Sorry that I ran out of time yesterday. This week has been great! There have been some frustrations.. like people not keeping their appts. And lots of people not answering their phones. That's ok though, this week we have lots of appts set up with promising people :). We also had a wonderful experience on Saturday of meeting a Lithuanian woman who has been a member for 16 years. She has been in Northampton for 1 year and never been to church because she didn't know where it was. She said she saw missionaries, but since she doesn't speak English, she never knew how to stop them or let them know. Luckily we stopped her while we were street contacting and Sis Karyan speaks some Russian so they were able to talk and we were able to get her a ride to church on Sunday. She cried because she was so happy to be there. It really strengthened my testimony that each and every soul is great in the sight of God and that reactivating and helping people come back to the church is just as important as introducing people to the church. We also met this boy who has watched the Joseph Smith video on youtube and says that he believes the story. We are hoping to meet with him again today! We've started tracting more. Any ideas for could street contacting questions or for tracting door approaches?? Sis Karyan has never tracted before I came so this is a new experience for both of us and we welcome any ideas for how we can be better. Mom, speaking about weather, there actually hasn't been much rain where I've been. We had a few days of REALLY wonderful, sunshiney weather. Then the next day it was freezing cold and while we were out tracting it hailed for about 2 minutes. The weather here really can change so fast, but I haven't had to many problems with being too cold. I'm grateful for the sunny days we do have. Sis Karyan is really so sweet and patience. She is always so positive and happy which I love. I am definitely blessed to have her as my companion and even though she isn't the most experienced, we are working really well together to learn everything that we can. She told me that she has never worked so hard as she has with me. Hopefully that's a good thing. Since she is still working on improving her English, we have had some really funny moments. One day she asked the boy we stopped what his name is. He said "Bonji" she then was going to ask for his number, but instead said "Bonji, what is your name" We had a good laugh about that. Also, when we were tracting, a man opened the door and asked "So you're selling religion?" She confidently and with a smile said "yes!" But then I had to explained to her what he had said and she just laughed about it. We had a mission wide conference call from Pres Jordan on Friday. It was basically a call to get to work. He reminded us not to stay too long with members and whenever in doubt of what to do just get out of our flats and do work, whatever that may be: street contacting, tracting, etc. We weren't having really any problems with this, but it's always good to have a reminder and to be reminded of the blessings we get when we are faithfully working. He also told us we are down on our numbers for baptisms and that we need to get back on tract. This was good for us to reevaluate our goals and really trust in the Lord that there are families that he is preparing for us. We just need to find them now! The members in this ward really are wonderful. Many of them are facing different challenges of their own, but they still reach out to bring people into the gospel and to help us missionaries any way they can. Linda, I loved your quote about the Lord sending us to succeed here and not to fail. I was reading a scripture this week (my mind is blanking as to the exact scripture) but it talked about how the people didn't see the success of their efforts until after they had worked hard. There are definitely successes I can see know, but I know that the Lord is working greater miracles than I can even see. Sometimes I don't think it has really hit me yet that I am a missionary, but I love that I can go out each day with the power and authority to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our district is really great and the elders are really great and have helped us a lot. We had a great lesson on planning and district meeting last week that has really helped Sis Karyan and I to plan better. What a difference it can make! This week we have zone meeting. That should be really good!! I know that this gospel is true, that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us and that he has sent us this restored gospel because he loves us. The Book of Mormon is the evidence of that! How true and powerful that book is! I am grateful for all the blessings Heavenly Father has given me and that he knows my needs better than I do. I love you all so much! I will keep you in my prayers and hope that you can continue to see the Lord's blessings in our lives.
Love, Sister Davis
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