April 28 2014

Helloooooo from beautiful the Boulder Cityyy!

 

I'm not sure where this week went! I feel like I was just emailing you yesterday! 7 days just flies when you are in the service of the Lord!

 

Last Monday we went on an "exciting adventure" to the Hoover Dam! It was sure an adventure, but not very exciting. There is a member of the church who is the head guy of the Parker, Davis, and Hoover Dam. He agreed to take our district on a secret tour of all the ins and outs... things normal people can't see! We started on top of the Dam and were out there for about 30 mins... All of a sudden Sister Mawby was very sick and she thought she was going to pass out because of the heat. As we moved along down into the Dam she just got worse. The remained of our tour was spent in the nurses office. She was feeling much better after about an hour in the nurses office and we met up with the other missionaries 10 minutes before the tour was complete. Our tour guide said we could come back in 6-8 weeks and he would give all the missionaries another tour! We are counting on that! Man oh man! It sure was a bummer. Later that night we practiced teaching a lesson on the Bird Family! I love them! Bishop Bird, the former Bishop, and I were both in tears at the end of the lesson. The Spirit was so very strong and I know  that because we shared that lesson with them their family is even more motivated to share the gospel. Kyle, their 12 year old son, shared with us that that same day he gave his best friend a Book of Mormon! It was so amazing to hear how  their children are reaching out in love to their friends to share the gospel. We also had our weekly FHE as well. Ruby, a 10 year old girl. came with Olivia. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and Christ coming to the people in the Americas. She was hanging on every word we said! She has such a light about her! It truly is amazing! We also saw the Sargaent Family! He is in the Bishopric and his wife is the Young Women's President. Their daughter is a senior in high school and she shared the neatest story with us. On Easter she watched the Because of Him video that was produced by the church. She thought of one of her friends who is very active in her own Christan church, her friend's dad is actually the pastor. She texted her about the video and her friends reply was, "Oh! My dad showed this video to our congregation this morning!" Isn't that SO neat!!!! This random pastor at a little christian church here in Boulder City shared the Because of Him video with the members of his congregation!!!!!!!!!!!! SO AMAZING! I love the gospel! I love that it can touch so many people!

 

Tuesday we met with Sister Shattler, she has been a member for about 10 years. She hasn't been to church, because it causes so many problems with her family. Her husband just makes fun of the church and is pretty Anti. Her kids have their own problems and issues! It is so sad! I hadn't seen her in a month or more. The last time I saw her was when she got a call that her aunt died, while we were sitting there! We are going to start practicing our lesson with her and hopefully teach her 10 year old daughter! Speaking of 10 year olds, we met with Ruby and Olivia again! We taught them about Faith and Repentance! They loved our object lessons and just had a ball! We really hope to be able to teach Ruby and her mom, Jenny, whom we haven't seen in 2 weeks. We had a great dinner with Bishop Taggard and his family! They are so good to us! We also saw Sister Nutter and we were able to read a little more in the Book of Mormon with her. She deals with a lot of depression and has found strength from reading the scriptures! It is truly amazing! We also had our former investigator, Emily, who is 13, text us randomly and say that she wants to be Baptized. It was so out of the blue!

 

Wednesday we had district meeting it was great! As always! We went out for district lunch! We do this every week, but it is still always so great! We had Brother Morris, a newly wed in our ward, come out with us! We said a prayer with him before we left and let him choose a street for us to work on for the first 30mins. He chose sixth street! We went to see a potential investigator with no luck, and then to see another potential investigator, Anna-Lee. She welcomed us in and we taught her the first lesson it was so great! She is about 90+ years old. Ancient! But such a delight. She had the biggest crush on our "Body-guard" and went on and on telling him how handsome he was. Awkward. She asked how she could get a hold of him, if she needed help and he quickly told her, "call the sisters" It was too funny! We saw Emily to talk to her about why she wanted to be Baptized and what that meant to her. We explained that she won't be able to just be baptized, but that there was a process and she would need to be truly committed to remain active in the gospel! She wasn't too sure about wanting to be an active member after she is baptized. We will try to keep working with her, but it seems like it will continue to be a slow road. We also saw Brother Norris and Helena again! They are so sweet and sharing with us their conversion stories. It is truly amazing to hear how the Lord prepares people to receive His Restored Gospel. Afterward we went to meet up with some other sisters to do an exchange. I went to Henderson with Sister Crowe.

 

Thursday was a very stressful day. I did receive some pretty neat revelation. "The Spirit doesn't stay when we do not fulfill our purpose." I have never been with members and investigators for such long appointments in my life.. We were there for 1-2 hours each visit. It was ridiculous! I know that there are so many people we need to see that we must be somewhere different every 30mins! I never want to "hang out" with the people here! I want to teach them and get out, so they can continue to feel the Spirit. It was so good to get back to Boulder City and be with Sister Mawby again!

 

Friday we had weekly planning all day! It was really great! We stopped by to see a member of our ward who has been pretty sick. We found out that her father-in-law passed away. Their family was having a hard time with his passing and we were able to do some service for her. I am grateful that Heavenly Father can place u sin the paths of those who need our help. We met with Olivia and shared a short message with her! It was so great! She is such a ball of sunshine! We also saw Maya and Gene! They are an older couple in our ward. We shared a sweet message with them and then afterwards Maya brought out two pairs of llama fur slippers. She told us she was at the llama imports store yesterday and she felt impressed to buy them for us. She told us that she knows we walk a lot and wanted us to have something soft to put on our feet when we get home each night! She is such a sweetheart! It was a fun surprise for us!

 

Saturday we saw Anna Lee again and she asked about Brother Morris. She asked us if he was single and why we didn't bring him with us. It was just too funny! Our night ended pretty bad. After we had dinner I felt very very sick and I was. Not fun! We did had a few good visits with our members, but nothing too exciting or different to report. The Bird's gave me some medicine and are so loving! They are my family away from my real family. They are always concerned with how they can help.

 

Sunday we had a great fast and testimony meeting. Many members bore their testimonies about missionary work and the impact that we, the sisters, have had on their lives. It was very touching and will hopefully spark more interest in the members and their missionary work! We had yummy chicken wings for dinner at the Birds! They know I love chicken wings so they made it special for me! Aww! They are so wonderful! We shared a great message with them about helping our families all return to live with Heavenly Father again. I am so grateful for their families example! I am learning so much from them!

