January 27, 2014 It's soooo COLD!!! :(

Hey everyone!

So, not too much has happened this week. Due to the huge snow storm we had on Tuesday and the cold temperatures we've had this week, we stayed inside most of the week. 

Tuesday we did see Hilary, though, and it was a pretty good lesson. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she had quite a few questions. She mostly was concerned that there wasn't a hell like it talks about in the Bible, and she was also concerned about the three kingdoms of glory because she didn't know of anywhere that it talks about those in the Bible. We did show her 1 Cor. 15, though, and she accepted it. That's what I love about Hilary is that she is so teachable and willing to learn. She progressing really well, too. Her husband is holding her back, though. We also saw her on Friday night. We had F.H.E. with Sister Moore and her kids and we went to Hilary's house to do it. We talked to her about her husband and she said that he just doesn't really want to learn and that he wants to stick to what they already believe... We'll keep praying that his heart will soften! Oh, I forgot to mention that we had to walk to Hilary's house because we couldn't make it up the hill in our car.

Sister Moore with Sister Carrigan and Sister Davis

Wednesday night we went to the young women's activity and taught them some things about missionary work. We even had them role play! It was really cool to see them all role playing and recognizing that missionary work really isn't that hard.

We also saw Lilly on Wednesday and taught her the Plan of Salvation as well. Lilly is more quiet than Hilary, so it's harder to measure her understanding because she doesn't ask questions, but she is keeping her commitments which is awesome! She has a hard time reading, but she is trying to read which is awesome!

Yesterday we contacted a referral that was given to us by one of the members in this ward. She was a super nice lady but the only problem that she had was that her husband is "Catholic." She set up a return appointment though with us because she was interested, but she said that she would have to run it by her husband first.

Pancake breakfast

Other than those, that's about all the highlights I can think of for this week. I hope you are all doing well and staying warm! Thanks for all you do!

Have a happy birthday this week dad! I love you!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Davis

January 20, 2014 Staying in Reading!

Hey fam!

So guess what?! I am going to stay another transfer in Reading which means I will be serving in Reading for six months by the time this transfer ends! Yay! I love Reading. Sister Carrigan is also staying with me! Next transfer will be interesting to see who gets transferred because it will be Sister Carrigan's second to last transfer but missionaries in this mission usually don't serve in an area longer than 6 months either... So I guess we'll find out what happens in another 6 weeks!

Reading 1st District saying goodbye to Elder Pedersen

This week we saw Hilary and had an awesome Book of Mormon lesson with her. Sister Moore came and they seemed to connect really well. After we went through the intro with her and explained that we weren't taking away from the Bible she completely accepted the Book of Mormon and said that she would like to come to church! Unfortunately though, her husband wouldn't let her come to church yesterday. Hilary is golden, though, and has been crazy prepared for the gospel. We'll just have to pray really hard for her husband's heart to soften!

We also saw Lilly this week and she's doing pretty good. She's noticed a change in herself that she doesn't swear as much anymore or lose her temper with co-workers which is great! She also wasn't able to come to church this week because she had her grandson's birthday party, but she said she's coming next week!

We saw Isatu twice this week and she's moving right along. Her baptism date is for February 8th which is really exciting! She's doing a lot better with her Book of Mormon reading. She still doesn't understand everything, but she's trying to. When we saw her on Saturday night we found a note card in her copy of the Book of Mormon with different words on it. Sister Carrigan asked her what that was for and she told us that she writes down words that she doesn't understand while reading the B.O.M. and asks her sister to define them for her! That is a miracle! When we first starting teaching her I would have never thought Isatu would read the Book of Mormon! She expresses to us all the time her thanks and how she enjoys having us over!

On Saturday we stopped by a less active, Nikki, who we have been trying to contact forever but still hadn't been able to. Apparently she's always home, but she never hears the door, so we banged on her door this time. She still didn't answer so we went back to our car. We were sitting in our car when I looked over and saw a women standing on her porch talking to her neighbor. I jumped out of the car and asked if she was Nikki. She said yes and invited us in. We talked to her for a while and invited her to come to church. She said that she really wanted to come, but had no way to get there because she doesn't have a car. We arranged a ride for her and she came to church yesterday! (She hasn't been to church in 8 years.) We're also going over to teach F.H.E with her and her family on Wednesday this week.

