Hello Dear Family, 

You are wonderfully brilliant! 

We had the first baptism in Ilford this year!! Amarjeet got baptised. The member that baptised him is an amazing member that always comes teaching with us and just loves the gospel. He came up to us after the baptism and just thanked us for our obedience and for all that we are doing. He said that our efforts to do what is right was evident in how everything went. It was very thoughtful of him to say that. The baptism did go really well. We had a baptism right before of someone who had been excommunicated. That was just a small baptism with the missionaries and a few of the members friends. It was really lovely and the spirit was so strong. But Sister P and I were talking about how that baptism caused more stress than the baptism for our investigator; Amarjeet's baptism just went so smoothly. Even with speakers cancelling last minute and the pianist not showing up, it all just went so well and we weren't stressed at all. It was clear that the Lord wanted it to happen; we didn't need to worry about anything. And thankfully my piano skills are improving a lot. I've had to play for different events quite often recently, including sacrament meeting. Thanks for being a great teacher mum!

The work is going well. We just keep trying to focus on working with the members. We have noticed that when we really focus on helping the members be involved with missionary work, all aspects of the work we do goes much smoother. When we do the work in the Lord's way, we will get His help. 

Sister P and I have gotten a new liking: frozen fruit. It all started with frozen grapes. I guess it was a big trend in Sister P's high school. They are so good. Like a little grape slushy in your mouth. So we've started freezing other random fruit to see how it goes. The orange was pretty good. 

I don't know if I ever told you about our investigator Salma. Sister Stoja and I found her street contacting and then she called us the end of last transfer. She is from Bangladesh. She has two children, but they were taken away and she was in an abusive relationship, but she is working to get them back and is doing so amazing! She has stopped smoking!! She was smoking about 20 a day when we first met her and we've been working with her to cut down and now she isn't smoking at all. She's on date for the 12 of April. Sometimes it is hard to understand her, but we can see the physical difference the gospel is making in her life.

The gospel is great. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and all that he has done for me. I know that because of His grace and mercy I can become better each and everyday. He loves us all so much!

I love you!

Sister Davis xoxo 

It's beginning to look a lot like Springtime!

Hiya Family! 

Happy St. Patty's day! Sister P and I made sure to wear our green.... and then we noticed all day that no one else was wearing green. There was no st patty's decorations in the stores. It came up in a lesson with our Albanian investigators (the ones we teach English too, and the gospel); the English member with us reminded us that St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday. Sister P and I had just assumed the whole world celebrated green day. haha. Oh well. England has St. George's Day, but no one celebrates it. I think she said it's in April. 

Well, I won't hold back the anticipated news any longer. Sister P and I are staying together!!!!!! Yay! We were so excited to hear that. Especially after the week that we had; so many miracles. And it was just so natural that we didn't even feel like it was moves happening this week and we just kept working like normal and had already schedule appointments for the day of transfers. The Lord is blessing us so much! We are finding families to teach, members are getting more involved in the work, and we are just growing to love the people more and more everyday. I have loved all my companions so much, but it's amazing the miracles that happen when a companionship is completely unified. Sister P and I are just so much on the same page with where we want the work to go. And I think we're both really in tune with how the Lord wants the work to go as well. It's amazing! We both had a hard time falling asleep last night (don't worry it was just a one night thing because of moves calls- I really have been sleeping great) because we were both thinking of how great this next transfer is going to be and all the goals we have for the area. I'm so excited! 

Amarjeet had his baptismal interview last night. He passed! He's getting baptised on Saturday! Finally. I'm so happy for him. He's been wanting it so bad for so long. 