I wish there was more to say, but everything is just a blur this week! I hope you have all seen the Because of Him video! It is so powerful! Share it with everyone you know! I so grateful the Because of Him I can return to live with Heavenly Father. I know that Because of Him the gospel has been Restored and we have another testament of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon! I know that Because of Him I can be forgiven of all my short comings. I know that He Lives! He loves us all!

 

I love you all!

 

Love,

Sister Davis

 A guy spent 20 million $$$$ on this house! We got to hang out there for a few hours!!!

reading the drunk skeleton what it says in the missionary handbook!

April 21 2014

Hello my dearest family and friends!

 

Mission Life goes by so so fast! It is just unbelievable!!

 

Monday was jam packed! We had to end our Pday an hour earlier to fit in all of our appointment! We met with a man named Tim, who is friends with a member in the ward, Brother Warner. Tim's wife was a less active member and passed away two years ago. Tim has been taught by missionaries over and over again, but never really progressed past the first lesson. He is a recovered Alcoholic and his AA Meetings are his religion. He lives by the principles taught there. We shared the Restoration with him and I could see a change in his eyes as I recited Joseph Smith's experience in the Sacred Grove. I was very emotional as I shared it. The Spirit was so strong! Brother Warner got emotional as he shared his testimony. We asked how Tim felt and he said... I felt nothing. I know that he felt the Spirit! He says he felt nothing, but I saw his eyes! It was so hard to hear him say that he didn't feel anything. He told us that this wasn't his first rodeo.. I am not sure how open he is but he did agree to let us come back. We also met with a less active Sister Martin and talked to her about prayer. She wen inactive when she was 8 years old after her parents had a divorce and never took her back to church. Her life is totally different, because she grew up with out the Gospel! I am so grateful my parents continued to take us to church growing up! We also saw Sister Nutter and read with her more in the Book of Mormon. She has so many questions and is really seeking to know if this is the path she should take. I know that if she puts both feet forward she will see miracles and be guided on this path! After Sister Nutter, we took Sister Gossard to see Sherice! Sherice is moving to Henderson! It was a miracle that we found her and we hope to help her make the transition to the other missionaries there! It is so sad to see her go! We had a great Monday Night Activity like always we read Mosiah 24:10-25, Book of Mormon page 193. It was so powerful I love verse 24 "I will also ease the ^aburdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as ^bwitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their ^cafflictions." I know the Lord does give us strength when we put Him first! Sister Mawby and I headed to Henderson to meet up with some other Sisters. We had exchanges that night.

 

Tuesday I was in Henderson and Sister Mawby was left to run the area with another sister! She did so great! I am just so impressed with her and how well she is doing adjusting to being a missionary! When I was in the other area, we saw lots of miracles! We taught a few lessons and did some service! I just love being a missionary! The lives we are able to touch and the lives that touch ours is truly a blessing! I was so grateful to be back with Sister Mawby that night! I love her tons!

 

Wednesday we had our last interviews with President and Sister Neider, before they end their mission! It was so wonderful! The training we receiving was on Personal Prayers and I was truly touched by the comments made by the other Sisters and Elders! President had wonderful things to say to me and thanked me for the work I am doing. I am just so grateful for the leadership here in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission! Sister Neider talked to me a lot about my future and after the mission. She talked about certain characteristic she is noticing that I have developed and she talked about the kind of mother, wife, and member missionary I will be! I want to be like Sister Neider! I told President about something I have been doing to prepare for the New Mission President and he had me tell Sister Neider.. I have been studying a new chapter of Preach My Gospel each week. However, I never studied chapter 7, which is "Learning the Language" - because I am not learning a foreign language. For some reason I felt inspired to read and study that chapter the week before. I told President and Sister Neider that I have learned SO much from this one chapter! I have learned more about the Language of the Spirit! Needless to say they loved what I had to say and asked me to give them a quote to send to all the missionaries in our mission. They also told my district leader about this new study I have been doing about the Spirit and he called me late tonight and asked that I give a 20 minute training in district meeting tomorrow! Be careful what you say to one person, you never know what they may do with your thoughts! We had a great day after interviews as well! We saw Sister Nutter again and read some more with her! The Lopan's are probably my favorite older couple in our ward. They are a rodeo family and I just love them! They had us for dinner and we had yummy steak and potatoes! Oh it was so so good!!! We had a great lesson with Brother Norris and Helena, his 11 year old daughter. We had a great object lesson about Repentance! I love teaching and sharing the Gospel with everyone!!!

 

Thursday I hit my One Year, 12 Month Mark, 52 weeks, 365 days.... You pick how you want to say it! I just say WOW! I couldn't believe it has been one year. One year since I last saw my family and friends. One year since I entered this new world. One year since I truly began to change and become more like the Savior. In this last year I have seen lives changes, including my own. I have seen hearts soften, tears shed, Christ's healing power, and miracles, real miracles occur in lives all around me. I have found best friends! I know I knew them before I came to this earth! I know that Heavenly Father needed me here. I would not trade this past year for anything in the whole wide world. I know that I have been forever changed and will never be the same. This one year has changed my eternity! I am different. I am better. I am becoming like my Savior. Today I gave a training on "Seek the Language of the Spirit" It was amazing! I learned so much from the comments made and I know that I needed this training more than anyone else. We met with a 17 year old girl named Carolyn! It was so great! She had so many questions and really opened up to us about her mother and sister's death. They died a year apart from each other on the 4th of July. She has struggled a lot with that and we were able to bring her some comfort. It was a great lesson! We met with Tim again later that night. We tried to lay it all out and see if he is just being nice to us or if he really wants to learn.. I really have no idea what happened. He said he wanted to learn more and know for himself and then he told us he would call us and didn't set up an appointment. Lots of prayers for him! Sister Mawby and I have this new game. It's not really a game but it is so fun! We park our car at the chapel and walk to visit people we plan for. As we walk there are many ways to get to our appointments.. we ask each other which way we should walk, if we should go straight or turn. Every chance we get we ask each other and try to follow the spirit. We decided last minute to turn and met a man name Joe and his two little girls. They were so awesome and invited us to come back next week! I know that Heavenly Father really did guide us there! I can't wait to teach their family!!!

