Buckets and Buckets of Water

My goodness. On Saturday, June 28, Manuel was baptized! It was amazing! Before the service was a little bit of a gong show though...we went early to get the font filled up in time but for some reason it was taking forever and by 4:15 it was only to mid-shin!! The baptism was supposed to start at 5 and we were freaking out!! Sister Smith and I improvised with pitchers and giant pots from the kitchen and got to work filling them from the washroom sinks to dump into the font! We called the elders and got two more sets of them in other washrooms and the kitchen filling those big (clean) trash barrels and thank heavens by 5:15 it was finally waist high. My oh my it was ridiculous. We couldn't stop laughing. After that little fiasco we started the service and the Spirit was so strong and he was so happy to be making this step so that his family could be together forever! Whoop whoop! It was so worth it. The speakers really focused on the importance that the gift of the Holy Ghost will be for him in his life as he is leading his family on the straight and narrow. It was a great lesson that we can all be learning. Listen to the Spirit! Then after the baptism we had some refreshments, of course, and best of all, there was a pinata! AyAyAY!! haha Manuel got a kick out of that- he said it felt "just like home" He's from Chihuahua, Mexico if I haven't ever mentioned that before.. Good times! It's days like that that make up for all the really tough ones.

Manuel almost gave us a heart attack on Sunday though because he was like 10 minutes late to church and we're thinking holy smokes please show up! He was lucky that it was a long weekend and the ward was already looking pretty small so they were giving everyone a few extra minutes to show up haha (Canada Day is tomorrow, remember?) Church was great though, one of the speakers in sacrament, and the lesson in combined relief society/elders quorum was really focused on fathers and their important role to the family. They related it to mothers too, but mainly on the men. "The three P's of Fatherhood: Preside, Provide, and Protect." Study the Family: A Proclamation to the World again if you haven't in a while. I love church, it's so inspiring and uplifting! I hope we can all take what we've learned at church and apply it into our daily lives this week. I know I will/am. It's going to be a great week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

HAPPY CANADA DAY. Oh, and happy Fourth of July to you Americans! 

xoxox,

Sister Davis

Sacrifice

Wish you could have seen Manuel at church yesterday. He was an absolute train wreck. He barely got any sleep and tweeked his shoulder in the hour of sleep he did get. All because he gave up coffee so that he can get baptized!! (YAY!) Coffee is a huge part of his culture so this is a difficult thing for him to do but he's doing it. And he even came to church despite the fact that he was not feeling pleasant at all. I'm so happy for him!! He and his family will be so blessed because of his decision!

Oh yeah so I failed to mention but you probably already notice that I'm still in the same area. And dun dun dun Sister Smith stayed here with me too! We for sure that she was leaving but surprise she gets to stay! We're super excited. And a bit nervous too because that means there must have been something we didn't learn in the last three months together that we should have learned..maybe? We've been through a lot together so we're getting ready for some more roller coasters of fun to come.

It's funny, Elder Larsen, who was in the MTC with me, is now in my zone and he reminded me today of when we were in class and I was asking all the other missionaries to tell me about their favorite stories in the Book of Mormon and what happens in them because I had no idea!!! LOL I guess I didn't realize how far I'd come until someone pointed out to me. 

I've been learning a lot this week too! Mostly about the importance of diligence even when it doesn't seem like you're making much of a difference. In the July Ensign there is an article called "The Gift of Our Physical Bodies" and a part really stuck out to me where the author related her own struggles of accepting her body to the different struggles that we all have in this life. She said "I discovered that often their problems, like mine, followed the pattern God set for Adam and Eve when he said to them, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; … thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; … in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Genesis 3:17–19). In other words, Adam and Eve had to consistently and recurrently work very hard to tame things that spontaneously grew out of control in their lives, but in a sense, God cursed the ground and caused the thorns to grow for their sakes. This insight helped me to recognize the numerous blessings I had experienced in my life by working through my challenges." I really took that statement to mind and it's been there ever since. Heavenly Father truly loves each of us, His children, and He allows us to go through certain trials, but never more than we can bare, and it's all for our sakes! All out of love and sincere concern for His children. He wants us so badly to return to live with Him. Wouldn't that be any loving father's dream? Just remember. You are a child of God. And He loves you more than you know. 

