class? Like in church? I'm pretty sure it's like any other gospel principle's class. It's good!
.
9. We don't cook that much. We've been fed by people a lot more lately and we just don't have the time to cook anything extravagent. The biggest thing we make is fajitas and we'll do that at least once a week. ;)
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10. I did get the package last week. Thank you so much! The inside had ripped so the insulation for the package had kinda mixed in with everything haha but the candy still tasted really good. ;) Thank you! I like the braclet and necklace too.
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11. We're still working on finding people.
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12. Becky and Dessa are doing great! Dessa is on her ship again and we don't know when she gets back exactly. But Becky is doing really well. She was sick on Sunday so she couldn't come to church but she went to the Elder's baptism for Leo this Saturday and she was still really enjoying it. She thought it was interesting to see what happened to her. :)
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13. Yes, I'm getting exercise. Probably not as much as I need as just walking around the Huge San Diego Zoo pretty much killed me. :)
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14. I'm eating well enough. Making sure I eat every meal, I have to make sure Sis. McCloy eats too. And i'm being more healthy then before so I think I'm doing well.
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15. P-days: we usually do e-mails, go shopping, write letters and if we have anything else planned, any other cool activities such as the Zoo, lighthouses, Balboa Park, etc. Pres. just told us to have fun on preparation days within our rules of course, so we try our best. ;)
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16. We are excited for our new pres. sad for Pres and Sis. Donaldson to leave but we know that Pres and Sis. Clayton have to be amazing to deal with this lot in San Diego. ;)
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Okay, I think that's all of them.
As for the jokes. Thank you much! They are much improved mom. ;) Haha I really like those ones. And thank you for all of your profound knowledge, it's much appreciated. It was really what I needed. Ah I love you all! Tell Olivia I miss her too but that'll just make it all the better when I come back. :) Oh and I love how all the pictures Olivia draws of us always include name tags and skirts with loops at the ends. :)
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And stake relief society second counselor huh? Hahaha oh mom, that's not my fault at all. ;) But it's true, something I do miss from home is the fact that we Do have the spirit there. It Is a place of learning, of prayer, of fasting, of faith, and every now and then a house of order. :) But it is a special place and it makes me excited to go back. Not only that but when we go to some houses, occassionally, they're nice but they're missing something and you can feel it. That's why everyone needs to be Baptized and receive the Holy Ghost! Elder Yi's motto is that we need to get everyone to their next ordinance... so he's at the stage where he's trying to get new converts to marry each other so they can get sealed in the Temple... we usually shake our heads and laugh. He's not the greatest of matchmakers. Still, the poor dear is trying his best. :)
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Haha I need to mention, as I just flipped through my scriptures that they're covered in notes and colors. I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. But at least they're being used very well and lovingly. I love the scriptures. It's sometimes funny how I thought they were so boring way back when... all of a year ago. Ok not boring, but I didn't seem to understand them. I don't know how the change occured. I guess I just seemed to understand them moreso then ever before and now I see things and think how could I Not have seen this before. It's really interesting.
Agh! There's too much to write and too little time!
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Okay! So in Preach my Gospel it talks about the ward mission plan in the ch 13. You need to read that section and my suggestion, create a family or individual mission plan. It is so inspired! We need to set goals before we can ever realize what we can do, and the more specific they are the better. Man, life after the mission will be pretty much me getting excited over mission plans and scripture study book clubs or something. I think it's so funny how excited I get about these things. In fact, Sis. McCloy and I talk about our missionary prep class we're teaching and sometimes I get on my soap box and tell her how we should be implementing more and preparing more, etc. Haha it's funny, thank heavens she understands me. I really seem to have way more opinions then I ever did before, again I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. :)
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Our 9th ward council is finally understanding how it should run! It so exciting to see this dramatic change from focusing on all these activities and how we don't have time for service opportunities to "hey how can we help this individual come back to church or feel welcomed, etc." I LOVE it! And I have no idea how it started changing. I do know we owe a lot to our ward mission leader who is phenominal and who is in the words of president "getting it." We're working on the 18th ward now. They have a lot of energy but we need to direct the energy into the work. It is sure to be good. We're very excited about the Center right now. :)
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Our investigators as of right now are pretty much ilima, Jen and Emily. Yep only three, hence the need for finding!!! Especially when they only seem to meet once a week. It's really difficult to get any of them to keep their appointments actually, especially with Jen. Jen's boss hates mormons, he was one, and she happens to live in the same apartment as him... which makes things very tricky. I hate to say it but the Devil is definitely working on him, and getting him to keep Jen from really learning more. Her dad is mormon and he forces her to come to church with him at times. She doesn't think Joseph Smith is a prophet and she says the only reason she met with us is because she told us she would. It was a let down and if it weren't for our Sister trainer who was with us we may have died! But, fortunately we re-taught her the restoration and asked her to read and pray to know if it is true and she said she would. In fact her countenance had changed and become more soft. It was really cool
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Here's what I know. The church is true. How do I know? I've read and prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true. I Know I received an answer and every day I testify of that to others I know even moreso. Because the Book of Mormon is true, because it is tangible evidence of the truth of God, I know Joseph Smith had to be a prophet, otherwise he couldn't have translated the book through the power of God. And because I know the Book is true, I know that what it teaches is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that because of Him we can return to live with out Father again, that because He lives, we will live, that because He knows Me, I never have to feel alone and His atonement can heal me. I know that the only way to have access to that atonement is through the ordinances. Without being baptized by the Proper Priesthood Authority, we cannot take part of the Atonement. It just makes sense! I know God loves us and that He has designed this amazing plan for us! Oh how wonderful a plan that is. I love it! I love Heavenly Father! I love this Gospel and I'm so excited to be working here! :)
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I love you all, and I wish you the best! Please write if you have the time. I'd love to hear from you all! :) Plus missionaries thrive off of mail. ;) haha jk but really.
