Mini Miracles

So this week. Oh boy. This week. It's been...interesting that's for sure. We've been helping people in the ward with moving and cleaning and all of our appointments have been falling through. And it's freezing. Yup, don't worry about it it's just July and 10 degrees Celsius. Legit I'm wearing a scarf today...yeah... haha I guess that's what you get in good ol' Canada! haha But yeah, it's been a rough(ish) week. Started Monday night we had our lesson with Justin fall through because they've been having lots of crazy stuff happening lately. So Justin and his wife Lorena live with Lorena's sister Yvette. Yvette has four crazy kids and they all live in the same house so it gets a bit chaotic over there! But I guess Lorena has been having some issues lately and was in the hospital and so on Wednesday or so we went over to talk to her but she wasn't home so we chatted with Yvette and her husband (they're on a break) was in town because he was also in and out of the hospital and so we talk with them for a while and have interesting conversations and then the next morning Yvette calls us in a panic asking for Sister Howie's address and we're getting for her and she's like I'm sure you're going to find out anyway and tells us that last night after we left her husband got super duper drunk and sped off in their car, ends up turning a corner way too fast, hits a gas line, swerves into a house and boom explosion, three houses up in flames. So she was making sure it wasn't the Howie's house or she would have "never been able to see her face again." Yeah, crazy stuff right? He's in the hospital waiting to recover and then he's going off to prison, poor guy. But yeah, they're having a hectic week, send your prayers in their direction please!

Oh yeah, so we've been cleaning houses right? Sister Walton even commented and told me that she's never seen girls my age clean so well, I told her I got it from my momma ;) haha Sister Fenn thinks I'm crazy because I like to clean so much but I wouldn't have to clean so much if she wasn't so dirty.........haha jk but really though. I don't mind it it's quite calming for me.

And also this past week: Sister Fenn and I are opposites to say the least so sometimes we have some contention between us BUT this week I think all of the hard things really brought us closer together so yay! I'm happy about that. We do this thing every week at the end of our weekly planning called Companionship Inventory where we tell each other their strengths and how they can build up weaknesses, ask for help, share goals, resolve any issues and so forth. So I really love this part because I recognize that we have things we need to fix but Sister Fenn totally dreads it and would ignore it completely if I wasn't so persistent haha so we were doing our comp inventory and we talked it all out and the next day was a walking day and we like actually talked a lot! Which is awesome because usually I can't get a peep outta her. I always ask question after question after question and got brief responses but this time and times after were much much better! WOOHOO I'LL MAKE HER LOVE ME I WILL.

We also got to work a lot on planning for our ward family home evening activity that is tonight that we're ultimately going to have to move to the chapel :( instead of outside at the park because it's toooo cold. Oh well, I'm sure it'll still be fun! We also planned out our Ward Mission Plan to get all the members involved with setting and keeping and making goals! I'm all about goal making it's great.

So with all the cancellations and all the members gone for holiday this week would have been a total bust but yesterday night it was all made up for! So there is this family, the Leavitt's, who we've been trying and trying to visit for weeks. We've stopped by countless number of times and no one was ever home. So Sunday night we have about twenty minutes until we can go back home and we've already attempted to stop by 7 members who weren't home and we're like what the heck why not?! So we're parked across the street from their house and we say an extremely heartfelt prayer, open our eyes, take a deep breath and then BAM she pulls her SUV into the driveway and HALLELUJAH! OUR PRAYER WAS ANSWERED within SECONDS it was a miracle. So good. So good.

Anyway, that was my week! Pray for me so I don't freeze to death please.

That is all. Thank you so much for the video Momma, I can't believe Lynx is walking so fast! He's just so darn cute. And Anna and Logan are in Colorado now??! Who woulda thought. Do you have an address for them? Or tell Anna to check her email would ya? I LOVE YOU ALL!!

xoxoxoxoxooxox

Sister Davis

Time Flies

I can't believe it's been two months! Anyone else? Wowzas. I survived my first transfer and have buckled down for numero dos. Sister Fenn and I have lots of new goals and ideas for this transfer mostly relating to finding more people to teach and bringing the members in the ward closer together.

We've actually been planning a ward party for next Monday for some time now which has been..interesting. Ha our ward mission leader Brother Palmer took off to Montana for two weeks spontaneously and couldn't text or call us. So we were kinda in the dark during our meeting with Ward Council before church yesterday, but I think it still went well and everyone is really going to pull together and get it going so we can have lots of yummy food and fun games to play! I'm really looking forward to it.

