This is not an event, it's a journey!

Thank you so much to everyone who sent their love and support my way for the last 18 months, it has meant the world to me! Now it's time for me to continue on this journey we call life, and I would be happy to continue sharing it with you!

A mission is possibly the best thing I could have done to prepare for this next phase of my life. Now is the real test to see how well I take everything I learned the past 18 months and apply it to the rest of my life. No big deal!

If you're curious to see how I do, continue to follow me on..

whenamberisthinking.blogspot.com

The church is true. I love you all.

Love,
Christy Amber

"We are made of the stuff of eternity! Endings are not our destiny."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Elder Clark of the 70 came to visit the mission this past week and he said something that I am now applying to this situation: "This is not an event, this is a journey." Packing your bags and leaving your mission is not an event, it's a journey. It's a journey that certainly has a lot of ups, downs, mood-swings, crying, anxiousness, you name it. Last night was pretty rough.

From 7-9PM we had the closing shift in West Gate. It was snowing a lot so Temple Square was void of all forms of life. There was nobody walking around! So, we decided to turn off the lights (so we could see outside the big windows) and just watch the snow fall. And I cried. Mostly because a few hours earlier I had my departing interview with President, which left me feeling so sad and so empty to be leaving my mission. To be honest, last night and this early morning, I was pretty depressed. I just sat at my desk with my hymnbook and sang hymns because I didn't know what else to do with myself. But don't worry, I'm not depressed anymore.

This morning we all met in the big chapel in the Salt Lake Temple and we heard from the Temple President and his wife. Following that meeting we went in and did a session. I spent the session with Sister Ferguson from Arizona, and we shared a lot of thoughts with each other and it turned out to be a really enriching learning experience. As we left the Celestial room at the end, I turned to her and asked her if she wanted to go explore a bit of the Temple. Haha(: So.... instead of going downstairs we turned and walked down the hall and opened the door and just walked into the rooms that used to be the apartment Lorenzo Snow lived in! Don't worry, we weren't sneaking around disobediently! The Salt Lake City Temple workers let the Temple Square sisters wander around anywhere in the temple for the most part so they were around but they don't every say anything to us except for, "Hi Sisters!" hehe(: So I took her down some halls that lead to where the front doors are, and then we went down the spiral staircase and into another Sealing room. It was BEAUTIFUL! But yes anyways, so we explored a little bit and then we went back to prepare for pictures outside.

We all had our picture taken with President and Sister Poulsen in front of the Temple and then we all headed to Tucanos for lunch! YUM! (: We had a good meal and President had all of us share with each other what are plans are after the mission. After the meal we all came back to the square and checked out with Elder and Sister Moore (the mission secretaries). And yes...now it's over. We have pday the rest of the day so after this I will go home and...pack...and...do laundry...yes....

My last week as a missionary was full of miracles. We found twice as many new investigators as we have found the entire transfer... of course right before I leave haha(: We also had a miracle baptism take place, which was a neat experience for the last week of the mission. Missionary work-wise, it was just a very very successful week...probably one of the most successful weeks on my mission. And for that I am grateful.

I don't know what it's like to be a returned missionary yet, but I do know that I will never regret the decision I made to serve. Many young men and women will grow up in the church and wonder if they should serve a mission. Some will have doubts, some will feel defiant because of "rules" and "restrictions". But there are a few things they have to understand if they want to be happy in life:

"We are not obedient because we are blind, we are obedient because we can see." -Boyd K. Packer

"Jesus responded, (and here again I acknowledge my non-scriptural elaboration)...What I need are disciples - and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly, loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do." -Jeffrey R. Holland

And one more thing; the work is going forward. The gospel is going forward whether young men and women decide to serve a mission or not - whether members of the church choose to share this message or not. There is no person on this earth who can stop the work from going forward throughout the entire world; and I know I can say that I have seen it spread across the entire world for the last 18 months of my life. The world is being prepared for the day that Christ comes again, this is happening with or without you. So, are you going to be a part of it? Or are you going to sit on the fence, watch it go by? And then you'll be there, still sitting on the fence. Still waiting for someone to come drag you along with the parade. But nobody is going to force you to do the Lord's work. Because He is already doing it himself. It's your choice, all to gain, none to loose. 

I'm eternally grateful and honored that the Lord would allow me to be a missionary for Him. He owes me nothing because He has already given me everything. And the work isn't over. Christ hasn't come. This life is not an event, it's a journey.

I love you family, and I look forward to seeing you. Forgive me if I am an emotional journey for the first 24 hours I will try to keep my emotions at a sensible level. (: Travel safe because there is snow all over SLC. See you in the morning!