Love Sister Davis
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Week 16 - Thursday, June 9th, 2011
It sounds as if everything is going really well at home!
As for last Tuesday - The zoo was tons of fun! Only downfall was the amount of walking we did. It was crazy. Well we saw Pandas, Koala's and Zaboomafoo! Oh My! That's right, our favorite ring-tailed lemur. :) look him up if you can't remember. :) It was tons of fun so I'm sending you some pictures. I hope it actually works this time and the message is sent.
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I also sent a picture of Becky on her baptismal day! Might I just say, that is the craziest baptism I've had yet. Everything was late, or didn't work, etc. At least we had a towel for Becky this time (Dessa didn't have a towel) I misspelled names in the program and we didn't have the right keys to the font, or to the closet to get the tv so we could show our clip during intrmission (that we hadn't really planned for yet) Yeah it was pretty crazy, but it happened and we were all crying the spirit was so strong! But I did realize that when I'm under a lot of stress in a small amount of time, I don't like being touched. :) It went through though and we were so happy it did! Becky was ecstatic! We were all super happy! On Sunday when she was supposed to get confirmed - they forgot. Bro. Kvavle (quiv-ley) forgot. So his wife walked around and more or less scolded him from the side door, it was pretty entertaining (I think only the missionaries noticed). :) She was confirmed After sacrament and it was a momentous occassion.
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As for the rest of the week, we really didn't do anything. How sad is that? I know our days were full of things but nothing wonderful and we didn't teach anyone. We were pathetic. So we're working on getting more people to the center. We do teach a mission prep class on Thursday nights now. The first one went really well, but it wasn't structured because the elders didn't feel the need to prepare for the class... I'm re-learning charity, patience and humility. So we'll see how the others turn out. We do have two new senior couples at the center however, The Robisons and the Browns. We love them both. :) Both Elder Brown and Robison are incredibly talkative and Sis. Brown is very crafty so she's starting crafts classes. Sis. Robison is just super sweet and she takes good care of us, inculding saving us from Elder Robison's teasing. :) They are awesome. Side-tangent - you remember insideout? One of the guys who was in the group, Kendall, he's the Brown's son! I know right? So we've listened to Sharing Time, which I guess was their latest album and I've still got the snow-man song memorized. :) We've had lots of fun with all of them.
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Recently we finished a story of Jenna's (in the 18th ward) conversion. It was very insightful and I feel like I understand now more of how the investigator feels. So now we just need to get the investigator to feel what they need to feel to be converted. We got to use that mentality with a referral we received the other day. Emily. The funny story with that referral is that we realized yesterday that we need to have a lot more faith if we plan to find anyone to teach as our teaching pool is now empty. Once we decided that we had more faith we got a call from some elders saying they had a referral for us! Heavenly Father truly blessed us! Emily doesn't know if she believes in God but she's really interested in the Mormon's. And we were able to teach her the plan of happiness yesterday. It was really neat because she kept saying "wow, no one else thinks that God loves us this much!" We stressed how muc God loves her and wants her to find out if He's real and she'll find out by praying. She's a little weirded out by it but we think she will definitely try it. :) We're so happy!