So with transfers happening last week that meant that 33 new missionaries came into the mission from the MTC! Lots of them, it's great I'm no longer the newbie! And people got all switched around from area to area as well so we had 8 missionaries in our zone that were new/transfered that I'd never met before so we had a zone meeting to get to know everyone a bit better! There is even an elder from Gilbert, yay Arizona! and I met a sister Gardner from Mesa when we were doing service too! We went to high school together? I don't remember her but she said she knew my girl Sarah. So yeah, that was fun! Anyway, at our meeting we made little flags as a companionship (called them title of liberty's which comes from the book of mormon) and we could put whatever we wanted on them that represented us as a companionship. So Sister Fenn and I wrote our companionship scripture, 2 Nephi 31:20, on it and then drew the Calgary temple with a path leading to it and us walking on it with people around us we were bringing with us! It was darling if I might say so myself.

Oh yes, and a continual thank you to all the birthday wishes, cards, gifts! Ya'll are the greatest. I got a new t-shirt this week, actually two, but one was a present, I believe from Anna and Logan, someone confirm this for me because it had no names attached to the package.. but it is blue and says "This guy loves Jesus." Classic! haha I love it. We all get mail at the same time so all the elders and sisters that were around got quite a kick out of it as did I! I'm totally wearing it today for pday. And the other shirt I got was for the Calgary Stampede! It says "Hell or High Water" for all the flooding and such, but Sister Fenn and I HAD to have one to always remember!

Ahh. Good times, good times. The week has been great. Lots of hard work that I know I could never do alone and am obviously getting some heavenly help from which I am forever grateful for.

I hope every one is having a great week! a great summer! stay cooooool. Take a swim for me.

xoxox love forever and always,

Sister Davis

 

Happy Birthday to me

First of all, THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES! I could definitely feel all of your love this week, especially on Tuesday :) So all day it was so fun. The member we live with, Sister McIntyre, took us out for lunch at this vietnamese restaurant called Pho which was way delicious and so we were runnning a bit late to our zone training meeting and we're like great everyone is already here waiting and right when I opened the door to the room all the missionaries just burst into song, singing happy birthday to me as I made it across the room to an open seat and it was just so precious. I kept thinking this is such a great day they are so sweet it can't get much better than this. and boy oh boy was I wrong! After our meeting and between dinner was your average missionary day just teaching some lessons and visiting some members and then we headed on over to our dinner appointment at the Sutor's. So sister Sutor and her daughter Kenzie are just the greatest people ever. I knew that they had something planned for my birthday, like a cake at max and so when we pull up outside the house and I see a bunch of pink balloons outside I'm like they are just amazing! So i'm really touched at this point and we walk up to the door there are little signs outside that say "The party's here" and "happy birthday princess" and then I get to the front screen door and can see the kitchen table and it is all decked out in pink polka dots with decorations every where and I'm freaking out because it's so adorable and so nice of them and I walk in the front door saying oh my gosh this is great thank  you thank you and then i turn and BAM! All the sister missionaries in our zone and our zone leaders are in the living room saying surprise and it was so great!!! Sister Sutor threw me a pink princess party and invited all my missionary friends over for dinner and dessert and they even got me presents and gave me a birthday girl pin and a pink sequined cowgirl hate to wear for the night! Is that not the best thing in the whole world or what? The missionaries were real good at keeping it quiet haha. and the zone leaders made a special trip to the mission office so I even got to open a couple birthday packages and letters on my real deal birthday! It was like you guys were there. So thank you to my dear Kenzie, and the fabulous Brown family, and my lovely sister Anna and sweetest cousins Mattie and Erin for all the love. (And Sarah too! I got that package on Thursday so it was like a whole birthday week it was great!) But yeah. It was a great day. I can't help but smile when I think about it! I just love everyone so much. I even used some of the cake ya'll sent me to make treats for our potential investigator Susan and she loved them so thank you!

