Raindrops keep falling on our heads

Dear Family,

This week was not quite as wonderful as last week was.

We had quite a few investigators hose appointments and stop answering our calls. And some of our less-actives that were really progressing dropped us. One of them is the ward mission leader's wife. So sad. We have had such powerful lessons with her and she was really making efforts to come back and then he told us that she doesn't want to change and for us not to come by. :(

We've been able to do some great service. I got to mow a lawn. I miss that. It's weird here though because they have electronic mowers. It makes me feel like I am hoovering (vacuuming)  the grass. We also got to pick apples. And there were tons! So the member let us take a whole bunch home. Yay.

Apparently, the hurricane, Bertha, has come to England so we keep getting down pours of rain. Even with boots and brollies and jackets, we are soaking wet. And traffic around KL has been really bad. We went out to a village and what should have taken us about 40 minutes to get back, took about 2 hours, so we had to cancel some appointments :(

Justina is making some progress though. The Elders had a baptism yesterday (it made me so stressed, they had to do it atleast 6 times and the investigator was on his knees and was having to go down forwards because the water was too low and he kept having his foot or part of his clothes come up-- thankfully it eventually worked out and the investigator was not phased at all, he was just so happy). Justina came to the baptism (it was her first baptism to see). She said she is going to talk to her ex-partner again, but she is considering getting married so she can be baptised. I don't know how I feel about this, because he has not been kind in the past, but ultimately it is her decision. I am happy that her desire to be baptised is increasing and she realizes she needs to take action to make it possible.

We started teaching English to a Latvian woman. She has the cutest 7 year old daughter who makes bracelets for us everytime we go. THey are lovely. It is really hard to teach English when you don't speak the person's native language. We are teaching simple principles of the gospel too, but we're not sure how much she is understanding. Robert, you taught English on your mission. What did you find really helped? We're also trying to start an English class at the church.

I really love the gospel. Every part of it. I'm so grateful to know the truth about who I am, who God is, and how I can be truly happy. There is always hope in Christ. Always.

Stay strong. Be true.

I love you!!!!!!!

Sister Davis xoxox

P.S. We're off to Sandringham today. We're actually going into the house today!

Happy Anniversary, Mum and Dad!!!!

Hello my dear family!!!!

 

I love you all so much!

I can't believe Sara got her mission call! And that I'm just missing her!! That's a shame. She will be great though!

We were at a Less Actives and she requested a blessing. The bishop and his wife came. The LA's house is always a bit crazy and sometimes hard to feel the spirit, but once the Bishop walked in and prepared to give the blessing the spirit was so strong. I am so grateful that the priesthood has been restored! What a blessing!!!

We've had a great week.

Barry (the man who was living where a passed PI/Referral was living) is doing great. He really is eager to learn and has so many great questions. We are teaching him and his sister, Marion. He has accepted a baptismal date for the end of August but we weren't able to get him to church this Sunday. HE feels that is a really big step, but I know he can get there.

We also had a super great member experience. We had dinner with this super awesome couple in the ward. Unfortunately the husband (who reminds me of Brother Henrie) was away at young mens camp, so it was his wife and her granddaughter (who is 15 and also is in the ward)The Zone leaders had challenged us to try a new approach with members of consecrating a specific hour with members to teach someone in their home. Then them and us both work  and pray to find someone to teach at that time. We taught a great lesson and read from the scriptures about how the Lord is preparing people (Alma 13:24, Alma 16:16-17, D&C 84:88) and then committed them to consecrate this time. The sister said she already had the name come to her of who she needed to invite!! AND THEN she went with us to the bus stop to make sure we got our bus. There was another family from the neighbourhood waiting at the bus stop with luggage ready to go on holiday. The member didn't know them and just right away started talking with them and introduced us. The father is especially religious. The member asked them about where they lived and when they would get back. They are gone for two weeks and she said we could come see them when they get back. They said they would be happy to have us round and talk about our beliefs over a cup of tea. The member right away and very boldly just said it would have to be hot chocolate or squash (an English type of juice concentrate) because we don't drink tea or coffee. That peeked their interest and they started asking us questions about why and what we believe. It was great. And the member asked for all their details for us! So great!! She is amazing! I can't wait to go by and see them in two weeks.