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In fact that's another story entirely! On Sunday, I don't know why exactly, but while I was sitting in 18th ward fast and testimony meeting, I felt really happy. Really happy, a more complete happy then I'd ever really felt before and so right before the end of the meeting I bore my testimony of how important this Gospel is because it brings us sooooo much happiness, a happiness that lasts beyond everything else. I more or less told everyone to help their friends feel this happiness and I started bawling a LOT at the pulpit. It was pretty embarrassing. But I knew I felt happy! I know this Church is true! I love it! There is no other place where I can feel this happy! I know it's Christ's church here on earth and I am so grateful I am a member of it! I hope you all know how much I love this Gospel and that I know there is no other way to come to Christ then by living His doctrine. How wonderful that we live in the time the Gospel is restored in it's fullness! "Oh what comfort this sweet sentance gives, I Know that My Reedemer Lives! May the whole world know it is my humble prayer" -Pres. Monson (and me) :)
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I love you all!
Love Sister Davis
As for last Tuesday - The zoo was tons of fun! Only downfall was the amount of walking we did. It was crazy. Well we saw Pandas, Koala's and Zaboomafoo! Oh My! That's right, our favorite ring-tailed lemur. :) look him up if you can't remember. :) It was tons of fun so I'm sending you some pictures. I hope it actually works this time and the message is sent.
.
I also sent a picture of Becky on her baptismal day! Might I just say, that is the craziest baptism I've had yet. Everything was late, or didn't work, etc. At least we had a towel for Becky this time (Dessa didn't have a towel) I misspelled names in the program and we didn't have the right keys to the font, or to the closet to get the tv so we could show our clip during intrmission (that we hadn't really planned for yet) Yeah it was pretty crazy, but it happened and we were all crying the spirit was so strong! But I did realize that when I'm under a lot of stress in a small amount of time, I don't like being touched. :) It went through though and we were so happy it did! Becky was ecstatic! We were all super happy! On Sunday when she was supposed to get confirmed - they forgot. Bro. Kvavle (quiv-ley) forgot. So his wife walked around and more or less scolded him from the side door, it was pretty entertaining (I think only the missionaries noticed). :) She was confirmed After sacrament and it was a momentous occassion.
.
As for the rest of the week, we really didn't do anything. How sad is that? I know our days were full of things but nothing wonderful and we didn't teach anyone. We were pathetic. So we're working on getting more people to the center. We do teach a mission prep class on Thursday nights now. The first one went really well, but it wasn't structured because the elders didn't feel the need to prepare for the class... I'm re-learning charity, patience and humility. So we'll see how the others turn out. We do have two new senior couples at the center however, The Robisons and the Browns. We love them both. :) Both Elder Brown and Robison are incredibly talkative and Sis. Brown is very crafty so she's starting crafts classes. Sis. Robison is just super sweet and she takes good care of us, inculding saving us from Elder Robison's teasing. :) They are awesome. Side-tangent - you remember insideout? One of the guys who was in the group, Kendall, he's the Brown's son! I know right? So we've listened to Sharing Time, which I guess was their latest album and I've still got the snow-man song memorized. :) We've had lots of fun with all of them.
.
Recently we finished a story of Jenna's (in the 18th ward) conversion. It was very insightful and I feel like I understand now more of how the investigator feels. So now we just need to get the investigator to feel what they need to feel to be converted. We got to use that mentality with a referral we received the other day. Emily. The funny story with that referral is that we realized yesterday that we need to have a lot more faith if we plan to find anyone to teach as our teaching pool is now empty. Once we decided that we had more faith we got a call from some elders saying they had a referral for us! Heavenly Father truly blessed us! Emily doesn't know if she believes in God but she's really interested in the Mormon's. And we were able to teach her the plan of happiness yesterday. It was really neat because she kept saying "wow, no one else thinks that God loves us this much!" We stressed how muc God loves her and wants her to find out if He's real and she'll find out by praying. She's a little weirded out by it but we think she will definitely try it. :) We're so happy!
.
In fact that's another story entirely! On Sunday, I don't know why exactly, but while I was sitting in 18th ward fast and testimony meeting, I felt really happy. Really happy, a more complete happy then I'd ever really felt before and so right before the end of the meeting I bore my testimony of how important this Gospel is because it brings us sooooo much happiness, a happiness that lasts beyond everything else. I more or less told everyone to help their friends feel this happiness and I started bawling a LOT at the pulpit. It was pretty embarrassing. But I knew I felt happy! I know this Church is true! I love it! There is no other place where I can feel this happy! I know it's Christ's church here on earth and I am so grateful I am a member of it! I hope you all know how much I love this Gospel and that I know there is no other way to come to Christ then by living His doctrine. How wonderful that we live in the time the Gospel is restored in it's fullness! "Oh what comfort this sweet sentance gives, I Know that My Reedemer Lives! May the whole world know it is my humble prayer" -Pres. Monson (and me) :)
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I love you all!
Love Sister Davis
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