The rest of the week was all fabulous too. Lots of member visits and a few lessons with investigators. Justin is really progressing yay! and is feeling more and more comfortable with asking questions which is good. And Barb is so close. She is looking for courage so pray for her please. I love her. And Lisa hasn't shown for church in like three weeks bummer. And we met some really great people this week too. I met this man Dave in the library when I was supposed to be doing some training online but instead I taught him the whole plan of salvation and got no training done at all OH WELL haha he took our card and hopefully he'll call...same with another man Ross we met in front of his house while he was washing his motorcycle.

We got to do service again this past week! On Saturday we went to Okotoks and worked at a park laying down sod, like rolls of grass, all day.They are going to turn it  into a refuge for all the displaced people from the floods so they are really buckling down and getting all back together for that. And it was lots of fun and heavy lifting! And there were lots of worms. Elder Burns said he would pay me 10 bucks if I ate one so we shook on it and i totally did. It was rather repulsive, tasted like dirt, with a gnarly after taste but hey- I'm ten dollars richer! haha

So it's transfer week this week which means I made it through my whole first transfer of six weeks! yay! i'm  not going anywhere but some of the elders and sisters in the zone are leaving, a few are even going back home! which is sad because it's some of my most favoritest elders leaving. i'll miss all of 'em but that just means more friends are coming! woohooooo!

But yes, it was a lovely week. Really though, thank you all so much for all the love!

xoxox

Sister Davis

 

the district yay

and the elders going home just look at that gorgeous cake i made

                                                                                                                                  

my birfday cake!

sister matangi, elder burns, me and sister sutor getting the sparklers ready :)

dirty work

This past week has been craaazy!! I loved it. Two days we went to High River to help more with all the flooding. We had to leave our houses by 6:15 and didn't get home until 6:15 two days in a row! We were literally working all day doing heavy lifting and all kinds of stuff.

Our zone got assigned to work in the United Church of Canada which was way cool. The United Church has been openly rude to Mormons in the past so for them to call us and ask for help was really special. So we went and took everything out, including floor boards, insulation, dry wall, cabinets, desks, fridges, the stage, everything! The first day was really just trying to get all the muck out so we got covered it was disgusting. I had mud everywhere my clothes were trashed it was sick. And of course it smelled nasty, probably because sewage was all up in there too but I tried not to think about that very much.. You should have seen us. We were using shovels and sludge hammers and I was kicking down walls and throwing cabinets in the trash barrell. I was a monster! It was so exhilarating. I loved it. And there were so many volunteers coming with food and drinks it's amazing how the whole city of Calgary is really coming together for all of this and it's so cool to see the church's involvement. It's really quite organized, they've put a lot of work into it.

But yeah it was great. We had to carpool there and I was the driver both days so our car is totally trashed with dirt and Sister Fenn and I have been sitting on towels for the past week haha but it was worth it. I think at one point I lost a worm in my hair, yeah so gross hey?

When we were done working we were exhausted. I think I'm still recovering. I think we all know that I hate when people tell me that I can't do something or they try and help me when I am perfectly capable of doing it by myself....so I worked waaaay hard because I wanted to make some sort of statement probably because there is so much talk here about how elders are so much stronger than sisters. Yes, partly true, but I was too stubborn to accept help from them because I AM NOT WEAK RAAWRRR. haha so yeah, I was reallllly sore the next few days.

Oh so last week there were a few days of really 'hot' weather according to Canadians so in reality it was a really nice day. But you could tell everyone was really irritable and super sassy. We had a few appointed and all the couples were fighting and it was funny how much weather has an effect on people and then now of course it's raining again haha It's actually nice I love it! So different than Mesa but it's a good break.

Ah yes, fourth of July! How was it for everyone?? Hopefully you guys saw fireworks for me PLEASE. We had the pleasure of eating dinner at the Mackissack's who are American and we had a little bbq with a cute patriotic dessert. That was pretty much the extent of it haha we working in high river that day so right before we left to our work orders we sang the national anthem since pretty much all the missionaries here are American so that was my 4th!

Boy oh boy.. I just love it here so much.

Our investigator Justin said yes to baptism! yay! so he met with the zone leaders yesterday because all the permission we need for someone on parole to be baptized. so we are one step closer to him meeting with president nicholas and then toward a fresh life! I'm so excited for him I just smile thinking about it.

Well. I love you guys. So much.

I love hearing for you! (YES YOU)

You're in my prayers. Do service for those around you.

xoxoxox

Sister Davis

 

 

OH Canada!!

