February 17, 2014 Snow, Snow Go Away!

Hey everyone!

So this past week was crazy! It snowed way too much, and I'm pretty sure there is a good foot and a half if not two feet of snow out there! I will be very happy once spring comes, and I know everyone else here is in the same vote!

Snowstorm in Berks County, February 13, 2014

Not too much happened this week because of the snow and meetings that we had. Tuesday we had zone conference where we got our iPads :). That took most of our day and especially the commute to get home. We got stuck in traffic for a good forty-five minutes!

Wednesday I went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders and it was a pretty awesome day. I stayed up here in Hamburg and Sister Argueta came here with me. We had a pretty busy day with a lot of awesome appointments that were lined up back-to-back. Thursday it snowed all day long and it was a big storm too. Every time it snows our cars are "parked" and so we can't drive them. Sister Argueta ended up spending most of Thursday with me, too, because we had no way to exchange back without being able to drive. So we entered data onto our iPads from our area books for most of the day.

Sister Jensen, Sister Davis, Sister Argueta and Sister Maybury

Friday we had district meeting and then weekly planning afterwards and then Saturday it decided to snow again all day long. We ended up working more on updating our iPads on Saturday and then when the snow finally stopped we went out to see an investigator, Colleen, who I haven't met yet and who Sister Maybury hadn't seen for a while. It was definitely a prompting to go see her because we hadn't planned to see her at all. It was just a random thought that came to my mind to go see her. She first started off by telling us that she enjoyed our visits, but she wasn't interested in converting. She then proceeded to tell us that she has questions and I asked her what those questions were. She asked if there really was an afterlife which beautifully led in a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. We taught her about half of it before we extended invitation to her to be baptized and she said yes! It was so awesome! Especially to know that it was all directed by the Spirit because we had no prior planning for this lesson.

Our investigators are doing pretty good. Our strongest right now is Beverly who has a baptismal date for March 29th. She showed us yesterday at church that she is now on day 13 of not smoking! She is doing so awesome and she is progressing so well. She definitely is one I'm not worried about going less active after she is baptized. She is ready and I'm so excited for her.

Other than that, that was our week. I'm excited to see how our iPads will be able to "hasten the work!" I just first have to figure everything out with it.

Well, I hope you are all doing well and that you have an awesome week!

Love ya!

Sister Davis :)

February 10, 2014 Going on 8 months! Crazy!!

Hey everyone!

Can you believe that my 8 month mark is this week?! I sure can't! Time is definitely flying by! Also, we're going to finally get our iPads tomorrow at zone conference! I can't wait! :)

So this past week was... interesting ha. We did see some miracles, but it was definitely different than what I'm used to. Things are going pretty good right now. It was different not having a car for half the week and having to walk everywhere. Walking everywhere is definitely not something I'm used to. It wasn't too bad, though. The only problem though about this area is that this branch is so spread out geographically that we can only walk so far. In Hamburg there are only 4 active members and roughly 5 less active members. Luckily we have the majority of our investigators and potential investigators in Hamburg or else we would be in trouble. The only frustrating part is that we don't have a lot of members jumping up and down to come teaching with us. With only 4 active members in Hamburg and 3 of them working during the day, that causes a little bit of a problem. But other than that we're doing pretty good. 

Tuesday I met one of our investigators named Beverly. She's an older woman and knows the church is true. She has read almost the entire Book of Mormon and has been coming to church for a while now. The only thing that has been holding her back is that she smokes... We found out, though, yesterday that she has not smoked in 6 days! Beverly is doing awesome and progressing really well. Beverly has had a baptismal date in the past but didn't make it. I invited her to be baptized on April 5 and she said yes! (At the time I forgot that was General Conference so we're going to try to move it up a week.)

Wednesday I met another investigator whose name is Sharon. Sharon is a very active Methodist but is taking the lessons. I'm not sure her interest level, but we explained the Plan of Salvation to her and she seemed to take it pretty good. She only had questions on the pre-earth life and the three kingdoms of glory (which is usually expected). Afterwards she fed us lunch and we were privileged to try the famous Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie, cho-cho, and peppered cabbage. It was all pretty good :).

Thursday I met another investigator named Lisa. Lisa is a young mom who recently lost a baby in October, I believe. She has a friend who is LDS which is awesome! The sisters here before me taught her the Plan of Salvation due to her loss in October and she loved it. We taught her the restoration on Thursday and she seemed to understand/accept it.

Carlee (another investigator), we were able to see twice this week. The first time we read from the Book of Mormon with her and the second time we went over the baptismal interview questions. Carlee is progressing really well and is ready to change and make the covenant of baptism with Heavenly Father. She told us when we went over the baptismal interview questions that she wasn't scared of change and that she was ready. Right now she has a baptism date for March 2nd. All she needs to do is move out with the guy she's living with and stop smoking. Carlee also has a 13 year-old daughter who lives with her dad right now because she wanted her daughter to have better influences around her. Carlee is awesome and I really hope that she will be able to make and keep her covenants so she can have the Holy Ghost with her so she can have that guidance as a mother!

Those were about my highlights for the week. We did a lot of tracting this week (when we were walking) and trying to contact potentials. We did however find a new investigator this week named Liz. We're going to see her this coming Friday. 