We had interviews yesterday. AMAZING! I love President and Sister Jordan! They have such strong spirits. And it's always amazing to hear how close relationships they have with the first presidency and quorum of the 12. President Jordan has represented the First Presidency legally quite a bit. And on his mission he was Assistant to James E. Faust. We're all convinced that one day he will be a general authority.

The gospel is amazing! I love my Saviour Jesus Christ! I know He lives!!

Thank you for your love, support, and emails!!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Love, Sister Davis xoxox

Picture Catch Up

I thought I'd share PResident Jordan's letter this week. WE have been hearing lots about this documentary. I don't know if you've heard about it at all. But I really love that the Lord does take even the attempts to negatively portray the church to bring his children Home. Whether it be from the Book of Mormon musical to Meet the Mormons.

His work will not be frustrated!!

How lucky we are to be on His side!!! :)

Dear Sisters and Elders,

Forty years ago as a young missionary in Brazil, I attended a mission conference with a Seventy, Elder Asael T. Sorensen, from Salt Lake City. After his talk, he opened the meeting up for questions. One of the elders told how he and his companion were being persecuted by a priest of another religion, and asked what they should do. Elder Sorensen rubbed his hands together to indicate his pleasure and said, “That’s great! There’s nothing like a little persecution to get the work going.”

I was reminded of his words this week when Sister Jordan and I watched a “documentary” on TV called “Meet the Mormons.” (And, no, you are not authorized to watch it.) It takes a negative slant on the Church, and tries to depict the missionaries as brainwashed. The program follows a new missionary, Elder Field from England, as he enters the MTC in Preston and begins his service in the England Leeds Mission. (He had an especially rough time with homesickness in the MTC.)

This past week several missionaries called me to say they had been asked about the show by people on the street and wondered how they should respond. I told them to take a positive approach and say, “That was a TV show. If you would like to know what Mormon missionaries are really like and what we teach, we would be happy to meet with you so you can see for yourself. Would you be willing to do that?”

There always has been and always will be opposition to the work of Lord. Indeed, it is a sign of the Lord’s true church. As the old saying goes, “The Devil doesn’t kick dead dogs.” The great and spacious building has put on a new wing to accommodate demand in the last days. We should take the same approach to finger pointing as Nephi and Lehi and pay it no heed. (1 Nep. 8:33-34). Satan is busy, but so is our Heavenly Father. He covenanted with each of us before this life that He would do all He could, consistent with the laws of agency, to help us return home to Him. Just as in the days of Alma, God is working to prepare the hearts of His children for the gospel: “For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.” (Alma 13:24). Those angels are messengers of the good tidings of the restoration. They come in both heavenly and mortal form, and you are among them.

I have seen evidence this week of the Lord’s hand in the lives of people who saw a negative TV program and yet were moved upon by the Holy Ghost. I had a call on Friday from a member of Chelmsford Ward who told me about a work colleague who approached him and said she had watched the Meet the Mormons program. The member thought to himself, "Here we go." But instead of criticizing, she said, "I watched those young missionaries and I thought to myself, I want my own sons to grow up with that same kind of character. Can we have missionaries from your church come and teach my husband and me and our three sons?

I also spoke with a member from the Birmingham Mission who told me of man who walked into the chapel in Warwick last Friday. The chapel was full of members who were there for a funeral. The man introduced himself and explained that he had seen the program and it brought back memories of how homesick he felt when he first went into the army. He asked if he could learn more about the Church.

The Lord can do His work in spite of earth and hell, and so can you. As Joseph Smith said:

“The standard of truth has been erected; No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

We love you,

President and Sister Jordan

PS: I talked to the president of the Leeds Mission today and he told me Elder Fisher is a wonderful missionary without a trace of homesickness.

Welcome to the Family, Calvin.