 

Friday we went to the Temple with the new missionaries and President Neider! It was so wonderful! I love going to the Temple! It is so gorgeous and the Spirit was so strong! Later that night we had Brother Neilson and Brother Gardner come out with us for an hour each! IT is always so great to have members with us and it gives us a great opportunity to get to know them better and help them with their missionary work. When Brother Gardener was with us we saw Tamara, whom we haven't seen in a week! It was a great opportunity for us to help her feel and recognize the Spirit! We also saw her daughter Mikalina afterwards and we were able to set up a lesson with her! She is 10 years old and it has been so hard to see her! I hope that we will be able to get back on track with her!

 

Saturday was the ward Easter Breakfast! It was a lot of fun and we were given a bunch of muffins that were left over! Yum! We had a good lesson with Brother Solomon! He is reading the Book of Mormon and we are making progress with him slowly, but surely! We had a great dinner with the Werly's! They are an amazing family and took us out to Scoop's and ice cream place afterwards! So good! We had weekly planning today so it was packed with fun inside the apartment!

 

Easter Sunday! This was a wonderful day to be a missionary! Church was so full of the Spirit! But my favorite part of the day was going to the Why I Believe Fireside. Justin, my first ward mission leader from Robindale YSA, gave us a ride with the other sisters here in Boulder! It was so great! He is the best!! The Fireside was amazing, just like it always is! I was able to see Carlos, my recent convert! I just love him so much! He is doing really great and is talking about going on a mission in January! I sure hope he can get things worked out and go! He will make an amazing missionary!!!!

 

I sure love this Gospel and being a missionary! If any of you haven't seen Because of Him watch it right now.. on Lds.org

It is amazing! I know that anything is possible because of Him! I am grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am grateful that He leads and guides this Church today through a Prophet of God. I know that this is His church. That it was lost, but now it has been restored. Share the Joy the Gospel brings!!!

 

Love,

Sister Davis

April 14 2014

Hello! Hello!

What a great week it has been! Lots of ups and downs! This was Sister Mawby's first full week in the mission field! We had so many miracles!!

Monday we taught a less active woman, Sister Nutter. She was baptized when she was 16 or 18 and is now in her late 50's. She has only gone to church a couple of times since her baptism. She does not remember anything about the gospel. We are teaching her just like we would an investigator, which is great real life practice for Sister Mawby! Sister Nutter is very open with us and let's us know exactly what her concerns are, which is so helpful! Later, we had our weekly Monday Night Activity, FHE. One of the girls that come each week just lost her grandpa. We were able to talk to her and comfort her. It was such a tender mercy! I just love being a missionary!!

Sister Mawby and I have been praying and praying to find people who are prepared! And who really want to come closer to their Savior. Our prayers were answered on Tuesday.

Tuesday we knocked on a door and metSherice, a girl in her 20's. She said that she would love to hear our message and had us share it with her right then and there. She expressed her desire to be baptized and agree that the beginning of May would be the perfect time! She said the closing prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us. She said that before we came she was just doing the dishes and praying someone would come that could help her! And then we knocked on her door! We also met another lady that is super prepared! Her name is Jenny! Her daughter is best friends with one of the girls in our ward! We were able to visit with her and she is so interested in learning! We had so many members come out with us today! The ward is really getting more and more involved!

Wednesday we had another wonderful district meeting! Having the old AP as our District Leader is really great! We were able to visit with Tamara about Mikalina's desire to be baptized. She is more open then before, but still not totally open to the idea. We are still working with her. We also saw the Gossards! They are becoming totally active! It is amazing to see the change in their family! Later on we met a lady named Brandy. She expressed a great desire to come to church with her 2 little girls! We also started working with a less active man, Brother Norris and his daughter Helana!

Thursday we had an awesome lesson with Jenny! She is really excited to learn and wants to find a church to take her kids to every Sunday. She wants to be baptized and have her kids be baptized as well! She has a few questions, but really a desire to know! We saw Sister Nutter again and read in the Book of Mormon! She is learning just like an investigator! It is so great!

Friday was pretty rough, because everyone we had appointments with canceled on us! But Heavenly Father still blessed us with tender mercies!

Saturday was packed! We had a great lesson with Brother Solomon. It was our usual Saturday morning lesson. Colleen was the member that came out with us and she shared a great testimony! Then we had a young women, Maddie, with us and had two lessons with our investigators. We talked with Sherice about the Book of Mormon and she loved it! After walking around for about 2 hours in the heat we stopped at SisterPerdon's home and she made us smoothies! They were so so good! It is starting to get a lot hotter here... I know it will just get worse, but I can't even imagine.

Sunday we shared a great message with in Ward Council about having a balanced missionary day! The ward is really coming together to help us with the work! We dropped by to see Sherice and read in the Book of Mormon with her. She truly has a desire to come closer to the Savior! We also met a man named Tim who's wife, before she passed, was a member of the church. He told us we could come back and teach him! So we have an appointment set up! 

Heavenly Father is truly truly blessing us! I am so grateful for His guidance! I received the sweetest email today from Amanda in my last area. This is what she said about the Valentine Hearts we put on some of the members doors..

"I just thought you should know how wide reaching your Valentine "heart attacks" were! People are still talking about it! 

I visited Sister Burns last week, and she asked was I was doing on February 13th or the morning of Valentine's....she's trying to figure out who her angels are.

Sister Dolly bore her testimony during sacrament yesterday.....about how grateful she is for people who care....and how much it impacted her that someone "gospel tagged" her with hearts all over her door with scriptures. She went to work that day letting everyone know that she had been "gospel tagged." She talked about how she left them up for as long as possible because she wanted everyone who came to her door to see the scriptures and feel the gospel. She said even though she has taken them down now, she still has kept them. 

Also! Brother Buckwalter a few weeks ago was talking to me and Lori....and asked if it was the young women that had heart attacked him. He said it meant so much to him, that he re-taped them up inside his house...and kept a few in his journal! 