I hope everyone has the best week ever!

Happy birthday to my favorite nephew, Lynx! 2 cute!

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Davis

Power in the Priesthood

I know I say this all the time but...MIRACLES DO HAPPEN! So Manuel. I'm pretty sure I mentioned that his heart is changing, yes? 99% positive. Anyway, so at our lesson with him this week, actually before we even started the lesson, he shared with us an experience that he'd just had a couple days prior. My take on his story: He was praying to God, asking what he needed to do next and then as he was closing his prayer his phone dinged and he thought "wow that was fast!" haha he ignored it though thinking that he was too tired then it dinged again! So he picked it up, taking it as a sign from Heavenly Father that he needed to start going through the Gospel Library app looking for answers. Somehow he ends up reading President Lorenzo Snow's Manual about his experience with baptism and the Holy Ghost and found that there were lots of similarities between the two of them and he told us, "And that was my answer from God. I need to be baptized." OH MY OH MY! Happy tears! He is going to bring so many blessings to his family because of this decision. The Spirit is already more present in their home and it brings so much joy to us all. Yes, it is a miracle!

Whoop whoop.

Other best part of the week? Father's Day. We were in the Auburn Bay ward and holy cow do those men have voices or what! All the priesthood sang a musical number during Sacrament and it brought me to tears. The Spirit was so strong and I am so grateful for the priesthood and the blessings that it brings into my life. It's amazing that Heavenly Father has made it so ALL of his children on earth have the opportunity to receive the blessings and promises of the priesthood. I know that God's power and authority is real. Yup.

Alison mentioned in her email to me of the importance of studying with a particular question or topic in mind and I just want to take a moment to testify of that truth!!!! I've been doing that same thing lately, with a focus on compassion. It's truly eye opening to read about all of the perfect examples of compassion from our Savior, Jesus Christ. Compassion is respect, protection, honor, love, helping, submissiveness, consoling, healing, trusting, rejoicing, believing, and so much more! Study and become. And remember that Heavenly Father wants us to overcome this world. He will do anything to help us do that. He is filled with love and compassion. We should strive to be the same way as we are standing in His place and saying and doing what He himself would say and do.

Oh yeah and I almost forgot about another miracle this week! Stacy and Shane got sealed in the temple on Saturday!! They have been through lots of ups and downs this past year after Stacy was baptized and it was such a happy day to share with them. And now they can be together for eternity! That should be the goal for us all! YAAAAAYY!

Transfers are this week.....whatever the Lord wants I'll be happy with! Hopefully we are all willing to change are hearts this week and align our will with God's!! :)

Love you forever and for always!

xoxoxo,

Sister Davis

Roar!

Happy, happy day!!

Guess who came to church yesterday!! MANUEL! Oh man, we are so excited for him. His heart has softened so much and I am so grateful for the Spirit. We had a lesson with him that was amazing and over the last month it's miraculous the amount of change this man has gone through to be at a spot where he wants to go to church. He chose a good week to come too! It was ward conference in Mahogany and Bishop Blum and Stake President Craig gave wonderful talks. Bishop's was all about the Atonement. Really hit home. Manuel said he'd wished he'd brought tissues haha so true!

We've had many opportunities this week to learn about charity. What a blessing! President Craig did the combined lesson for Relief Society and Priesthood and he focused the first half on 1 Corinthians 13 and brought up some interesting points within that chapter. You should read it and study it out! He suggested that it be done as a couple, then turned to us and said "or companion study.." lol what a jokester. Either way it will help us to improve our vertical and horizontal love (our love for/from God, and our love for/from others).