HAPPY CANADA DAY, FOLKS! It is a great day. We woke up and the members we live with suggested we go to Maraine Lake and Lake Louise and we totally jumped on the opportunity! We got ready real fast with our Canada shirts and headed out on the road. It was like an hour and a half drive that was well worth it. Beautiful is an understatement. And it was great weather too (miraculously)!

But this past week has just been fabulous. We were able to go to Bowness which is a city that's rightish by us that was destroyed by the flooding. We all wore our Mormon helping hands vests and headed to work. Sister Fenn and I got to go in someones basement that lived right on the river and let's just say it was horrible sight. We took shovels of muck outta there and they were ripping out flooring and walls and pretty much starting over from scratch it was crazy. But it's truly amazing how much Calgary is coming together. The community is great and they even put out a notice for no more volunteers because there were too many! But everything is getting fixed really quick including the Stampede grounds and I think we'll be able to do service in High River this week or next which I'm looking forward to. It is such a humbling experience and really makes you grateful for what you have. And makes you take a moment to think about what's important.

Then during our zone meeting on Wednesday we even got interrupted to bring in more cleaning supplies. a man walked in and was like "missionaries, you wanna see the gospel in action?" and then told us to come outside and we unloaded this HUGE trailer of stuff. it's totally amazing.

And on Friday we had re-trainer's training so all the missionaries that are being trained right now (all the ones that came out the same time as me) went to the parkland chapel like 45 minutes away and it was so great to see them all again! I miss the girls from my mtc district, they are the best. They all have this glow about them too. I just know that this is exactly where the lord wants us right here, right now.

But yeah, we mostly did a lot of service and district, zone, trainers meetings that we didn't get to meet with a lot of the people we were hoping to meet with. Bummer. But we got to meet with our investigator Justin and he is having a hard time praying and reading by himself, but I asked him to be baptized and he said yes! I'm so so so so so excited for him and hopefully he'll have a bigger desire to progress and make these steps. I know that he can and will, just in a matter of time. He is on probation so he can't actually be baptized without permission from salt lake....so please pray for him that everything will work out! and our other investigator Barb is doing fine too, she just can't find the courage to jump in feet first. She wants it all to be true and she knows that it is but she won't admit it because then she knows there will have to be change and she doesn't like change very much which is understandable I suppose but I just have so much hope for her!

On Sunday we even sang Oh Canada for our opening hymn and Sister Fenn and I gave talks in church so we were up on the stand and everyone was laughing at us because we didn't know the words, we had to use the hymn book, yes they attached it in the back of all their hhymn books.. Sister Fenn talked on missionary work, and me on the Plan of Salvation. It was lovely. Nobody was really paying much attention so I thought I'd spice things up a bit winky face hahah  and then we were also in charge of the third hour combined relief society and elders quorum meeting with Brother Palmer (ward mission leader). It was all about getting to know your neighbors. It was a really spiritual meeting which meant of course I was bawling my eyes out. really made me reflect on the impact my neighbors made as I was growing up. Because at Daddy's house on Enrose I think we did a pretty good job of neighborly love or I don't think I'd be where I am today, but I couldn't name one person who lives on Fairfield at Momma's house hahah so I think we could all do a better job of this. I challenge all of you to introduce yourself and find out three new things about one of your unknown neighbors this week. Return and report back to me! Anyway, it was a really good lesson and we brought in a lot of stuff from the broadcast last week, which if you haven't watched yet, do it! On lds.org the hastening the work of salvation part which is a great new website to check out too!

OH. It is just so great here. I love it. I just can't get enough!!!

Until next week,

Love,

Sister Davis

summer floodin'

So life is good. It's been pretty crazy here lately with all the flooding! Thankfully we're all safe here because we live on top of a hill basically so nothing to worry about for us. But it had been raining like crazy and then BAM all of downtown underwater. Even the zoo too! I was so sad because I wanted to go to that so badly. And the whole Stampede grounds is flooded too...but I'm sure that the city will all pull together and get that back to normal real quickly because everyone loves Stampede!

So yes, crazy week. On Tuesday night, an eight year old in the ward got baptized and we invited our investigator Justin to come. His wife said that they were busy but then miraculously they showed up because he suggested they should go and we were so happy to see them there! It was a fabulous event that's for sure. The spir]it was so strong, Justin knew it too. He wants to be baptized we just don't know quite yet when that will be. \but i'm so proud of him!