Sister Davis

 

 After the temple with Sister Poulsen and President Poulsen. They are a perfect example of many things, but what has impressed me the most is their example of a righteous marriage. I want to be just like them someday. (:

I'm trying to stay calm OK!?!?

Deep breaths are what get me through all the talk of departing. Deep breaths and crying myself to sleep at night.

Er'body is asking about how my leg is doing so I will report on that first! But may I say, word gets out fast! The heck!? Anyways. (: So I went to the instacare hospital and that was FUN! I just love hospitals! They took an x-ray and everything seems to be fine, nothing torn and nothing broken! #missionary #protection As I laid on the x-ray bed I could not help but think about the many many times in the past I've rested on those flat hard beds while they moved my legs into uncomfortable positions and took x-rays.. Those were the days. (: It would be neat to be an x-ray tech. But yes so I'm fine everyone stay calm I can walk and when I'm tempted to limp I just imagine the voice of my former physical therapist Dave saying, "No! Heel toe! Walk correctly [insert first name]!" So it's all good. Taking ib-prophen for the pain and just up and about doing the Lord's work! The doc says this is temporary and in about a week I should be standing level again. (: Although that is a bit of a shame because I love the look on the sister's faces when I switch between legs and loose an inch of height hahaha! Classic party trick.

This last Sunday our departing class sang in Sacrament Meeting. They asked me to put the hymn together so I compiled an arrangement of Come Thou Fount. It was wonderful. Sisters cried. (:

We also had Emily Utt from the church history department visit the mission for Relief Society to give some training and more historical background for Temple Square! It's the third time I've seen Sister Utt on the mission and every time the training finishes we always talk for ages about the history of St. George. On Thursday though I went up and told her I was leaving soon so she BETTER come visit St. George often! I must say, though, that understanding the history of Temple Square and many of the historic temples (i.e. Nauvoo, St. George, Logan, etc) can be such a converting experience. You look at the lives of those people and it's evident that the only driving force powerful enough to help them accomplish all they did is Jesus Christ.

This week we are especially happy because one of our investigators on the east coast has finally decided on a baptism date!!!! He is shooting for March 14 and we are SO happy!!!! We first met him on Mormon.org chat and have been talking with him for almost 6 months now. He's only a senior in high school but the true reason he even began learning about the church was because of the influence of his friends who are members. I don't think the young people realize that their example can have profound impact on the people around them. Teenagers have more opportunities for missionary work than they realize. But anyways, we are very excited for him and he seems happy as well. (:

We've also had some great experiences finding more people to teach this week! A man from France came online to tell us about some of his friends living in Africa who were not members. There were 4 he told us about and so far we have been able to contact 2 of them and both of them want to learn more and be baptized! Miracles! There are certainly many others out in the world who are prepared to learn more about the plan that Heavenly Father has for them.

Funny/awkward story--> On Sunday night we were on our shift in West Gate and these two young men came up to say hello because they noticed Sister Bernhardt was from France! He spoke a little french with her and then said, "Hey! Are you guys coming to the YSA convention in the Tabernacle?" And then there was this awkward silence and I said, "No... we are missionaries." And then his friend laughed and they walked away slowly... some people's children. When they were out of sight we laughed a little bit and then I told Sister Bernhardt that we should avoid the YSA thing in the Tabernacle at all costs... And then she reminded me that I go home soon... and then I threw the tissue box at her. And then she laughed at me. Some people's children.

So yes this week was fun and exciting and confusing! I stopped by President's office on Sunday to ask him something and then I ended up in his office for an hour as he counseled me on my entire life. It was great though and President is so kind. :( And he made me cry like twice because of his kindness. And now I think I know what I'm going to do with my life! (Which is great because about a week ago I was trying to make the macro plan he requires us all to make and I was having a meltdown because I realized that the real world is absolutely terrifying.) So I'm not terrified anymore! Just...really scared. :D It's improvement.

It's ok though, because as Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, "We are eternal beings! Endings are not our destiny." I have also decided that returning home from a mission doesn't mean I ever have to leave the mission field. I'm not leaving the mission field...ever...just in case any of you were ever wondering about that... I'm not...just so you know. So please support me in that.

I love you all!!!

 

Sister Davis

 

By the way this is me being extremely happy in the hospital. (: I love the hospital. I may or may not have written my own rap while waiting for the doctor to come back with my x-ray results... #yellowwall #missionary #sowhite

 

This week was just really weird. Haha

So I am sorry right now this letter is going to be really fast!

This last week was really great and we've been very busy! We had our zone activity last p-day which was a lot of fun and a huge success! We've also been on exchanges a lot this last week with the new sisters and their trainers. Lots of fun experiences from that!