This week we went to Institute and we had the lesson on Jacob 5. The teacher had us think of the olive tree as ourselves rather than the traditional gathering of Israel stuff. I really liked how she did this and applied the Atonement in it too. This lesson completely changed my perspective on Jacob 5 and I love it!

On exchange with Sister Jensen in Reading 2nd Ward

So, crazy story this week. The Spanish elders gave us a referral to contact down in Reading. We went to the house and found out that the lady didn't even live there. We stood at the bottom of the porch for a little bit to check our voice mail just to make sure that we had the right house number. All of a sudden a lady opened the door next to the one we just knocked on and invited us in after Sister Carrigan asked her if she was Janet (the referral's name). She nodded and gave us a hug. We sat down on her couch and started to talk to her. She didn't say anything and then she started to sign to us (she's deaf). We were a little confused how the elders talked to her, so we tried to write a note so she could read it. She couldn't so she went upstairs and got the man that lived there who only spoke Spanish. By this time we had no idea how we were going to communicate with anyone. So we called the Spanish elders and had them talk to the man. Turns out that wasn't the lady that the elders talked to. We think she may have thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We left them with a Restoration pamphlet and DVD after the deaf lady pulled out her Jehovah Witness movies and tried to explain to the man that the Spanish elders would come by later to pick up the pamphlet. Oh boy that was quite the experience!

Hagen Dazs and Crazy PJ's with Sister Davis and Sister Carrigan

Well, it sounds like you have had a fun busy week. I hope you are all doing well! Thanks for everything! Love you all! :)

Love, 

Sister Davis

January 13, 2014 The Priesthood is Awesome!

Hey family!

Tuesday this week was by far the coldest day I've had out here! It was 13 degrees and below all day long with a wind chill of 20 below! Oh it was so cold! Humidity is the worst! I'm glad we don't have too much humidity in Utah.

Friday it decided to snow a little bit and then Saturday it decided to rain a ton and cause some flooding! Today is 55 degrees and sunny. The weather here is like Utah weather, but maybe even more weird...

Sister Davis and Sister Carrigan

We picked up two new investigators and will hopefully get another couple this week. (We only count them as new investigators after we have taught them a principle from one of the lessons we taught and they accept a return appointment.) One of the two is Lilly whom I believe I told you a little about her last week. She made it to church this week and we are going to see her again on Wednesday! The other is Hilary who I also told you about last week. She is a young, brand new mom (she has a 1 month old) who believes very strongly in the Apocrypha and Old Testament. She has a strong belief and testimony in Christ and the gathering of Israel. She didn't really seem to have any problems or concerns but she didn't make it to church this week because she wants us to teach her again and to do some research before she comes to church. She was really nice, though. We're going to see her again on Tuesday.  

We have an appointment this week with a lady named Katherine. We tracted into her a few weeks ago when trying to see a less active in our ward. She told us that she would like to re-strengthen her relationship with God, but she has agoraphobia. We have been over a couple of times to check up on her, and we actually have an appointment with her this coming Wednesday! She is also a young mom and such a sweet girl. 

Hungry, Sister Davis??

Another little miracle happened this week. We were invited over to a member's home for dinner who has never invited us or the elders over (as far as I know). We taught their 7-year-old son who is going to be baptized the beginning of February about baptism. I think he has a little crush on us because they invited us over for dinner again next week because their son really wanted us to come again. 

Last night we had the temple site missionaries up at our building for a temple fireside. It was neat to be able to see some pictures of what the Philly temple is supposed to look like inside. I also got a piece of the granite that they had to break out in order to build the parking garage below the temple. (They like to say that the temple is built on a rock.) This fireside really made me miss the temple. I can't wait until I can go again. Oh and they said the temple should be finished in summer of 2016. Maybe we should come back and visit then. 

With darling Dee

Alright, so beside of all of these miracles, I have had a pretty rough week. Sister Carrigan has this amazing gift to teach people and to speak. That is definitely not one of my strengths, but I really wish it was. So, long story short, I've been struggling with that just about all transfer long, but this week was pretty bad. Satan really got to me and pulled me down. I got a blessing yesterday and it was a powerful blessing. It was definitely what I needed. I am so grateful for the priesthood! It is awesome! 