Family,

Congratulations, Robert and Claire!!! Your baby is so big and cute! Yay for new members of the family! I had to laugh when Mum said you named him Calvin to avoid him being teased. You know with our family there will always be something we can find to make fun with. However, I didn't even think about "Cal, the lights" haha. Atleast Calvin will know he is loved and I think it is a requirement for him to get a tiger and name him Hobbes. what a cutie! I'm so happy he's here. I don't think I could have waited another week. I've been telling everyone about him. Now I have pictures to go with it. yay!! Thanks for sending them. It's true that no letter would have been necessary. But speaking of pictures, I never got pictures of Katie's blessing.. just saying. *hint hint*

We have had a stellar week!! Things just keep getting better. We think as we really focus on be 100% obedient and truly unified in all we do that it really brings the spirit so much into everything that we do and allows the Lord to bless us so much. Whatever the reasons, we are just so happy to be so blessed! Barry, the man we were supposed to see last Monday (the former PI that asked us to come back and seemed really interested) wasn't there when we went :( so sad. We stopped by another time and talked with someone who said he was his brother, but it seemed like it was the same person "barry" just trying to get rid of us. We were pretty sad. But then Friday night we were walking home for dinner and it was about 8:30. We thought maybe we should just stop by and try Barry one more time... and what do you know? He was in! And he buzzed us in. We could go in and teach him, but we got to meet him on his doorstep and have a mini-lesson about the Restored gospel and what we do. He said he's been going through a rough time and really wants to strengthen his relationship with God. He doesn't have issues with the Law of Chastity or smoke. We will see him tomorrow. He said if he likes what we teach him he will come to church! Wahoo!!!

We saw another family (they have a complicated family situation, but I'll just call them the Clothier Family to make it easy, even though they all have different surnames) and they are awesome. They have 2 girls. The 9 year old, Madi,  is baptised and the other daughter, Eden, just turned 8. The father used to be a member, but isn't interested about coming back and the mum doesn't believe in God, but fully supports whatever her girls want to do. She was bringing them both to church (and staying with them) but then they stopped wanting to come because it was too long. They are interested in coming back again though and the 8 year old wants to be baptised. They are the cutest girls ever. And they are all from Liverpool. Best Accent EVER. I could listen to them talk all day! I'm so excited to keep teaching them.

Another cool experience was when we were traveling out to a village called Downham Market. It's just a couple of train stops away. Well for one reason or another (mostly because the trains only come every hour and we were trying to make the most of our time and our watches weren't the same time as the train station) we missed TWO trains going there. We made sure we caught the third train and then we saw some members from Downham Market on the train. We had actually planned to just surprise pop by because we don't know this family too well and wanted to share a message. Well we were able to get to know the DAd and daughter and he said he would talk with his wife about when we can come see them (we didn't even have to ask for an appointment!). I know God wants us to work with the members and I love the little miracles that he is working to accomplish his work in His way. And we have Dinner Appointments everyday this week!! Normally we are lucky if we get one. We are upping our member work and it's amazing to see how they are building their trust in us and how we are being blessed with more people to teach. So great!! In Downham Market we went to see a Less active family. The mum and one of the boys are members (the other boy is only 7) but the Dad is not. We are going to start seeing them regularly too. AND they are AMerican! So they fed us lunch. oh my days. I forgot how amazing America is: huge, gigantic bottle of ketchup, Ranch, BBQ sauce, sweet potatoe fries. IT was the best just to see American things (the husband is in the military so their food is all from the American base). They said they used to have the sisters over every Saturday for lunch and a lesson (things were a bit crazy when I first got here trying to figure out who the sisters had been seeing and then this family went on holiday to Scotland so that's why we just got to see them)... and they invited us to carry on the tradition. yes! The husband is a bit reserved about things, but I know we will see great miracles with this family.

I just can't believe how much the work is growing here. I love it! I love King's Lynn and I love the ward! So many good things are happening!

Oh and before I forget, next week I will be emailing on Tuesday. We're having interviews in Norwich on Monday so our P-day is pushed to Tuesday.

And I have been meaning to ask Kristi if Loom bands are a huge thing there? They are so popular here. All the kids make different kinds of bracelets with them. On facebook the other day someone posted that someone made a loom-band dress and it sold for over £160,000. crazy (and weird and gross- who wants to wear a rubbery dress??). If they are popular there I'll have to send KRisti some.

Well, my time is running up. I know the church is true. The Book of Mormon is true. I love that book. I love the gospel and I'm so grateful that God has blessed us to have the Holy Ghost, a member of the godhead, with us as our constant companion.

Thanks for being the best family ever!!

I love you!!!

Love,

Sister DAvis

P.S. I have almost mastered the first vision in espanol. :)

Pouring down blessings rather than rain.

