September 30 2013

Why Hello!!!

 

It is always a great day here in Las Vegas!!! I have some pretty crazy stories to share with all of you!

 

FIRST- Let me tell you about Sheba Jr. - She is a GIANT Black Widow!!!!!!!!!! We caught her while she was chilling in our apartment! She is so gross and so scary! We put a Tupperware over her and then slid a paper underneath it and locked her inside... Then we took her to our Ward Mission Leaders house and left it as a present, since the Tupperware container was his! He did not appreciate that, but it was pretty hilarious! She is still in the container on his porch and she is still alive!

 

SECOND- Carlos!!! He was being taught by missionaries a few years ago... we went by to see him and last Wednesday we (myself and a member in our ward Amber) taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! On Friday we shared 1 Nephi 8 with him, about the Tree of Life. I asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on October 26th... This was is response, more or less...

 

"You know.. Just before you asked me to be baptized... like a second before... I was just going to open my mouth and ask you about baptism... Last night I was thinking a lot about it.. And I was telling my brother... " You know it makes sense.. And it feels good.. There were prophets in the Bible.. Why would there not be a prophet now?" And then all of a sudden it just clicked.. And I asked myself... What am I waiting for? I know it is true! Why don't I get baptized?? So yes.. YES! I will be baptized on October 26th!"

 

I am pretty sure the Heavens opened and the Angels began to sing!!! It was amazing!!!!! One of the most Spiritual lessons I have ever been in. Sister Berger asked Carlos what he thought Satan would try to do the closer he gets to his baptism... His reply was.. "Oh I know! He is going to try to distract me!" And Carlos is exactly right.. Which brings me to my next story...

 

THIRD- Jesse... oh Jesse.. oh Jesse...... He is having lots of trials! He got his truck stuck when he was off-roading in the middle of no where and therefore missed church... He lost his job... It has just been a roller coaster!!!! Send Prayers for him!

 

Well, the work is good and the weather is cooler! Gotta love it!!!

You are in my thoughts and prayers! Miss you! Love you!

 

Love,

 

Sister Davis

September 23 2013

Hello my beautiful family and friends!

 

It is so good to read your letters! They bring me so much joy and comfort! I am so grateful for the love each one of you show to me. I always know I am loved every Monday!

 

This week has been a great week! We have met a few more investigators this week and a few less actives we are working with now. It is such a blessing to be able to meet so many different amazing children of our Heavenly Father!

 

Jesse is doing pretty good! It is amazing how much he has changed and grown closer to his Savior.. I know that he is feeling so comforted as he prays! He is a great example to meet. He told us that he finds himself praying all the time!!! Every time he gets in his car, when he is out to eat with his friend, before he falls asleep. He loves to pray! We watched Finding Faith in Christ with him and his friend the other night. It was such a special lesson! He told us all the things he liked about it and what stood out to him the most! It was amazing to hear his insight!

 

Katy, I think I mentioned her before, she is doing great and preparing to be baptized in October! She has been taught all the lessons from her boyfriend's older brother, so we are just going over everything to make sure she understands and has that true witness of the Spirit!! She is already in 2 Nephi and just loves the Book of Mormon!

 

Speaking of the Book of Mormon - It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ! I started over a few weeks ago and I am just loving the things that are standing out to me this time around! I have found so many different themes! It is just great!!

 

I don't have a lot of time today! But I hope you know that I am thinking of you and love you lots!!!

 

Take Care!

 

Love,

 

Sister Davis

September 16 2013

Hey Everyone!

 

It is so good to get your emails and your letters! This has been a very very busy week! We've had 20+ members coming out with us for the past three weeks and it is truly making a world of a difference in our area! We are getting to know the little details about the members, and are having lots of success as they get to know us!

