May 5, 2014 Feliz Cinco de Mayo

Hola mi familia!

Parece que has tenido una semana muy ocupada! He tenido una semana de locos, así!

I hope my Spanish is correct. Maybe someday I’ll learn Spanish! Anyway, it sounds like you’ve had a crazy week, but it sounds like it was a good one. I can’t believe you got a bunny! She’s so cute, though :).

First of all, we’ve had a very “wet” and crazy week. Tuesday started the long stretch of rain that we were supposed to receive last week. It rained off and on all day Tuesday and then it rained all day long on Wednesday. On Wednesday it was a pretty steady rain, too, and it caused flooding. We drove over to the church on Wednesday and on our way home we found the road we usually go on closed because the river had flooded. Even the other way we go sometimes was closed. We were a little worried that we wouldn’t make it home... Luckily though we found another way home (even though we had to leave our area to go home...). Even President and Sister Anderson’s basement started to flood a little. Crazy rain! I wish I could send some out to Utah!

Daughters of a Heavenly Father

This weekend Phoenixville was the place to be! Friday was the first of a summer long celebration of what they call “First Friday.” They had bands playing and vendors with tables and all sorts of fun things going on right outside our apartment. We ended up volunteering at the Civic Center that night, though, for their Family Night Out activity. Saturday was the food festival where they blocked off some streets and had supposedly 50 food trucks. There was food everywhere! Sister Hanson and I have really been craving barbecued hamburgers for a long time now and we were determined to get one during the food festival. However, there was a funeral that morning at the church that we asked to come to (It was for an elderly lady who had quite a few nonmember family members), and so we decided that we would get a hamburger for dinner. Well, by the time we went to go get our hamburger, they were cleaning things up… Someday I will get a barbecued hamburger.

Tuesday morning we had a miracle happen. We were supposed to have an appointment with one of our new investigators who our zone leaders found, but he wasn’t returning our phone calls or texts. (He lives in a locked apartment building.) So, we decided to go to his apartment anyway. When we got there we tried calling him again and still no answer. After waiting a few minutes, Sister Hanson asked what we should do. I half jokingly but half seriously said that we pray and ask for someone to come down the stairs. Sister Hanson prayed, and she must have great faith because a few moments after our prayer, someone came down the stairs and opened the door for us. Surprisingly enough, it was our investigator Rob! Unfortunately, he forgot about our appointment and was trying to move things because he is moving. We did set up another appointment for next week, though, without knowing we would see him again later this week. Saturday night we were walking up to the park to find Tom (our homeless recent convert) when we ran into Rob and his buddies. We talked to them for a moment and then told them we had to get going. Rob stopped us and asked if we could teach him something. We agreed, but little did I know he was drunk. So, we sat down on a bench outside of his apartment with his friend Paul who is from West Virginia and knows the Bible inside and out but doesn’t quite live what he preaches. One of the first thing Rob did when we sat down was light up his cigar... Oh boy. It was a long lesson... We then pulled out a Restoration pamphlet and began to teach them the Restoration. Paul interrupted with his preaching and luckily Sister Hanson started to talk to him and keep him occupied, so I could teach Rob. Shortly after, Rob mentioned to me that he had a few drinks but that he wanted to learn. (Now I know what alcohol smells like...) So, I proceeded on teaching him the restoration and he accepted everything I taught him. I’m not really sure how much he retained, but I left him with a pamphlet, Book of Mormon, and a sticky note with some commitments written on it. I’m hoping that he woke up the next morning and read the sticky note and would remember to do the things I asked him to do. Oh boy, that was quite an interesting experience.

Last night I was fortunate enough to watch the CES Devotional with Elder Ballard! It was so good and hit on so many important things going on in the world today! I would definitely suggest you watch it or read it if you get the chance to!

Lastly, some great news I heard a couple of weeks ago, but keep forgetting to tell you is that one of the ladies and her daughter I started teaching in Reading is getting baptized within the next couple of weeks! I am so excited for her and her daughter. It also makes me feel good to know that I was doing something right in Reading ;)

So, for Skyping on Sunday... I still have not heard anything about it... So, I guess just let me know what time would be good for you and the Skype name again and we’ll work around that. Thanks!

Well, that’s about it. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to talking to you on Sunday!

Love,
Sister Davis :)

P.S. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! :)