Dear Family,

There are TONS of JWs here. I met them lots and lots in Ilford. Did I ever tell you about when the tracted into us during our studies? haha. We told them who we were and tried to exchange materials and they sort of just ran away. There kingdom hall was close to where we lived so we always saw them. I don't see them as much in King's Lynn, but everyone always thinks we are JWs. It's kind of frustrating sometimes. But it is interesting when people rudely ask us if we are and then when we tell them we aren't they are suddenly ok to talk with us. CofE doesn't proselyte. Most CofE don't really even know details of what they believe, it's purely a traditional thing for most and they just classify themselves generally as Christians. And it's pretty common that they only go to church for Christmas, Easter, Weddings, Funerals, and christenings.

Mum, sorry about not translating my letters: a brollie is an umbrella. The rain left this week. It has been SOOOO hot! Seriously. The humidity makes it feel like a million degrees. We have gotten rain here and there which just makes it even more humid. I don't like muggy weather. But atleast with the sun out it means lots of people are out at parks. And we had a ward beach party that was really fun. Except we got cursed with the plague whilst we were there. It was pretty overcast and all the sudden all of us were covered in these nasty little black bugs. Supposedly they are called thunder bugs (they follow wherever there is thunder according to the members). They were everywhere. All over our arms legs, clothes, in our hair, ears. It was awful. I'm sure it was a hilarious site to see all of us trying to get rid of these bugs.

This week has been much better than last. We are really making efforts to be more consecrated and we are seeing great results. Especially this last few days. We have seen so many miracles and felt the spirit so much! It's the BEST!!!

Where to even start??

First, we have a LA we're working with who is named JAcob. HE's 27 and the son of a really active member who recently returned from serving a senior single sister mission (she is divorced). A couple weeks ago he said he just had lost all interest in finding out the truth and really finding out for himself if God is there. We couldn't get him to pray ever, but he said he would read the scriptures. We had given him just one verse to read and a whole week to do it. He ended up reading the whole chapter twice! Then we felt prompted to teach WOW which he struggles with but he was open to trying to live it. His mum told us that the other day he went to get his car MOT'd ( I think it's similar to a smog check?) and it failed and he was really upset about it. He was so upset that he came home and... read the scriptures!!! Wahoo. great progress. HIs brother and his brother's family are coming to visit from America and we're hoping we can get him to come to church with the whole family.

We have been doing quite a bit of finding. We did lots yesterday. We were tracting on one side of the road and I saw a house on the other side I thought we should try. The lady was definitely not interested, but we just continued on that side of the road. At the next house we met this wonderful teenage girl who is SO open to the gospel and we had a great lesson with her. The only problem is she has two mums (civil partnership). She asked us about it and we let her know God's views on marriage, but with the spirit and love and she was open to it. She is going to talk with her mum and step-mum about us coming to teach them all. We are really hoping their hearts will be softened to atleast letting her learn about the gospel. She is so great!

We also visited a recent convert family. They are from the Dominican republic and been baptised for a couple months. Their grandma just passed away and they have completely stopped coming to church. It is a single mum and her three kids (2 daughters, 13 and 10 and 1 son, 4). The 10 year old is named Evelyn and she is so AMAZING!!! I love her so much. She was outside playing when we came, but we were visiting Justina first (they live right across from eachother). She was so happy to see us and said she was so sad she couldn't go to church because her mum wasn't going. She begged us to teach her. We taught Justina and then headed to Evelyn's. She tried to get her mum and sister to come to the lesson but they wouldn't. She said the opening prayer and she prayed that her mum and sister would realise that they were making the wrong choices. She really opened up to us about all her struggles. About how her mum and sister don't want to go to church anymore and how her mum struggles with paying tithing and how sad it makes her to see that. She said she didn't know why she had to go to church every week but she just knew it was the right thing to do. She is so sincere and loving. She has such a strong spirit. She said her friends are starting to swear and she doesn't want to be around that but they won't stop when she asked and she's scared to not have any friends. She is sad so many of her friends don't believe in God. She also was so confused about why God took her Grandma away when she had prayed that He wouldn't. It was a hard lesson to teach and to help a 10-year old understand these things. I just was filled with so much love for her and for her faith. I admire the youth of the church so much. They face so many hard things, but they are SO strong. I hope to have faith as strong as Evelyn.