You and Sister Tucker touched so many lives with a simple act of love! You are both truly such incredible missionaries!"

You truly never know the affect you have on people! I know that Heavenly Father is able to use us as instruments in His hands! I want to do all I can to continue to be the Lord's hands here in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission!

I hope you all have a great week! I love you so very much!!!!

PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT!!!

http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694

Have a Happy Easter! BECAUSE OF HIM!

Love,

Sister Davis

April 7 2014

Helllllooooo from Boulder City!!!!

 

 

What a week! What a week! Boulder City is so great! This has definitely not been a typical missionary week!

 

First off I want to quote for you a sign that is on the corner of Ave B and 5th Street... "What is missing from CH  CH? ......U R!" Isn't that cleaver!

 

Well Monday was Sister Area's last day here in Boulder. She has served in this ward the first 6 months of her mission! We had dinner at the Bird's home! I love them so much! And we taught Sister Nutter, a less-active woman, about prayer! She agreed to have us continue to come back and teach her! She has a desire to return to church, but is still unsure about her conversion to the gospel. We had a great Monday Night Activity! We had a great turn out and read in 1 Nephi 17, about Nephi building the ship and then we all built paper boats and tested them out! It was so fun and everyone loved it! It was a great way to end Sister Area's time here!!

 

On Tuesday I took Sister Area to meet up with her new companion and I got with Sister Cummings for the day, since she is training too! We worked in Henderson in her ward for the day! We headed to Boulder City that night and on our way Sister Cummings got very sick! She had just had her gallbladder taken out a month earlier and was having sever stomach pain. She felt like she was going to pass out and couldn't move! I drove her to the Hess' home. Sister Hess was in her PJ's and so was Brother Hess. They welcomed us in though! Bishop came over and after talking with our medical advisory we came to the conclusion that we needed to take her to Urgent Care. The closes one was 30 minutes away and closed at 9pm... It was 8:45pm.. Brother Hess and Bishop drove us back to Henderson to the Urgent Care and we got there just in time! It was stressful to say the least! They gave her some medicine and after we were back to Boulder she received a priesthood blessing! She was still weak on Wednesday, but is feeling a lot better now!

 

Wednesday we had District Meeting! Our new district leader is Elder Fuller, who was just released as the AP! Needless to say it was the best district meeting ever! We saw the Gossard Family afterwards! They loved Monday night and plan to come every week! They even offered to trade off sharing a message some Mondays! What a blessing! We had an amazing lesson with Lou, our investigator from Germany! He read in the Book of Mormon and the pamphlet we left him! We talked and testified more about the Book of Mormon! He told us that he wished he would have been born into the church. We assured him that it is never too late to be apart of it! He agreed and is excited to continue to study and learn! Sister Cummings and I returned to the Mission Office to meet our new companions! There were only three English sisters coming... Sister Thomas, Sister Smith, and Sister Mawby. We asked the office staff who they thought would be our companions and we asked other missionaries to guess as well... I had been praying for all three of them, but I definitely thought that I would have a certain one as my companion! Well everyone said that Sister Mawby would be my companion and that's who I thought too... and I guess Heavenly Father thought that would be good as well... Because Sister Mawby is my new companion! She is from Oklahoma and is 19! She is a sweetheart! Her first night we had dinner with the Relief Society President's home and met with a couple of members it was wonderful!

 

Thursday we had a new missionary training meeting at the mission office. It was an all day event! I learned a lot about how to be a better missionary and how to help Sister Mawby make this transition. I know that the Lord will help me! When were back in Boulder we were able to see Mikalina and Tamara. They just happened to be outside. They were so happy to see I had a new sister missionary. We are trying so hard to meet with them! Their schedule is so crazy! Afterwards we had dinner with Bishop and his family! It was wonderful! They are just so supportive of us and it makes the world of a difference! We had our Ward Coordination Meeting with the Stubbs and Sister Graff took us afterwards to meet one of her clients, Taylor. We were able to set an appointment with her which was such a miracle!

 

Friday we had a long day of Weekly Planning. We practice our lessons on a couple of members and had dinner with the Morris'. She is a ward missionary and I've really been able to get to know her better these last couple of weeks!

 

Saturday was amazing! I love watching General Conference as a missionary! It is the best! We had a great lesson with Brother Solomon! We asked Sister Slack to come with us. She shared a powerful experience. I don't think I can do it justice.. But I will try to rely what she shared. She explained that she wen to a funeral on Friday and told Brother Solomon that his mom was there, his mom passed away 6 months ago. She told him that she felt her presents so strong there. She explained later that night we called her and asked if she could come with us at 11am or 4pm. She didn't have anything going on at either of those times, but 11am just blurted right out of her mouth. We then told her we would be going to see Brother Solomon. As we were sitting with him in his home Sister Slack went on to explain that she knows his mother wanted her to come and tell him that he needs to not be afraid and that he needs to put away his pride and read and pray about the Book of Mormon! She got right in his face and told him he needed to try! He needed to stop making excuses and he needed to find out for himself. It was the most powerful lesson I have ever been apart of here in Boulder City. His mother was there with us. She was helping us know what to say to him! It was a miracle and we were all in tears. Later we had dinner with Olivia, a 10 year old girl, and her less active family. Olivia walks to church each Sunday alone, while her family does whatever they do on Sundays. It was a great dinner and we shared a fun spiritual thought with them! They said they would love to have us back! Later on we went to visit with the Millers. We shared a thought about Faith and Sister Miller asked how we knew that that is what she needed to hear! She explained how overwhelmed she has felt and expressed so much gratitude for us being there tonight. It was truly a blessing!

 

Sunday we went to watch the first session of General Conference with Bishop and his family. We had an omelet bar! It was so tasty! We visited a few members and watched Conference at the church later that day. We had dinner with the Beekmans who could us Vietnamese food. It was really great! We practiced our lesson on them and they loved it. Brother Beekman went on and on about how much he felt the Spirit as I shared the first vision. He told me, "It doesn't matter what you say, it is how you say it." We have to share the gospel with enthusiasm and love and relive our own conversion as we share our testimony!

