Dear Family,
First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA DAVIS!! I love you!!
I don't even know where to begin. I am LOVING my new area and
especially my new companion. We get along so perfectly! And I think that
I was definitely a blessing from the Lord for her (not saying that in a
conceided way), but she had a really difficult time with her last
companion and was feeling really overwhelmed with all the burden she
felt. We both have the same goals and are really pushing ourselves to
work harder and improve. And it's amazing how well we teach together. I
love teaching lessons and coming out knowing that we taught by the
spirit. Sister Greenfield is amazing! She's from Yorkshire,
bytheway. I'm learning so much from her. We pretty much are guaranteed
that we will only be together this transfer because with so many
missionaries coming in so many new sisters are training and follow-up
training (like S. Greenfield with me). But we are definitely enjoying
and making the most of the time we are serving together. We have
fantastic investigators!! 10 progressing. Definitely different from my
last area. And we got 4 new investigators this week and had 9
investigators at church. I feel like the Lord is blessing me for all the
work I did in my last area without seeing many results. It is a lot to
keep track of but we just got Elders in our area (one is a brand new
missionary from Reno) and it will be nice to work with them as well and
share teaching all these great people. Gillingham isn't as pretty all
over as Northampton was, but a member took us to see this gorgeous veiw
at Blue Bell Hill for dinner. It was amazing! And Pdays are going to be
the best. Claire, I will definitely be going to see Cantebury Cathedral.
Today
we plan to go to Rochester to see the cathedral and castle there!! And
Dover is in my zone area!! So we will definitely be going there too! The
ward here is also amazing and so pumped to do missionary work. The
bishops son got baptized a couple weeks ago and they invited over 100
nonmembers and 40 ended up coming! Amazing! It's amazing what a simple
invitation can do. I want to challenge you as a family to prayerfully
pick someone or a family (that would be even better) and extend an
invitation. It could be as simple as inviting them to come over for FHE,
to come to church, church activity, or to visit mormon.org.
And I challenge you to do this before my next transfer. So you have 6
weeks. I can't wait to hear how it goes. I know as you prayerfully
approach it that the Lord will prepare someone to accept. Keep me
updated with how it goes.
It was funny too. In sacrament meeting a member of the bishopric
got up and told the ward that they needed to be feeding us more; that we
should be fed every single night. I'm not complaining, but I do imagine
that it will make us fat. haha.
We have seen so many miracles in the work this week. My first full
day here we went and visited a referral. She had already read all of
first Nephi and we committed her to be baptised on 15 June. She asked if
it could be sooner!! What?! golden. We don't think we'll be able to
teach her everything sooner, but it's great that she's motivated and
wants to be baptized. I had a strong feeling at the end of the lesson
that she will face opposition as she gets closer to this decision and so
I mentioned that to her. We've already seen some opposition because she
was unable to come to church on Sunday
:( The good thing is that she has already been twice, so that shouldn't
hold her back from being able to be baptized on the 15th. She seems
strong though and I know with the Lord's help we can get her there.
Funny story: the Elder's came with us to teach a new investigator
Gbola (Muslim from Nigeria). It was Elder Bennett's (the one from Reno)
first lesson. Gbola had two other friends show up and they were
drinking and they basically argued with eachother. We tried really hard
to teach them the restoration but we all could barely get in two words.
Half way through the lesson, Elder Gonzalez (DL and from Spain) just
started laughing and that just got me going. IT was hilarious. One of
the friends asked me to say the closing prayer, but Gbola wouldn't have
it. He said in his country woman do not pray; their office is in the
kitchen. He also had S. Greenfield cut apples for everyone to eat. I
could have been offended but it makes for a good story and exjerience
and the whole situation was just commical. Another funny moment was yesterday
when we went to a members home for dinner. We had been fasting all day
and we were waiting for her husband to get home from church so we could
each. She was sharing this really spiritual/emotional experience about
one of her sons and my stomach would not stop growling... and it was so
loud! S. Greenfield was trying so hard not to laugh and I just felt
really bad. It was funny though.
I gained a strong testimony this week of spiritual preparation. As
part of 12-wk we were learning about the power of prayer and were
role-playing how we could get some investigators to pray. We role-played
with this man, Nick. It was kind of difficult because I hadn't met him
before, but I tried my best. They've been teaching him awhile and he
never prays. We were determined to get him to pray and our prayers were
answered. At first he refused, but slowly the spirit worked on him and
he agreed to! It was amazing!! Too many good experiences to write about.
There are so many wonderful prepared people hear in Gillingham. I'm so
grateful I can help bring them to the wonderful knowledge of the gospel.
This work is amazing and filled with too many miracles to count
everyday! And I know the Lord is working miracles in your life as well.
Look to find atleast one everyday and you will see how it changes your
life to see God's hand working through you. This work is so amazing! I
love being here and being a missionary. I know without a doubt that I am
here at this time for a purpose and that this is where the Lord needs
me to be. I know that this gospel is true and that this church is true
and is led by Jesus Christ himself. As we live the gospel everyday,
strive our very best to be our best, and apply the atonement for the
areas where we lack, I know that there is so much peace and happiness to
be found. I am grateful I can see that everyday. Not just in my own
life, but in the lives of the people here. I was studying this morning
Questions of the Soul about balancing family and career, but it can
apply to anything in our life and to our priorities in general. I love 3
Nephi 13:33. As we put God first in our lives, he will bless us more
than we can imagine. We won't need to worry about the little,
insignificant matters, because he will bless us with EVERYTHING that we
need. I also love the promise in Mosiah 2:40. And if you read Mosiah 2
with the thought of how we can find peace and joy, it's amazing how
simple it really is and how much God is willing to give us. I love you
all so very much!!! Have a fabulous week!
Love,
Sister Davis
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