Then we stopped by a PI (potential investigator) from the Areabook that was a referral from a member that past sisters had received. It was a flat so we buzzed and a man answered. We asked for the woman and he said she had moved and he had been living there for a month. We explained who we were and asked if he had any religious beliefs. He said "Actually I was going to ask you when you could come back and see me." !!! He said we could come the next day. We are going to see him tonight! So cool. He sounded genuinely interested. We did a role-play for lesson 1 in Comp Study this morning to teach him. WOW. The spirit was SO strong as we taught about Joseph Smith. IT was the neatest experience and best role-play I think I've ever done. It's amazing how the spirit will ALWAYS testify of truth, even when we are just practicing teaching in our flat. We really hope we can teach him even more powerfully with the spirit tonight!!

This is the BEST work ever!! I love you all!!!!!

Love,

Sister Davis xoxox

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass

Hello Family,

Well, in transfer news... I am staying in King's Lynn with Sister Couper. We figured we would both stay so no shock there. We are getting another set of Elders though! That will be fun! One of the assistants just got released and is coming to King's Lynn to open the area and train. This week has been a bit up and down. We may not quite be seeing the results we would hope for, but Heavenly Father is really opening my eyes to his tender mercies. I'm learning to really be grateful for the little things. Just yesterday we had this woman be so rude to us. We simply asked her how she was doing and she went off about how rude we were because we're missionaries and how dare we stop her and try and talk with her on her way home from work. I think I would have been really mad normally but I was really just confused at how she thought we were being rude and needed to learn some manners. The more I thought about it, the sadder it made me that she get so upset that we love her enough to stop and try and share something that is really special to us and that could really bless her-- maybe she just had a bad day at work. This was near to the end of a day with a lot of rejection. I'm not happy that she got so upset with us or perhaps misinterpreted our approach, but after that I was really able to appreciate all the kind people or those that would even just smile at us, even though they weren't interested. It really showed me why we need opposition in all things. Even down to the rude people to help us appreciate those that are kind. I don't think I would have appreciated the kind people as much if it weren't for that woman.

Also a great experience came just today when I opened my email. I can't remember if I told you that Sister Couper served in Gillingham before she came to King's Lynn. I of course asked her about everyone there. When I asked about Shayla, she said she didn't know her and didn't remember seeing anyone like her at church. She was only there one transfer but I still thought she should know Shayla. Even before I had this conversation with Sister Couper, I thought I should send Shayla a picture from her baptism and write her a letter. I sent it awhile ago and hadn't heard anything from her. I was getting ready to email Shayla today when I saw I had an email from her. She said she had stopped going to church for awhile and was thinking about whether or not she should go back when she got my letter. She decided to contact the missionaries go back and really enjoyed Church this last Sunday. What a blessing from God! I am so happy that she decided to go back.

We have gotten quite a share of rain this week. On Thursday we had a STL exchange with the sisters in Ipswich. I was going to Ipswich and S. Jacobsmeyer was coming to King's Lynn. Because we live out in the country, train tickets are a lot cheaper if you buy them early and on-line. So we had bought our tickets and I wrote my confirmation code in my planner. Then late Wednesday night I realised my planner was missing. I figured out the only place I could have left it was at the church when we were there earlier that day, but we didn't have enough time to go get it before we needed to be home. We thought we could wake up a little early on Thursday and for exercise run to the church to get it. No problem. We woke up and it was a little drizzly but nothing too bad. We started off and by the time we got to the church we were dripping wet; it was absolutely pouring. Thankfully my planner was there. transportation is not like London so there were no buses running that early. S. Couper was worn out from running there so we just walked home as fast we could (which took longer than we had planned for). We got so soaked. Our shoes were filled with water and it was just pouring rain the whole time. I'm sure we were quite the sight. Dripping wet, with no jackets or brollies. haha. It was fun though and made for good memories. And I got my tickets fine and had a great, dry day in Ipswich while S. Couper and S. Jacobsmeyer got poured on the ENTIRE day. English weather is the best!

Last p-day we went to the queens estate where she goes for Christmas, Sandringham. So cool. We didn't get to go in and look around because we didn't have time, but the grounds are very nice. Hopefully this transfer we can go inside and look around!

Katie's family is doing well. We took the perfect member with us last week. Now we just need to work on getting them to church (which is difficult because there are so many of them and they don't have a car.  But I know God will help us!!

The church is true. The spirit is real.

I love you all!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Davis xoxox