Funny story: We were on exchanges on Valentine's day and I was with Sister Bae from South Korea. She is SO funny! We were walking across the square in the evening when a couple stopped us and asked us to take a picture (of course...#templesquareprobs). So Sister Bae took the camera and just as they were about to take the picture the guy got down on one knee and said (turning to his girlfriend) "Will you marry me?" He had the ring and everything. Sister Bae was so shocked she just froze so I tapped her and said, "Hurry take pictures!" hahahaha so she took lots of pictures while they hugged and kissed. I know. #templesquareprobs. #everyday #whyhere #idonotunderstand So yes Sister Bae was really really upset after that because she didn't want to see any couples or proposals but I just put my hand on her shoulder and said, "You know, Sister Bae...you can't run from it on Temple Square." And then she just made sad sobbing noises for a little while haha(: Such is the life of a temple square missionary.

(I might mention that wasn't the only proposal I saw this last week.)

It was also an exciting week for my companion Sister Bernhardt because some of her companions she served with in France came to visit us and take us to dinner! WOO! It was heaps of fun. Except I'm not going to lie it was really weird walking into a restaurant with normal people who talk about normal people things... But they were super funny and nice and the food tasted great so that was a plus right?! Haha(:

Our investigators are also doing SO well. Two of them have now set a goal to be baptized, one of them will be 3 days after I go home! Ah the agony!!! Haha(: But it's good.

I'm sorry this is just so short. But just know that things are going well and we are really busy and happy and consecrated and blessed and hungry and diligent and hilarious!

I love you.

Love,

Sister Davis

 

Dinner with Sister Bernhardt's companions from France!(:

 

This week went by WAY too fast.

Ok. So. This week was so fun!!! But it went by too fast and every night when I climb into bed I almost cry because the day is over. Bah! Anyways.

We went on exchanges with all of the District Leaders this week and it was a success! Lots of learning, lots of teaching in different languages, and lots of finding finding finding! This coming week we will be conducting exchanges with all the sisters in the zone who are training/new missionaries. These exchanges are always the most fun. (:

We have a new investigator from Washington state and he is just the most humble man I've ever spoken with. He was referred to us by a member who met him on a plane ride home! (This member was a sister on the plane ride home from her mission by the way... being a missionary doesn't ever end!!!) We called him last week and he told us about how his wife recently passed away and he was curious about how our beliefs differ from his (he is Catholic). We felt impressed to speak about living prophets (not what you'd expect right?) and we told him about Thomas S. Monson and, of course, he was really interested in that! We sent him an email with a talk from the prophet and invited him to listen and pray to ask God if this man was a true prophet of God. We are looking forward to talking with him again soon. (:

I think I mentioned to y'all last week that Sister Brock and I were planning an MLC training for the District Leaders in the mission? Well we held that last Friday and it was exceptional! We really enjoyed it and the sisters all walked away so excited for their next district meeting and all the ideas and training they gathered! We were SO happy it was a success because we were hardly able to squeeze in the extra time to prepare the training, it was pretty hectic, but the Lord provided and we had the time (barely) and it was a success!!!

Speaking of training's (man I love giving trainings..probably just because I love being in front of people) Sister Lytle, our other sister from St. George, asked me to visit her zone training meeting to help her train on Unity. She specifically wanted me to do a the training I gave in MLC to all the zone and district leaders. I think she just wanted it because it makes everybody cry... haha(: But I went yesterday to do it and it was so fun! Not only that but being able to give these trainings and see these sisters feel the spirit is such a testimony building experience for me. I love watching them and I love it when they have those "Ahha!" inspiration moments. Those are the best.

Several months ago I was teaching an investigator out in Ohio with Sister Merrill. She was so prepared to received the gospel but some negative events took place with the local missionaries and then we suddenly couldn't get a hold of her anymore. :( It was the saddest thing ever. Well, two days ago I felt impressed to look through my area book at my list of former investigators. I called a couple, with no responses and then I dialed this lady's number. Well she picked up!!! And she was so happy to hear from me! The first words out of her mouth were "Oh!!! Oh sister I've missed you! I love the church!" hahahaha(: I was so happy I almost cried! She is still meeting with missionaries and she goes to church and Relief Society activities and just loves it! She says the ward loves her, which I believe because she's the sweetest person ever, and she really wants to get baptized! Right now she is working on quitting smoking. "But once I'm free of smoking," she said, "I will be baptized!" Ah! Everybody stay calm. (: The church is true. The Lord sure loves us.