We met with a new investigator yesterday. It was our first proper lesson with her. She had met Sister P on the bus back when Sister Latham was still here. We have been calling her and trying to set up an appointment with her, but we could never get a hold of her. Sister P was feeling so bad about it. Then, the other day we get on the bus... and what do you know. This woman was sitting on the bus. We were able to get her address and set up an appointment with her. When we taught her she confessed that she had been purposefully ignoring our calls. And she said that she normally would not give away her address to someone she just met, but she said the spirit told her she needed to give it to us and that we are working for God. She says she knows it was God's hand in us meeting on the bus (and it really was because we hadn't planned to be on that bus at that time, and neither had she--- she was actually meant to be going to meet her pastor of her church but he cancelled). We are looking forward to continuing to teach her. 

I've decided Sundays must just be our day for many miracles. This Sunday we had quite a few appointments set up and we kept those appointments, but we also got 6 new investigators!! It was brilliant! We also taught the man we met last Sunday. His family is great! We also were able to teach his father. They are all really interested. We want to give them a baptismal date the next time we teach them. 

I love this gospel. This week I was reading 3 Nephi 18 about the sacrament. It talks about how they were filled. We always teach investigators that church is so important because it recharges their batteries. And the scriptures say exactly that. It's the sacrament that fills our spiritual batteries with power and bless us with the spirit throughout the week, not just church in general. I'm so grateful for this ordinance that I can participate in each week. I hope I can strive to make it more meaningful and sacred. I know Jesus Christ is my Saviour. And the Saviour for everyone. Including those who don't remember who he is. 

Thank you for your prayers!

I love you!!!

Cheers, 

Sister Davis xoxox

It's a beautiful day!

Dear Family,

This week has really been wonderful! It is amazing the miracles we have seen, especially considering everything that has happened. We had this crazy incident with a member that was just too much drama and will take too much time to explain, but it is all resolved now so no worries. All that drama just added to the sleepless nights I was having and it all really caught up with me. I took some sleeping medication Sister Jordan told me to take and the next day I don't think I quite slept it off. I couldn't keep my eyes open all the way. It was ridiculous. But the Lord really blessed us anyway. There was a lot that the Lord needed to teach me. Hopefully I learned it all and can continue to enjoy getting restful sleeps at night. 

Miracle #1 Guess who is back?? Amerjeet!!!! He got out of the detention centre FINALLY and is working towards getting everything back on track for baptism. 

Miracle #2 We've been doing some less-active finding for back-up plans. If the LA isn't in we tract 5 doors on both sides and 5 doors across. Well, like plans tend to do as a missionary, our plans fell through and we followed our back-up plans. The LA wasn't in, so we started tracting. At the next door, we found a man who had been baptised when he was a kid and his dad is active, but he just slowly fell away. We had a great lesson with him on the doorstep and he said we could come back to teach him, his partner, and his 12-year old son. The Lord knows where his lost sheep are that are ready to be found. 

Miracle #3 We got a call from a member this week about a woman he had met in a shop. He told us where this shop was and asked us to go and see her. It was an interesting shop. She is from Bulgaria and is a strong Christian. We had a great lesson with her and she was really interested. She said she had talked to this member for 3-4 hours when  he came into the shop. It's great to see the members really being a part of missionary work. We NEVER would have found this woman on our own; we really NEED the members. 

Miracle #4 Yesterday our last lesson of the day fell through and we  had met all our goals for the week, except for needing 2 more new investigators. We really wanted to reach our goal and wanted to be productive during our last hour of the day. We made plans to go see a LA and followup with a PI. We prayed to confirm our plans with God and to ask his help to bless us with 2 new investigators (we were hoping the LA might have some family or some friends around that we could start teaching). Then we walked not even a block away and stopped this man with two of his children. He was happy to stop and talk with us. We had a BRILLIANT conversation about the gospel, about the  Book of Mormon, and even about the word of wisdom (which he said he was having to reconsider his plans to go home and have a cup of tea). He eagerly agreed to let us come and see him and his family (his wife and 2 more children; one of which is a newborn). One of his children that was with him is 11. That's right: 2 new investigators and we found a family!!!!!!!!! We have been praying to find a family all week and we found two (this family and the less active's family in Miracle #2). 