 

On Tuesday, Elder Neil L. Anderson of the quorum of the twelve apostles came to speak with us - along with Todd R. Callaster, president of the seventy. It was such a powerful meeting. We were in the Nevada Las Vegas WEST mission. There were 500 missionaries at this meeting - which means there are 500 missionaries in Vegas alone! Pretty cool! Elder Anderson took the time before he spoke to shake everyone's hand! Since I was sitting in the front, I was one of the last ones to get to shake his hand... So I took a little piece of paper and wrote a scripture verse on it from the Book of Mormon, and handed it to him in my handshake! It was pretty sweet!! He was very grateful for it! And what an amazing thing it was to see that, though he is a servant of the Lord he is still just a regular guy! There were so many things I learned and loved from this meeting. But I think the thing I loved the most is when Elder Anderson talked about being in a competition with ourselves. We should always be trying to better ourselves, Often times we, and myself especially, look for recognition of others to feel like we are really moving forward. However, as we consistently strive to try a little harder to be a little better each day I know that we will be able to look back and see how far we've come. I am trying each day to be a little better. Christ truly was our perfect example, and I know that following Him is not always easy, especially in the time we live in today, but it is possible and it is worth it. It is so worth it! I see so many different people all the time, especially here in Vegas! And it truly amazes me to see how Heavenly Father guides them to be in our path.

 

Speaking of how Heavenly Father guides people to be in our path, this week and every week actually, I see Heavenly Father placing us at the right place at the right time. I think that truly is amazing. Yesterday we were able to meet a girl named Janice. She lives above some Elders in a apartment and the Elders told us to go visit her. She was very open. She told us that she is going to all of these different churches in the valley trying to find good wholesome people her age (in their 20's) to be friends with! Well what more young, good wholesome people can you find, than the LDS Robindale YSA Ward??!!!?!?!? She is so excited to come to church and to learn more about our religion and to meet some good people here in Vegas!!! It was a blessing that the Elders were put in her path and we were able to contact her as well! Heavenly Father sure knows and loves each one of His children!

 

Just a couple Tender Mercies I thought I would share....

 

On Tuesday are dinner appointment cancelled on us.. and two minutes later a recent convert we were meeting with later that night sent us a text to ask if we needed dinner tonight!!! What a blessing!!!!!!! Heavenly Father sure loves us!!!

 

On Wednesday we went out to lunch at Zupa's. my all time favorite restaurant! And as we were standing in line to order food, there were two young married couples in front of us who started to fight over who would be buying our lunch for us! What a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We had another great lesson with Katie! She will be getting baptized here pretty soon! She wants to meet with Bishop and was asking us all sorts of questions about the process to be baptized! She truly is so prepared and so ready!!!

 

Love, Love, Love, You All!!!!

Stay Strong!

 

Love,

Sister Davis

 

P.S. I hit my 5 month mark tomorrow!! Woah.....

September 09 2013

Hey Hey Hey!!!!!

Happy Monday! What a great day it is! I feel so blessed to be able to take part in The Lord's plan for his children! This week has been where The Lord is truly refining and teaching me. I have had many opportunities to rely on His love and guidance.

 

This week we were able to meet and visit many Less-Actives. It amazes me how many of God's children have partaken of the great fruit of The Gospel, but have fallen off the path. Some of them just need to feel loved and wanted and needed! Once they feel like someone cares and misses them they come running back! I think that is one of the greatest sights to see! I have witnessed so many of my brother's and sister's come back to His fold. What a joy it is to see that! My purpose as a missionary is really becoming more meaningful with each passing day.

 

Jesse is doing great! I just love him! He has such a desire to be a better person and a better father for his 3 year old son. He is truly understanding God's love for him as we continue to relate it back to his love for his son. He is struggling a lot with the influences of the world. Especially with the influence here in Vegas. If you aren't LDS or have good standards then you spend all your time on the strip or at the local bar... Jesse is striving to withstand those temptations and is so open with us. His openness with us just helps us to know how to help him and that he really wants to be better!!!! Pray for him!!!

 

We also started teaching Katie!!! Katie is amazing! AMAZING! She has been dating a guy named Stepheno, who is a member. She has been learning about the church fromStepheno's older brother who served a mission. She has come to church for the past 3 months!!! And is reading the Book of Mormon! She is now ready to meet with the missionaries!!! We met with her yesterday and she is solid!! She is already on 1 Nephi 15!!!! And LOVES the Book of Mormon!