On Wednesday night we went to Lisa Martin's house for dinner. We went over early to help her cook because her husband usually does all the cooking but he wasn't home from dinner yet. We were having homemade hamburgers and guess who squished the burger with her own hands and formed patties and used a grill, THIS GIRL. Sister Fenn and I were pretty worried we were going to burn their whole house down because we've never used a grill before but we managed and they were pretty delicious if I do say so myself. Heavenly Father has definitely blessed me with the crazy food that I've been eating lately. I just know that without him I'd be in major belly pains but I am A-Okay!

And we've also been doing a lot of service lately. I told ya about carpet bowling right? Well it's still great. I actually got a new boyfriend. Yes, his name is Willie. So funny. Gives winks and blows kisses all the time haha The chairs at the retirement center are all on wheels so when we were putting them away he told me to sit down to put it back at a table and then as he's pushing me he's like I'm going to take you to my room....haha super creepy but I was dying laughing. He's quite the jokester that man.

Then Sister Fenn and I headed over to Sister Sutor's house to help her clean out her garage. We reorganized everything and swept and the whole shebang! It was a hefty task but it looked pretty darn good afterward. Like I'm impressed. Sis Fenn even mowed her front lawn..good for her right? THe mosquitoes right now are nuts too so I was not so keen on going out in the yard in between rain falls. Those little suckers got me real good this week they even ate me through my tights!

And then on Friday we had exchanges! So Sister Fenn went to the north zone with Sister Sagers and then Sister Alsup came to the Arbour Lake Ward with me! Oh my heavens we had a blast! We got along from the get go and made lots of progress. She is really good at just starting conversations with people on the street so I'm learning a lot and i'm so thankful for her! As we were knocking some doors looking for people who had been contacted before we were looking for a street that we could not find anywhere so there were these two ladies outside and we asked them for directions and then ended up getting to know one woman Susan pretty well! She was so friendly and sweet and said she'd want to visit the temple grounds with us and have us come back to talk some more so I grabbed her phone number and set up a time next week to go back! I'm so excited. That's something that probably wouldn't have happened with Sis Fenn so i'm glad that I was able to have that experience!

And Barb. Oh Barb. I LOVE HER! Mom, she reminds me of you. And it's so great. We visit her every week and just read the book of Mormon with her and then talk about and usually get off on tangents. This week I told her how I was introduced to the church and then got distracted on the importance of a good mother/daughter relationship. Her and one of her daughters Lauren don't get along very well and she was just saying how she doesn't think she is making the right decisions and she is only trying to help because she loves her. And it made me start crying because I realized how important my relationship is with you Mom! And Dad! I'm sorry for being so difficult and I know that it's just because we all love each other but we all have different views. But thank you for being so understanding with me and still letting me have this experience of a lifetime to serve a mission. I love it so much. It's hard but I have moments every day that remind me why I'm here. I've been so humbled daily and there isn't a minute that passes by that I don't thank my Father in Heaven for providing this opportunity for me. I love the people and I love Calgary and please keep this city in your prayers because so many have been evacuated and some have even lost their homes completely. It's a disaster but I know that the Lord has a reason for everything and I've already seen so much love going around here with church members getting together food and hygiene kits for those who have been hit. But I know that when we are serving others, we are serving Heavenly Father. I'm pretty sure the 'Helping Hands' shirts/vests have already been ordered so I hope I'll have the chance to go pick up debris and such!

But yes, everything is just fabulous. I even picked up a Canada shirt today to wear next Monday- July 1st is CANADA DAY! haha I'm super psyched. The library is closed then though so next week I'll probably email on Tuesday, if the internet is back there anyway..

And I ran into a Bishop Davis yesterday..he asked me where the family name comes from and I have no idea. Pretty embarrassing since the church has one of the most amazing genealogy websites in the world. Momma or Poppy, you guys should totally use it and find out where we come from! That'd be way cool. https://new.familysearch.org check it outttttttt.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I love you all so much and I'm so happy to hear from you.

My favorite scripture this past week has been Isaiah 40:31. It mentions about waiting on the Lord, which usually has a negative connotation to it like waiting in long line but instead think of a waiter/waitress who are constantly serving others and helping them have a good time. That's what Heavenly Father wants us to do, serve others. And then blessings will follow. What a wonderful promise!

Mm. GOOD DAY! Love you,

Sista Davis