So, on Monday I was offered my first cheesecake.......... Believe it or not, I ate it but mostly had to choke it down haha. I still do not like cheesecake and I'm pretty sure I never will. And to top this off, one of the elder's investigators is feeding us this week and her finance makes about 57 flavors of cheesecake and is going to make one of his specialties when we come over.... Oh boy!

Other than that, that's about it for my week. Sister Maybury and I are doing pretty good. One thing about us is that we have very similar personalities which is nice, but also hard at the same time. Because she's shy I have definitely needed to step it up this week and just talk to people. That has definitely been pushing me out of my comfort zone, but I'm seeing how it's helping me grow. I have also been more bold too. A lot of the bold statements I have said to investigators this week I would have never said just a month ago! I do believe this transfer was inspired even though it was hard.

Pennsylvania Winter

Mom to answer your question: There was the snow storm on Monday that kept us in until later that evening, but other than that we were out working. We did have some freezing rain on Wednesday which made things messy for the rest of the week because it just coated the snow with ice... But we were out working the entire week! We don't stay in unless we're asked to by president ;).

Well, I hope you are all doing well! Have a great week! Love you all! :)

Love,

Sister Davis :)

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

February 4, 2014 Transferred to Pottsville

Hey everyone!

Sorry I didn't get to email yesterday. There was a snow storm and the library was closed...

But yes, I have been transferred. In mission lingo it's considered an "emergency transfer", which means a transfer that happens immediately and outside of "normal" transfers. I have been transferred into the Pottsville Branch, but I work in the Hamburg area which is the Branch just north of the Reading 1st Ward. So, I'm a little familiar with the area I'm in right now because I worked on the other side of the highway when I was in Reading. (Part of the highway is the dividing line for the wards.) I'm also the senior companion!

I'm not going to lie, though. This was a super hard transfer for me. I loved Reading so much and I was looking forward to another transfer there in that area/ward and with the people there. I think the hardest thing was that I got a call from President Anderson about 11:30 in the morning on Saturday telling me that I was being transferred and that the assistants would be there to pick me up around 4:30 that day. I had no time to say goodbye to anyone! I called a couple of people in the ward to tell them, but I wasn't able to tell any of the people I was working with :(. That was really hard...

Anyway, I am now in Hamburg and I live in a super nice apartment. It smells brand new and I'm pretty sure it is :). I have my own bathroom and closet! I love my apartment. Sister Maybury from Utah is my new companion and I have been out one transfer longer than she has. Sister Maybury is an "older" sister missionary (she's 26) but she is a really cute girl and we've seemed to get along really well so far. Sister Maybury was also on drill team in high school for her senior year!

The Pottsville Branch building

It's kind of weird working in a branch compared to the ward I just served in. The building we meet in was an old business building and it's so small. The branch is small, too. Hardly anyone was there on Sunday. We have a few investigators that are progressing well up here that I haven't met yet but will soon (I will meet them later today)! The members in this ward are awesome (well, the ones I've met so far) and they are willing to help the missionaries out in this branch. There are a set of elders serving in the branch right now, too, and we share a car... So, to answer your question, Mom, yes I am going to freeze! Especially when we don't have the car... :( I've debated many times about getting a warmer coat, but I just don't have any way to store it for the summer... And yes, Sister Roland's daughter is in this branch and we're working with her. She fell away from the church for a while, but now she is wanting to come back!

Sister Carrigan and Sister Davis serving Sister Moore in Reading

That is awesome that you're finally getting moisture back home! Heavenly Father truly does answer prayers! And congratz to the Drill Team! That is awesome!

That is just fine for the YW to take stuff from my blog. The advice I would give is to ALWAYS turn to Heavenly Father in prayer and to continually ask if you don't receive answers immediately. Through prayer we can strengthen our faith because we can ask for help. Answered prayers also help build our faith and trust in Heavenly Father. My testimony of prayer and priesthood blessings has increased a lot this past week. I received an amazing priesthood blessing from one of the assistants on Saturday before leaving Reading that promised me that I would receive answers to my prayers in His timing because of my consistent asking. Just the other morning during my personal study I was studying the topic of testimony. I came across something that made me reflect back to another priesthood blessing I received not too long ago. That was an answer to my prayers because things started to finally make sense what Heavenly Father wanted me to do and learn so I could grow. I would also advise the young women to keep going and stay strong to the gospel even through hard times. He is always with us, and our trials make us stronger even though we can't see it in the moment of the storm. I am grateful for the trials I have had because without them, I wouldn't be who I am today and who I am becoming.

For the past while I never really thought I loved my mission. I have realized in the past couple of weeks that I really do love my mission. I'm not always happy out here because it is hard, but the things I am learning and the person I am becoming could only happen out here on my mission. I would have never had an experience like this that would help me learn and grow as much as my mission has. I really do love my mission (give me a hard couple of days and I probably won't be saying that ha, but I really do love my mission). I am learning so much and growing and I love it. Missions stretch you to your limit, but I don't think I have ever relied so much on the Lord before and I love it! I am grateful that I received the prompting to come (write this down because I will need to be reminded of this a lot haha) and that I chose to come! I am excited to see what changes the Lord has in store for me in the next 10 months of my mission!

Thank you for everything you do for me! I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Davis :)

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