 

I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be able to share with others what has brought me pure joy and love! I know that I am needed here in Boulder City and that Sister Mawby and I need each other! What a great blessing it is to know that I am exactly where I need to be! I am grateful I could watch General Conference! I would just like to share with you a few things I wrote down during conference that really made an impression on me!

 

-Live True To The Faith

-Defend Your Faith with Courage and Courtesy, but Defend It!

-Nothing is worth loosing our treasures in Heaven!

-We never trouble our Savior when we turn to Him!

- Daily Scripture Study, Prayer, and weekly Family Home Evening - this has to be done - nothing else matters!

-Never let spiritual whirlwinds carry you away!
-Do all things the Lord asks of you!
-Truth is Truth - it comes from God - it is part of the Gospel!

-You can't change people's direction, but you can influence the change in their direction.

-Be careful who you follow!

-It will be a sacred time when our Savior comes again!

-The Savior cars about what we are thinking!
-Family History will bind your family here and the ones who have passed on!

-Gratitude is the catalyst to all Christlike attributes!

-Remain steadfast in bearing your testimony!

-The Gospel is not weight - it's wings!!!

-We have a short time here and an eternity to think about it!

-The Lord gives us strength to carry our burdens!

-Love is the essence of the Gospel!

-We don't know how or when blessings will come - but they will come!

-Respond to every call!

-There are very few one size fits all solutions.

-Prepare to Pray!

-Everything will work out- eventually!

-We must do all we can to find truth!

-We can have ultimate trust in our Savior!

-Heavenly Father will see us through the hard times!

 

I know that we have Prophet today and that the same authority that Christ had while he was on the Earth is Restored! It was lost! But now it is back! I know that Christ lives and loves us! I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone! I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's kingdom on the Earth! I know that there are people prepared to hear our voices! Speak up! Speak out! Open your Mouth!

 

Love,

Sister Davis

March 31 2014

Hello Hello!!

Can you believe I have been in Boulder City now for six weeks?! Time flies by so fast! I only have 6 more months left on my mission! It is unreal! We found out about transfers on Saturday via a text message during the Women's Broadcast! Sister Area will be leaving and she is actually going to be with one of my former companions, Sister Nilson. I will be here in Boulder City with Sister TBA! I am training and won't know who I am with until Wednesday when I meet her!!! She is coming straight from the MTC! I am a little nervous, but I've been praying for her and I know that I new my future companion before we came to this earth. It will be great!

Let me tell you about some miracles that happened the last week of this transfer!

Monday we had a great activity! This whole every Monday night at 7pm thing is going really great! The members and investigators love it!

Tuesday we met with the Gossard Family. They haven't been for a few years. They are young couple. He's a return missionary and she is a convert. They were sealed in the Temple and have a little girl now. They just got "busy" and lazy.. But we clicked really well with them and they want to get back to the Temple and become active! We are going to start practicing our lessons on them! We had a really neat experience when we were walking to see one of our investigators. We met a man named Bill and his wife Wendy. They had just pulled into their drive way when we were passing there house. We introduced ourselves and visited a little. They asked if we were nuns... ummm no! We offered to say a prayer with their family. They accepted and we prayed with them right in their driveway. We asked them if Jesus Christ were here what would they ask for and I had the opportunity to say a very specific prayer for their family. They told us that their neighbor could use a prayer as well. It was wonderful! We also were able to share short powerful messages with quite a few members! We had a member of the Bishopric come out with us for the first time tonight! We were able to meet a less active woman, Sister Marten. She talked to us about her troubled life and how she had lost her way. She would like us to practice our lessons on her and we think a door has been opened for her! It was such a blessing to have Brother Prestwich with us! He talked about his experiences as a missionary! It was wonderful!

Wednesday we had an incredible miracle. We went to visit a lady in our ward who has been the hospital for the past 7 months. She's in her 70's and had to have her right leg amputated above the knee. We just went to share a short message and to see if we would help her with anything. When we were almost done with our visit her CNA came to help her clean. We wrapped up our lesson and asked if we could say a closing prayer. Yasuko, the CNA from Japan, was so excited and asked if we were Mormon and if she could pray with us! We visited with her and she explained that she knows lots of Mormons. We said a closing prayer and then decided to teach the Restoration in 5 minutes. She had so many questions, like why are there so many churches that all believe in Jesus Christ. We told her this is the message that explains that! She was so excited! We gave her a Book of Mormon and got her information so the missionaries near her could bring her a Japanese Book of Mormon. It was a blessing to be able to share the message that we love so dearly with her. She offered the closing prayer. It was her first time to pray and it was so sweet! Later we saw Mikalina, whom we haven't seen in a week and a half! She has just been MIA lately! We talked to her and set something up! I miss her tons!! We had dinner with Bishop Taggard and his family. He found out that my favorite food is spicy chicken wings and that Sister Area loves Mac and Cheese! So you can guess what we had for dinner!! It was the best!!! Afterwards we dropped by mutual to set up a few appointments with the youth. They were doing the funnest activity! It was combined and they had the girls learn how to do boy things and the boys learn how to do girl things! They had rotating stations. One of them was that the girls learned how to tie a tie and the boys learned how to braid hair! It was a hoot!

Thursday we saw more miracles! We were able to visit with Sister Guyette a 93 year old lady in our ward who had just gotten out of the hospital. She is a sweet hard and it is so fun to see how up beat she is for being so old! We had Kennedy, one of the Young Women come out with us and had a miracle lesson! We went by to see a man named Lou, whom Sister Area had met in November. He is from Germany and has a sweet accent. He's 77 and let us right in. We shared the Restoration with him and gave him a Book of Mormon! It was truly a blessing. We set up an appointment with him on Saturday and invited him to read the first chapter! After we left Kennedy turned to us and said, "Do you mind if I come with you on Saturday?" uhhh... NO! We were so happy she wanted to come with us again!