So Josh, another crazy story for ya: 

An elderly couple in the ward I'm serving in invited us over for dinner one night. (They're on this special Hollywood diet where they eat spaghetti every Wednesday night and they always invite us over on Wednesdays.) A few minutes after we got there, our sweet hostess told us that she found a dead mouse on her floor when she went to grab the spaghetti. She also found a hole that was chewed out in the spaghetti box... Her husband (who is a little autistic) told her that it would be fine to still eat... So, she still made us the spaghetti that the mouse got into! She also attempted to make to make mashed potatoes one time, but she added too much milk so it was more like soupy potatoes. I love them! Every dinner appointment with them is an adventure ;)  

The Hazard family

Well, that's about it for my week. I hope you are all doing well! Love you!

Love,

Sister Davis

P.S. Transfers are next week. I'll get the call on Friday night! This time I have no idea what is going to happen! 

January 6, 2014 It's soooo COLD!

Hey family!

So, yes, I am FREEZING. This past week was really cold. The humidity is starting to kick in now and I'm definitely feeling it. Thursday we had a big snow storm that delivered about 6-10 inches of snow! (That night we were asked to go in by 6 p.m. to avoid traveling in the storm.) Probably the only bad thing about living in that house is that we have to shovel our sidewalks... Needless to say, my arms, back, and legs were and still are sore. That was a lot of snow. 

Friday was really cold. It was 20 degrees and below all day long plus it was humid and it was windy. Of course, no one decided to let us inside or they were not home that day. We ended up tracting a street around 5:00 when the sun was starting to go down because we ran out of people to see. 

Yesterday was kind of weird weather-wise. It was raining, but not just a normal rain, it was freezing rain. It was so cold that when it would hit the ground it would freeze. We actually ended up going in early yesterday, too, because the roads were pretty slick and walking was even worse. 

To answer your question mom about my memory card--no, I didn't send it home. I still have some pictures on there that I need to give to some missionaries, so I'm waiting for the internet to come back at that church and then I'll send it home.  

Josh, to answer your question that you asked me on Christmas about a crazy story about one of our missionaries, one of the elders in my district is allergic to the world! He has a ton of food allergies and can hardly eat anything. (I don't know why I didn't think of it then.) He is allergic to chicken, really chicken blood, but he just says chicken because the chicken needs to be prepared properly and most the time it's not, I guess. He's also allergic to beef and he thought he had a wheat allergy but he discovered out here that he really doesn't. He also is lactose-intolerant and allergic to eggs unless they're baked in something like cookies. He also gets heartburn really bad. The poor kid has a body of a 90 year-old man! This week he has a bleeding stomach ulcer and so he and his companion have been inside all week. We also found out that Elder Eldredge's grandparents live right across the street from Troy and Merilee. How crazy is that?

This week we got a new investigator. Her name is Mirama (I don't really know how to spell it) and she's friends with Isatu. She came here from Africa almost a year ago this month and she can actually read in English!  We went over to read the Book of Mormon with Isatu on Saturday night and Mirama was there, too. She participated with us and even read from the Book of Mormon. We told her that we have been teaching Isatu about the gospel and asked her if she would like to learn. She said yes, and we're going to teach her tonight!

We also met with two other people, Lilly and Hilary. Lilly is a former investigator and came in contact with the missionaries again this past week and is ready to learn again. We went over and saw her on Tuesday and we're going to teach her this coming Wednesday! Hilary is lady that the elders had tracted a couple of months ago. She is super interested in learning more. We were going to teach her yesterday but she just barely had a baby and the baby kept her up all night so she was sleeping. We left her a note though and she called back a couple of hours later. We're going to see her tomorrow morning.

Jacquie with Sister Davis

We saw Jacquie (less-active) on Saturday and had a very powerful lesson with her. When we got there, Jacquie was really angry and upset. Her New Year's was really bad due to an argument with her son. He threatened to take her car and he forced her into their basement. (Needless to say, Jacquie was very upset.) Her son actually called a couple minutes after we got there and she yelled at him for about 20 minutes! We had planned to share Elder Holland's talk "Like a Broken Vessel" with her, but the Spirit told me otherwise. I shared with her the talk about meekness from this last conference and bore testimony that as she strove to emulate the Savior, her perspective on her life and those around her would change. Sister Carrigan chimed in after and talked about the Atonement. That was powerful for me because I haven't really noticed the Spirit teaching through me for a while, so that was neat.

My New Year's was pretty good. We spent New Year's morning having pumpkin soup with Sister Joseph. Pumpkin soup is a Haitian tradition.

Well, I hope you have a great week!

Love you all!

Sister Davis