 

Speaking of LOVING the Book of Mormon... I LOVE THE BOM! It is seriously SO amazing!! I am learning so much and relating every verse to the world we live in today! I just love how Heavenly Father continues to lead and guide us today through the words and testimonies of those that lived so long ago!

 

Prayer is SO real! I have spent more times on knees this week than I ever have before. The Lord  truly knows how to comfort each one of us! I am so blessed to have felt my Savior's love so abundantly in my life! He lives! I know that my redeemer lives!

 

Remember that He knows you!

 

Love you! Miss you! Always!

 

Love,

Sister Davis  

September 02 2013

Family and Friends!!

I love you so so much!

This has been a great week! We found out about transfers on Saturday! It was so stressful waiting for the news! I've been here in Robindale for 4 months now, so I was pretty sure I would be leaving.. BUT Sister Berger and I will be here another transfer together!!!!!!!! I am seriously in love with Robindale so I am so glad to be staying... That means I will be here 6 months! 1/3 of the mission! It's crazy!!!

So this week has been kinda weird.. I'm not sure why.. Just weird. But lots of tender mercies. The Lord truly is aware of each one of his children and it is so great to take part in this work! Sister Berger and I had the opportunity to do a training together in our Zone Training meeting. We were training on having our members become member missionaries. It was a great opportunity to help our Zone see the HOW in member missionary work. It doesn't happen over night, but it does happen! I have seen Robindale completely change and transform to be missionary minded. My companions and I have put a lot of work in over the past 4 months and we are seeing more and more results of our hard work! The Lord really is opening my spiritual eyes so that I can be refined.

So this week we met with Jesse again!!! First off.. listen to this... well read this I mean... Jesse came to FHE on Monday night.. Came up to us at the end and set our next appointment... AND asked a member to come to the lesson... YAHOO! Okay, this may not sound like that big of a deal! BUT this is every missionaries dream, that their investigator will set up the appointment, instead of us pulling teeth to set one up.. AND asking a member to come for us! Oh it was a beautiful thing!!! Fast Forward... We had an AWESOME lesson with Jesse on Saturday.. we taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ -Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of The Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End - Jesse really loved it... We set him for baptism on September 21st!!!! He accepted and wants to prepare to be baptized then! He told us that Sunday (yesterday) he has a lot of plans with his family, but he canceled ALL his plans so that he will be able to come to church this Sunday! WOW! That's amazing, and really shows a lot about him! And then on Sunday... HE CAME TO CHURCH! Cesar, this super awesome guy in our ward, picked him for church, sat with him, explained things to him, introduced him to other members, and took him to the classes.. Jesse LOVED church! He said he can't wait to come back next week! He told us he learned so so much! He is even bring his friend to FHE tonight! How cool is that?!! Our investigator is being a missionary! OH &&& I almost forgot... We set him for the 21st of September, because we prayed to know when he will be ready by and that is the answer Heavenly Father gave us... WELL... His birthday is on the 20th! The day before his baptism! How cool is that?!!! WAY COOL!

I am truly learning SO much from reading The Book of Mormon. I am finding ways to apply the teaching in my life as a missionary and in my life not as a full time missionary.. The words are truly the words of Christ! I feel so close to my Savior and my Heavenly Father as I read! I know that no matter what your troubles, worries, or concerns are that The Book of Mormon has the answers and will provide comfort! I wish I would have relied on it more and been a more devoted disciple of Christ growing up.. But I know that it is never to late to have The Gospel change your life and outlook! What a blessing it is to have the knowledge we do and to have the opportunity to share it with everyone around you. I know that as we look outward, that The Lord looks outward on us!!! I have seen this so much! 

I hope you have an awesome week! Look for ways to help and influence others for good! Be an example of the Believers! 

XOXO!

Love,

Sister Davis