Friday we had Zone Training Meeting! It was wonderful! I also learn so much from all the other missionaries! Just before we went out to visit people, Sister Area said a powerful and specific prayer that we would find someone to teach as we were walking between appointments. Well needless to say God does answer prayers! We were walking down the street and started to talk to this man, Kenny, who was working in the yard. We found out that he was helping his neighbor with her yard. He said we could come to his house and pray with him and his 17 year old daughter later that night. Miracles! We went by later with a member and it was so great! Kenny has MS and other health problems! He has been through a lot and we hope to be able to help him draw closer to the Savior! We had another Young Women come out with us, Payton. We visited with Wanda, our 88 year old investigator. We read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with her and Payton shared a beautiful testimony of the Book of Mormon! I love having the youth with us! We practiced our first lesson on the Gossard's! It was great! They told us they want us in there home all the time! They feel better and more motivated with us around!

Saturday we met with Brother Solomon like usual! We read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon and had a great discussion about some of his concerns! Kennedy came with us to see Lou, but he didn't answer the door. We left a sweet note for him though! We got a ride with the Stake President's wife and daughter to the Women's Broadcast! If you didn't get a chance to watch it then check it out on lds.org - it was so great!

Sunday was wonderful, because President and Sister Neider came to our ward to speak and teach 3rd hour! It was amazing! They talked about missionary work of course! The members are really inspired! We will see great things in the next few months, I just know it! Sister Area and I went around to visit a few members and to say her goodbyes. This is her first area and I know it will be so hard for her to go!

I am excited for the adventures ahead! I know Heavenly Father knows each of us and our circumstance. He will lead us if we let him and if we ask! I am so  I will tell you all about my new companion next week! Pray for us!

Love and miss you!

Love,

Sister Davis

March 24 2014

Hello!!!

Is it Monday already?! Wow- does time fly! I am so glad I get to write you and tell you about the miracles we saw this week! I know Heavenly Father really is guiding us and helping us here in Boulder City!

Last Monday, we had another really successful Family Home Evening! We taught the 10 Commandments with hand signals to remember them, but the highlight was when we taught about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy! We had two bowls of pure vanilla ice cream and lots of different toppings. We started to talk about what goes on our "Sunday"... going to church (chocolate syrup), reading our scriptures (sprinkles), writing missionaries *hint hint* (whip cream) etc. etc. Then we talked about what were things that don't go on our "Sunday" ... going shopping (ketchup), going out to eat (barbecue sauce), going to the movies (sprinkle cheese) etc. etc. As we put these things on our "Sunday" everyone was so upset. They didn't want ketchup on their "Sunday". I was confused, I told them, "But I love ketchup and barbecue sauce, why wouldn't I want it on my "Sunday"?" We talked about how going shopping (ketchup) and going out to eat (barbecue sauce) aren't bad things.. They are actually really good, but they don't belong on our "Sunday". There are certain things our Heavenly Father asks us not to do and to do, because we love Him we obey. It really helped our investigators understand the importance of Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy!

Tuesday was Zone Conference!! It was in Green Valley, so I got to see my old zone!! :) It was awesome! I knew everyone in the meeting and I was the oldest sister there (not in age, but in time in the field) So crazy!! We had some great trainings! Sister Neider made us all green smoothies! We also had a couple come and speak to us about Addictions and the LDS Addiction Recovery Program. I am so grateful that the Gospel can truly reach and touch all who are in need of rescuing! I know that our Savior loves all of us - no matter our struggles! We had a wonderful day! Later that night we had a Stake Relief Society Activity! A lot of our Less-Actives came! It was wonderful!

Wednesday was great! We had some interesting experiences! We met this man named Mike, he was outside working on his yard. He told us about his ex fiance who was LDSand other details that have left a sore taste in his mouth concerning the church. I think it is so sad when people base the whole church off of one experience with one person. There are imperfect people in every church. Anyways, he told us that his new fiance would be interested that we can come by and meet her! We went back to see her later that night but she wasn't home. We were however able to meet a less-active woman named Kathleen! She was really sweet and wants to come back and share a message with her next week!

Thursday we were able to talk to Maya, a recent convert about getting her Patriarchal Blessing! She is so excited and so are we! We had a great dinner with the Stake Presidents family, he wasn't able to make it. But it sure was fun to be in their home! I love being around members who have the Spirit with them! It is so refreshing! We had our weekly coordination meeting and it was an interesting one! But the work is going great here! There is a lot of potential in little Black Canyon!

Friday we were in most of  the day planning our week! But we were able to go to lunch with my old Young Women's President, Sister Cathryn Daniels, and her cute little girls, who live in Vegas now! It was so great! We went to Chilly Jilly's which I guess is kinda famous here in Boulder City.. who would've know! It was awesome! I am so grateful for the many wonderful examples my Heavenly Father blessed me with as a youth! I am so grateful for His love for me and all of His children here! We had dinner tonight with a less active family, the Smyth's. It was sure fun! Then we met up with some sisters to do exchanges! Sister Cummings came to BC with me!

Saturday after playing Basketball for morning sports with the other missionaries we went to set up tables for a baby shower! Then went home and got ready to go teach a less active man, Brother Solomon. He is a great guy, but is very logical which makes it hard to share things with him. We talked about faith! It was powerful! He asked us some great questions about Anti Mormon literature and our thoughts on how to know if it is true or not. We exampled that first we need to check our source and then we need to pray and ask Heavenly Father. We testified of the Book of Mormon and that if the Book of Mormon is true scripture, then we know that Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet, just as God has always called a Prophet, and that the Church has been Restored just like it is prophesied in the Bible. After our lesson we saw a part member family pulling weeds so we pulled over and began to help them, it was a tender mercy and an opportunity for us to gain a better relationship with them. Later on we stopped by to see Mikalina. We had two lessons set up with her and she wasn't home both times. Tamra, her mom, had us come in. She was cleaning and organizing... and we threw on some pants and started to help her. We were able to have some great Gospel conversations as we worked. She found her sisters old journal with poems that she had written. Tamara told us that on April 1st this year it will mark 30 years since her sister was kidnapped and murder by a serial killer. She broke down. It was such a blessing that we could be with her and comfort her. I am grateful for Heavenly Father and that He is truly aware of each one of His precious children. We testified of the Plan of Salvation. http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/plan-of-salvation It was truly a blessing to answer her questions! Later on we met with Kristy, one of our investigators, we were able to share a short message with her and invite her to read about Faith in the Book of Mormon in Alma 32. We will be seeing her next week! To end our exchange Sister Cummings and I went to Coldstone! And just as we were about to pay a member came up and payed for us! It was a blessing and a great way to end the night!