Okay, so we don't have much time because for p-day today we went to the Calgary Zoo!! It was awesome! The animals must've recognized us as the Lord's servants or something because they put on all kinds of shows for us.. The gorilla was right up close and personal, same with the peacocks, tigers, penguins, komodo dragon, and both black and grizzly bears! It was so neat. Oh and the butterflies, which are deceivingly terrifying! We had lots of fun though. The Blum family are too good to us. They spoil us rotten with so much kindness. I am full of gratitude for all the love they have given, with the temporary living and all the meals and such! They're the best.

Anyway, I love you all forever and always and "remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice" (2 Nephi 9:52)!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Davis

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Roller Coaster...Literally!

Not only has this week been up and down but after district meeting on Tuesday we had a real life human roller coaster and it was aaaamazing! Put the chairs two by two in a row, sat down, and enjoyed the ride! Killlerrrr! I got a video of it but it's waay too big to send so you'll just have to wait until I get home. It was like a real roller coaster though, with the nerves and thrill and screams and everything! EXHILARATING. That kept me pumped for days. Still makes me laugh thinking about it. I have an awesome district. Three of the five elders going home this transfer are in my district and we still manage to have wonderfully spiritual meetings so it's nice. Only 2 of them are trunked out of their minds. 

We met a wonderful woman named Sara this week! She isn't interested in learning about our church but she welcomed the service we offered so Friday afternoon we found ourselves in her front lawn doing some yard work together! It was so much fun. We are like bff's now and she even took us out to lunch after and suggested that we go shopping together sometime haha She's hilarious and the most honest woman ever. Someday, her and her family will be baptized and be able to be together forever! That's my prayer for her.

We actually did lots of service this week. Since the weather is nice we have been spending lots of time outside. Last p-day we all played soccer together and it ended up pouring rain on us! It was so much fun! Who knows what we'll do today..looks like rain again! Lots and lots of rain. Hopefully it doesn't flood again this summer. As much as it helped the community grow closer together last year I'm sure people would get super p.o.ed about have to rebuild for the second time..no bueno. Oh well whatever happens happens!

This weekend was Stake Conference. President Eyring, Elder Holland, Sister Burton, and Elder?fromthe70 did a special broadcast from Salt Lake to ALL the stakes across Canada and it was so neat! It was personalized just for Canadians and felt like the whole time they were talking directly to me. There was even a bit where Elder Holland I swear was looking right into my soul!!!! The conference was focused on missionary work being the work of love for our eternal family. It was wonderful!! Lots of revelation. I had my handy dandy notebook out and took lots of notes. The little girl sitting next to me, Elyse (11), noticed that both Sister Smith and I were writing thoughts down so she took out her iPod that she'd previously been playing Angry Birds on to also type out some thoughts she got! haha it was cute. She asked me all kinds of questions because as she explained to me she's "having anxiety about God" lately. She'd become quite fond of me by the end of the conference that her mum invited us over to their house for supper! They weren't in our ward but we got permission to go any way and it was loads of fun! 

Have a great week!!!

I love you all so much!

xoxoxo,

Sister Davis

Whenever There is Rain...

I don't know what's wrong with my eyes lately but they've been leaking quite often. It's ridiculous. We had zone conference on Tuesday and throughout the whole thing I couldn't get myself to stop crying! Just every little thing set me off. The Spirit was so strong and I know with all my heart that this is where I'm supposed to be and that Heavenly Father is very aware of us individually. He loves us. I'm so grateful to know that and to treasure that statement. Days are rough, but we are never alone. 

Sunday was fast and testimony meetings for us since it's Stake Conference next weekend. Our investigator, Butch, was coming to church and it's always a coin toss of who is going up to share their testimonies and if they might say something sketchy soooo we were praying really hard and oh my gosh it was probably the most amazing fast and testimony meeting of my life! So many great, simple and true testimonies from the members and it was wonderful. Butch loved it! He said it felt like a lot of the people were talking directly to him and what he needed to hear. Again, I love the Spirit! Then we scurried on over to the Mahogany Ward because we were expecting some less-actives to show. And that fast and testimony meeting was wonderful too! Way to surprise me. I've been realizing lately how much I don't trust the members....which is bad. Because if I want them to trust me then I need to trust them!!! Duh. I'm working on that. It will hopefully be easy because I love them all and they are so wonderful!