Something cool that we did this week: go to a Sikh temple!! We just had to experience the full culture of Ilford. A RM from Pakistan (she served in this mission and then moved back to London) came with us. They feed people there so we went there for dinner. It was such a neat culture experience and the food was really good. We had to wear a scarf and take our shoes off and we ate on the floor. I wish I could take a picture so you could see the culture-ness of it. It was so fun!  The Sikh's just make food there all day and welcome anyone and everyone to come in and enjoy it as long as they follow the rules of the temple. It's really nice of them. 

We're going to London today!!!! Hurray! 

I love you all so much! I know that Heavenly Father is real. He loves us and knows us perfectly. More importantly, he knows what we can become and will do all that he can to help us to become that person. The Book of Mormon is true. I love this gospel!

I love you!!!

Love, 

Sister Davis xoxo

 

Adventures in Ilford

Dear Family, 

I cannot believe at all that it's already 11 months. I really don't know where this time is going. And this transfer is flying by too. two weeks is moves. 

We had an interesting experience with fasting. We planned out that we would start our fast after a lunch appointment with a member on Saturday and then it would work out perfect to end our fast at a lunch appointment with a member after church. Well, then we had a lesson with another member. We were just planning on going by and sharing a short message (it's part of what we're doing to help our members feel the spirit of missionary work and build relationships with the members). When we got there, she had prepared dinner for us too. oops. And we had already started our fast. So we had to end it and start it again. Atleast the Lord knows we had righteous intentions of having a full fast. I'm also happy our family is powering it up in testimony meetings. I wanted to get up and bear my testimony in our meeting, but it was so busy! I was so grateful that so many members had been impressed by the spirit. And it was really touching that three members talked specifically about missionary work, with a shout out to the sister missionaries! It was so great to see some of the fruits of our efforts to work with the members. 

Last p-day we had a great miracle. We went to a little alterations shop because the strap on my bag was breaking and I needed to get it fixed. When we walked in, we realized the man that we had seen the man who owned the shop at the post office earlier. He was really interested in what we were doing here and the message that we share. We told him about the Book of Mormon and he was very eager to get a copy. We set a return appointment. Then when I went to pay for the fixing job he said that he didn't want me to pay, he just wanted us to say a prayer for him. Wow! Then we had a great lesson with him and he agreed to be baptised! Sadly, he was poorly on Sunday and couldn't come to church, but he seems very sincere. 

We had a really great lesson with Anais (an 11 year old English girl who loves Christ-she was a referral from a LA) and her mum stayed for the lesson the whole time!! Miracle! The spirit was there so strong. Then she finally came to church on Sunday. We've been trying to get her there forever, but she came and she loved it!

Frankin, I don't even know what to say about him. Lately he's been digressing more than progressing. And then the other day he said he wasn't going to come to church because he is giving it up for Lent?!!!! Strange. We will probably drop him, but atleast we have helped him learn, and now he knows the tools that he has in his hands to find the truth once he is ready to accept it. I've atleast learned a lot in teaching him.  

Funny and crazy story. The other day, Sister P had the phone and we were on the bus (on the top deck). We got off at our stop and then Sister P said she didn't have the phone; she had left in on the bus. I had been feeling pretty tired that day, but somewhere I got some energy and we just started sprinting to the next bus stop. Well, of course we got there just as the bus pulled away. the same thing happened at the next stop. We were not going to let that happen again and we finally caught up to it at the next stop. When we got on we were panting so much; I wonder what the driver was thinking. And then we had to go up the stairs to the top deck. We asked the man that was now sitting where Sister P had been if he saw a phone (through our gasping for breath). He didn't. Then Sister P realized that it was in her bag. oh my. haha. Atleast we got some good exercise! For another bus story: we were having an exchange with a STL (sister training leader). She came to work with us both. The STL and I got off the bus but Sister P was walking toward the exit when the doors closed and the bus started to pull away. Thankfully, the bus driver was really nice and stopped so Sister P could get off. I still have yet to get separated from a companion and I hope that I never do!  