Sunday we had a great day! I love going to church, there is no where else I would rather be on Sunday! We had dinner with the Hess Family, there was about 30 people there. It was fun to be with a big family for Sunday dinner. All cousins and aunts and uncles! Makes me miss my family! Bishop Taggard invited us to go to a Fireside with the Youth. Brother Beekman, in our ward, gave a presentation about Positive Thinking. He is a retired inspirational speaker. It was very interesting and I wish I would have known some of these principles as a youth. I know that being happy is a choice and that it is just as easy to go from negative thoughts to positive thoughts as it is to go the other way around.

I am really grateful for this Gospel. I know I have said that many times before, even just in this email. But it is true! I find so much peace and love because I know where I came from, I know why I am here, and I know where I am going. I know what Christ taught and I know how it applies to me. I know how to live His teachings and I know why I need to. Everyday I see people who have so many different struggles and challenges and I think to myself, "If they only had the Gospel they could have avoided this all together!" I know that we need to share with others the Restored Gospel! http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/restoration This is what I share with everyone who will listen! I know that what I share as a missionary is true! I would not have left college, family, friends, and the world, if I didn't know that what I was sharing with people was true and if I didn't know that what I share is for everyone. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that He is coming again and I know that there is more to this life than the newest movie or what so and so said on Facebook. We are here to return to live with our Heavenly Father! We return by helping others. Everything else is there to distract us from our mission! I know that we are placed into each others paths to share the truth! The Church is True & The Book is Blue! Read it! Study it! Share it!

I love you and am so grateful for the example you are to me!

Love,

Sister Davis

March 17 2014

Hello Hello!

It so great to have this opportunity to write to you! I am so grateful for your love and support! I am grateful for your examples to me! This has been a great week! Of course all weeks are truly great as a missionary! I've never experienced a bad week. There has been hard moments, but that doesn't not mean the work or the mission is bad. I am grateful for the hard moments, because the miracles and good times are so sweet! Today is my 11 month mark, which means I have 18 months left on my mission! Well not exactly 18 months, but that would be nice! I am so grateful for this time that I have to serve. I cannot believe how fast it is going by! I feel like I was just packing for my mission and having a melt down because my suitcases were too heavy! Wow! Time flies!

Last Monday we had the chance to go down to downtown Boulder City, which is really about two blocks long and only 3 mintues away from us. We went to all of the antique shops and saw such cute things! I am so glad I'm a poor missionary, with little space, and little time, otherwise I would have been so tempted to take all the stores home with me! They had such darling things! I could spend hours looking at everything. I love the small town feel! It is so unique and so homey! Later that night we went to see a couple in our ward. We had contacted the lady two doors down from them last week and they told us she posted about us on her facebook after we left her doorstep. They said she wrote that "two cute lady missionaries gave me a book today.. now I need to find something for them to read.. any ideas?" We were pretty shocked that she posted on the world wide web about us and the couple told us that there were lots of negative things written in the comments of her status... But they wrote on her wall and bore their testimony to her and invited her to read 3 Nephi 11 in the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful for members that back us up! I am so grateful for their testimonies! Afterwards, we had an amazing activity!! We are holding a Family Home Evening activity every Monday night now and it is so great! We had our investigator Mikalina, who's 10, there and some other members. We read 2 Nephi 31 and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which includes Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End! It was a great discussion! Then we played a game! We put an oreo on our forehead and had to get it into our mouth without touching it with our hands! We just had to move our face and tounge to get it! Mikalina won and I was the last to get it in my mouth, but it was so funny! They had a great time!

Tuesday we went to the Temple for my quarterly Temple visit. Sister Tucker and I arranged so that we would just happen to bump into each other there! We went to the session together and had lunch at the Temple! It was so great! I love to see the Temple! I love to go inside! I am so grateful that we have a Temple in our mission! Sister Bird came out with us today and we went to see a less active man named Brother Bradley. We is in his 80's and has a stomach problem that he caught while in Mexico 15 years ago. His hearing aids broke so we had to practically yell to communicate with him! It was fun! We talked about faith and he agreed to receive a blessing of healing! We are going next week with Sister Bird's husband, the former Bishop. After Brother Bradley we went to see another less active man, Brother Swoope! I love Brother Swoope! He is in his 70's and has had lots of heartache, with the passing of his mother, wife, friend, and girlfriend all in the last year and a half! We talked about Faith with him and invited him to come on Monday nights! He is so sad and holds such a heavy burden. I know that if he would come back into the fold he would fins peace. But he is scared to get close to anyone, because everyone dies. We also had a lesson with Caitlyn, our 13 year old investigator. SHe has been taught many times by missionaries. We had an overview lesson so we could see where she was with everything. There are some many points that we realized she doesn't grasp. Now we know where to start! We also saw Mikalina and taught her the importance of reading her scriptures, going to church, and praying daily. She is such a gem with a true desire to follow the Savior! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with the opportunity to influence his precious daughters.

Wednesday we had a great district meeting! Sister Hess came out with us and though we weren't able to have a lesson with anyone, we were able to get to know her and street contact a man who was just visiting from Montana. It was a great experience for her to see that we don't teach people 24/7 - lots of times we just visit people who don't answer their doors! We got to visit a lady in our ward Sister Guyette. She is such an inspiration! She walks to church each Sunday, stays all three hours, and walks home. She is 93 years old. I hope I can be like her when I am that old. Her testimpny is so strong and she strives to share the gospel with her neighbors.What an awesome lady. We practiced one of our lessons with Sister Snowden today and she told us she would like us back the same time every week to practice! She even made us brownies! So sweet! At the conclusion of our night we had an experience that I will truly never ever forget. I wish I could put it into words for you, but it is just not appropriate to share at this time. I will, however, tell you this.. Heavenly Father put us in the right place at the right time. Our appointments fell through so that we could answer a desperate call. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father's awareness of each of His children. I am so grateful for Bishop Taggard and Brother Sargant. They came to the rescue. I felt peace and my Father's love during this time of chaos and confusion. He protected us. I know He lives!