Anyhow. Saturday was hard though. Sister Smith's back was killing her and so during lunch she decided to lie down with the heat pad to rest and then she was in too much pain to move for a while after. But I made the best of it and studied Matthew 13, which is a great chapter! Who knew. I've been learning lots about our faith and where we need to plant it if we want to watch it grow. Especially if one day we want to partake of the fruit! I know I would like to. And I'm going to. NO ONE GET IN MY WAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU. You should come with me though :)

Oh and then I saw a double rainbow! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Jesus Christ lives! And Jesus Christ loves! Whatever we are going through, Christ's atonement will help us.

Hope everyone has a great week! Can't believe school's out for everyone now..weirdie! Loved all the graduation pictures and I'm bracing myself now for all the mission homecoming pics of my generation. Boy oh boy. Keep 'em coming.

xoxoxo 

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Sister Davis

Two for One!

Okay, so I just realized as I logged in today that I forgot to press send on my email from last week? Yikes...So I'll just uhhh send both! haha Whooops.

LAST WEEK: Lots of wonderful things! And crazy things too. Like earlier this week it was so beautiful and perfect weather and we were outside cleaning the inside of cars for a service project and you'll never believe what happened. I was getting all dizzy and not totally there and I was like what the? And Sister Smith tells me "I think you have heat stroke..." after I've thrown up all over the place and am lying down on the ground. My response? "BUT I'M FROM ARIZONA!" haha I guess that doesn't stop anything considering I haven't seen the sun since last July practically and I may or may not of only hydrated with a slurpee that day...yikes you live and you learn right? haha It was an experience I'd never like to relive that's for sure. 

Then, on Thursday, we had a recent convert named Stacy who was going to the temple to take out her endowments and we got permission to go with her. It was amazing. She's had quite the roller coaster of ups and downs throughout her life especially in the last few months so it was a miracle that she still made it to the temple that night. She had canceled the reservation once and then re-reserved it so the whole time I was pouring out my heart in prayer for her to be open to the Spirit. It went perfectly. The Spirit taught me too which is always a plus. Really hit me that the whole point of Heavenly Father creating the Earth and sending His children here is so that we can reach our full potential and have JOY! What a wonderful plan it is!

Guess what else happened? Snow. Yup, I think Calgary is bipolar.. The snow was so pretty too though! It was the wet stuff and it stuck to the trees and it was a winter wonderland in May! Holla. Love it so much.

THIS WEEK: It was transfer week and dun dun dun we both get to stay!! YAYAYAY! We were super nervous that Sister Smith was going to get transferred but she didn't, obviously. And we're psyched! We have great visions for this area and we are just getting totally pumped working hard and being united. This past week though was really hard for her. Sister Smith's mum passed away almost five years ago from cancer so Mother's Day is her least favorite holiday which is understandable. We just tried to keep ourselves busy working but sometimes that doesn't help. We even had our first two Sundays ago because I wanted her to be happy but she wasn't being happy....Let's just say serving together is helping me to learn some very important lessons haha 

Anyway, it was great to be able to talk to my Momma and Poppy yesterday! Everyone looks so different, it freaks me out a bit. Especially to see how ridiculously tall Fletcher is. But it was great to be able to talk with them for a while. But then right back to work!

"Work" though in this area is pretty slow. We spend most of our time searching for the elite who are ready to accept the restored gospel. Which means days are long, but totally worth it. Diligence is key, hey? Trusting in Heavenly Father when He promises blessings for hard work. YAAAAAY

I LOVE MY LIFE

xoxoxoxoxox,

Sister Davis

​pics: at the temple yahoo!; snow all day everyday happy may!