This week has been much more fruitful than last; we think it's because we are really focusing more efforts on the members. And the Lord is blessing us for it!

I'm grateful for the restored gospel. I'm especially grateful that we have the power and authority of God on the Earth. I know its power is real! 

I love you!!!

Love, 

Sister Davis xoxo

Dear Family, 

Mom, Neli's baptism ended up not happening. The bishops felt it would be better for her to wait so she can get to know more of Stratford ward. We were really stressed about how she would react and how it would all work out. We had a big lesson with us, the Stratford Elders, Stratford member, and our district leader and his companion. It was amazing how the spirit just guided the lesson. And although at first she had been really against even attending Stratford ward, she said she could see why the bishop had made that decision and she thought it would be best too! Miracle! I know she'll get baptised soon. 

Time is going by real fast. I think it's 2 weeks till moves.

Well, we said goodbye to Sister Latham last night and now she has left on a jet plane to the good ole USofA. She's going to be great and she will love it! She was so excited to go. It was sad to say goodbye but it also just felt right. Sister P and I just feel that she was so ready to go. It's weird to just have two of use now. But sister P is wonderful and we have lots of fun. We are really close and can talk about anything and everything. I love that. Yesterday when we took Sister Latham to Hyde Park we needed to get some supplies. We are all out of English copies of the Book of Mormon. We figured we would just get a whole box (the come in boxes of 40). We carried it to the tube station (about 10 minute walk away). It was pretty heavy but not too bad. But once we got to the tube station we remembered that Sister Latham had one of the Elder's oyster cards (hers was stolen out of her coat pocket during church! so we used theirs to get to London). So we got to walk all the way back with the box of Book of Mormons. ONly to get to walk back to the tube station again. haha. It was really heavy, but we definitely worked our biceps. And now we can give the whole world copies of the Book of Mormon (and they are the new addition which is really exciting. I like it!). 

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately. I think Spring is coming and winter just might be over. I survived!! Last winter lasted till the end of March/beg of April, but it sure has been nice lately. I'm taking it as a huge blessing. 

Since Sister Stoja left I feel like I have become a serious Albanian magnet. We meet so many Albanians. Thankfully I learned some Albanian with her. We are teaching this Albanian couple, Teuta and Sokol, english. They are lovely. It is really fun! 

The Elders in our ward had a baptism on Saturday for a 10 year old girl. I went and played the piano for them (I am grateful for that talent more and more everyday. I do wish I had been better at practising, but I have improved a bit on my mission..not at practising but at playing.) Well, the girl got too nervous to be baptised. I felt so bad for her. We went in and talked with her and tried to calm her down. She was just really upset and we found out it was because she wanted her dad to baptise her but he couldn't because he's not active in the church (although he is a member; he baptised her older brothers). That must be so hard. Hopefully she will feel brave enough to be baptised soon. Thank you dad for being a worthy priesthood holder. 

I am learning more and more about the importance of daily feeding our spirits. Daily prayer and scripture study really do make all the difference. Thank you Mom and Dad for making that a tradition in our home! 

In interviews with President this week, he talked with Sister P and I about working more with the members and helping them. Lately the work seems to be going nowhere no matter how hard we work. I know it's because we need to do things in the Lord's way and that is through the members. Our ward seems to be really suffering right now. So we are really focusing our efforts on strengthening the ward and helping them to be converted themselves so then they will have a desire to share this glorious gospel with others. We do have a few people in the ward who are just fabulous, like our Bishop and Relief Society president, but I think they are getting worn out because they really have to do so much. Any suggestions on how to work with the ward and the members more?

I love the gospel. I love my Heavenly Father and my Saviour and I love all of you!!! 

Love, 

Sister Davis xoxox

 There was a fox in our garden the other morning. And this morning on our run we walked RIGHT next to a swan. SO COOL! I wish I would have had my camera with me!

 The latest Book of Mormon musical ad. This is what we see everyday all over London!