Thursday we met with Mikalina again and read in the Bok of Mormon, she is reading so much and is so excited about what she is learning! She loves the gospel! We had a great dinner with the Taggards! Sister Taggard has her own line of chap stick and perfumes and soaps that she makes herself, she let us pick some out and they are so good! While Sister Area was talking with Sister Taggard, Bishop and I played a little ping-pong! So fun! I haven't lost all my skills yet! Even though I hadn't played in 11 months. We met with Brother Norris, a less active, and his daughter Halena, who's 11. We had a great little message with them and invited them to pray every night together, they were both excited about that challenge! Sister Area and I met up with Sisters Fierstneau and Cummings to go on exchanges!

Friday Sister Fierstneau was in my area here in Boulder City! We had one of the best days I have had here! Sister Peterson, the Stake Presidents wife, came out with us. We had no lessons planed, but we had a lot of faith! After trying two doors and having no one answer we went to visit Patricia. She lives next to a member and her daughter actually joined the church when she was a teenager and served a LDS mission. I had only met Patricia once, and she was not interested. She didn't let us in. We went to the door, she answered, we introduced ourselves, told her we wanted to share a message with her, and she let us right in! She talked and talked! I was praying that I would be able to take something she said and be able to start on message of the Restoration. She talked about prayer! I told her we had a message to share with her about prayer and asked if we could start with a prayer! We began to share about Jesus Christ, she told us that the thing she loved most about Christ was that he loved the little children. We testified of that and began to share Joseph Smith's experience. We shared that he was just a child and Christ loved him. That Heavenly Father answered his prayers. We shared Joseph's experience in his own words and asked her to pay attention to how she felt, because the Spirit testify of truth through the feelings we feel. We shared Joseph's words...

"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me...When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Patricia smiled so big and said.. "I'm SO HAPPY!" She felt the Spirit so strong. We explained to her that the Book of Mormon is that convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was called to be a Prophet. We read 2 Nephi 25:26 with her. This is the Purpose of the Book of Mormon, it reads,

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

That really touched her. We left her with a Book of Mormon and invited her to come to a knowledge of the truth for herself. It was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever been in. We truly followed the Spirit.

We talked and walked a lot on Friday. We met some really amazing people! We met a lady named Dorthy who had learned about the church 50 years ago, but had lost contact with missionaries when she moved. She said her Book of Mormon was packed away, so we gave a new one and invited her to read! They we met Donnie, a father of 5, and he invited us back to say a prayer with his family. We street contacted a family in our ward who is active, but I didn't recognize them until they said their name.. That was a little awkward, but hey! We were talking to everyone! A young man in our ward Jackson introduced us to his neighbor and they invited us to come back and say a prayer with them. Our night ended on a great note, we met a lady named Corrine. She was taught by missionaries in 2010. She invited us in and we shared a short message about faith. She told us she has been really stressed and working late every night, but tonight she decided to come home early and then we knocked on her door. She told us that we were an answer to her prayers and that we were welcomed anytime. She knew right where her Book of Mormon was and we invited her to read Alma 32, because it is all about faith! It was an truly amazing day! I love being a missionary!

Saturday we went to visit Brother Swoope, but we saw Wanda, our 88 year old investigator outside watering her yard. We stopped and helped her pick weeds. Sister Miller was with us and she helped too! It was great to be able to serve her even if we were in skirts trying to be modest and get down and pull weeds. Afterwards we met with Brother Solomon, a less active man. He is very lonely. We talked to him about prayer. He says he will prayer for others on occasion, but that's the only time he prays, because he knows that God never fixes his problems when he prays. We invited him to pray this week and he said we could come back next week. Then we hurried off to a Baptism in Quail Ridge!! We were almost late! But we made it! It was so great to see all of the people I love. Ashley was baptized by her husband Tim. He is a returned missionary and they were just married 4 months and then moved into our ward. I was able to teach them just a little bit before I was transferred. She is pregnant and is having a baby girl in August. They are so special and really have a love for the gospel! It is amazing! I miss Quail Ridge, but I know that my time there is done. I am happy to be in Black Canyon! After the Baptism I was able to have lunch with my Grandpa Davis and Uncle Jason! It was so great to see them! I shared a really cool spiritual thought with them! Hopefully they learned something! It was so great to be able to share my testimony with them! After lunch we took Mikalina to a Baptism that the elders were having. She leaned over to me and asked if you have to be Baptized in order to serve a mission. I told her yes. She wants to be Baptized and serve a mission soooo badly! But her mom won't allow her to be Baptized.. Yet! I know she will though! One day!!

Sunday was amazing! I was able to go to the Why I Believe Fireside. Carlos, who was baptized in the YSA Ward in November spoke. He is amazing! I love him so much! We were really worried, because he was late and wasn't answering his phone. Come to find out his phone died and he got a flat tire! But he made it in time. I know that the adversary was trying to keep him from coming!! But he made it! His testimony was so pure. He shared how he had met with missionaries on and on for about a year, and how he always told them.. I want to learn, but I don't want to be Baptized, so don't ask me. He shared that Sister Davis and Sister Berger really sealed the deal for him. That we shared 1 Nephi 8, about Lehi's dream with him and that was it! He knew he had to hold to the rod a join the church. He shared that he was going to ask us when he could be Baptized, but that we beat him to it! We asked him first! He shared that he has since been filled with so much joy and power. He shared that he shares the gospel with all of his friends and that he always has his friends over to eat with the missionaries! He invited everyone there to share the gospel and promised them peace and joy and love. He told everyone that he hopes to have his missionaries in his life for a long long time. He is such an amazing missionary! After the program he came right off the stand a reached out to give me a hug, he was so sad when he remembered that he couldn't hug me... only a hand shake. He is so precious to me! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent me here so that I could bring him the gospel! Oh how grateful I am to be a missionary! I love this gospel so much! I know that Heavenly sent us here to share it with others! I know that this is the truth!

I love you all so much and hope that you will find peace and joy this week! Remember that Heavenly Father has a bigger plan for each one of us!

Choose The Right!

Love,

Sister Davis