Yesterday we had our zone leader reports with president. Those are always so fun because as soon as you sit down in his office he pulls out his big container of nuts and passes them around so everyone can have "brain food" as he calls it. (: Haha he's crazy. At the end we all started talking about the next coming transfer, how many sisters from the MTC, how many departing, etc etc and President said, "We have many new sisters coming that would need to be trained, so we need to find those trainers first!" I raised my hand and said "I'll extend if you want me to president!" Then we started having this serious discussion how it's not too late for me to extend because I'm not even flying home....and then I asked President if I could...and then he said he would love to have me...and then he asked me if it were interfere with schooling or work. And then I frowned and had to consider that... Anyways now I'm rambling but that was an interesting conversation haha

By the way AWKWARD story about zone activity...so we're emailing later today because we went shopping first for zone activity things...and as we were going around Walmart we were buying fake flowers (long story, not they have nothing to do with valentines day we're not that desperate) and three bags of chips, so we looked a little unhealthy and odd. The funny thing is, we were shopping at the Walmart in Taylorsville, not Salt Lake, so we ran into lots of Elders from another one of the SLC missions and it was so weird because they were looking at us like, "Why would Temple Square sisters be eating that junk food and buying themselves fake flowers!?" Seriously. That's what their face said. So now all the rumors out there about Temple Square sisters having to eat a super healthy diet have just been destroyed. Haha you're welcome world.

Anyways that's this week... Even though this week was even more wonderful and miraculous than I can describe my emails never do missionary life justice...they just make missionary life sound busy and awkward. But missionary life is also very busy and awkward...

But I just love you all! Have a happy day of love this week!

Sister Davis

I was on exchanges with Sister McDaniel when this took place...

While Jeffrey R. Holland was giving his training to Seminary and Institute teachers we ran down in the tunnels and took pictures on his golf cart... #nevergetsold #stgeorgekids

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Just thought I would stick that up there...just because I can. And it's true.

This week was AMAZING! Amazingly BUSY! Ha(: It was great. Lots going on. I feel like...I feel like I don't ever want my mission to end... oh wait! I ALWAYS feel like that!

So this week...this week was crazy. This week I learned how inspired companionships are. I learned that God has a hand in every single aspect of our lives, big or small. And I also learned that God is the master at organizing things because when I look at my life and I look at all the events that have taken place and all of the "coincidences" and the way that my life ties together I can only come up with three reasons why my life is the way it is: 1. My life is simply a really dramatic musical. 2. God is heavily influencing my life piece by piece. or 3. All of the above.

I'm gonna stick with 3. All of the above. Let me also say something else: The world is about the size of a toothpick when you serve on Temple Square. A toothpick. That's it! It's tiny!

Anyways. So last Wednesday night was great because we got to go with one of our less-active friends to see Meet the Mormons! Yay! It was a really good experience and we were really happy when he told us after that he felt the spirit a lot during the film.

Last Friday we had our ZTM (zone training meeting) which went smoothly, thank the heavens above! We had the District Leaders do most of the training and we focused on the Doctrine of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, etc). The sisters in the zone are so great they all have very quiet personalities which can be a bit awkward when we get up in front of them and I try to crack a joke...don't get me wrong they all laugh, but their way of laughing is like a little chipmunk laugh  so they all make this same face where their nose scrunches up and you hear these tiny little snickers.... But that's beside the point. ZTM was great!

We met with the AP's after ZTM to talk about some ideas we had and they decided that we should just hold another MLC and give the training with them ha so this morning we had to do some of the fastest training planning in my life before running over to the conference center but it's going to be really good and we're going to have the MLC this Saturday! Sister Brock and I will train the District Leaders about increasing the effectiveness of our District meetings and it's going to be especially good because there will be gummy bears involved! Er'body get excited!

Saturday was a funny day because Trilogy was running all over the square since State Honor Choir was held this year in the Tabernacle! So I ran into Kelton, Taylor, Tommy, and Mckay like 5 times and those guys are hilarious. But the best was when we talked with Mr. Riemer. I tried to ask that man for life advice and his only counsel was go to the Temple! (Well and he tried to talk me into being a choir teacher but we all know that I just wouldn't survive a career like that.) But anyways, by the end of the day my companion couldn't stop talking about how awesome all the guys were and she was impressed that Tommy speaks French (somebody tell Tommy that because he will blush).

Funny enough we even saw them again Sunday morning after Music and the Spoken Word because I was announcing and they stayed the night to go so that was cool! Then again I tell you these things but my best guess it you probably already know this because you've seen it on one of their Facebook, twitter or instagram accounts by now...

Sunday afternoon was Finish Strong Meeting. (AKA lets-talk-about-how-you-are-all-about-to-go-home-and-we-don't-want-you-to-get-trunky-meeting.) We all had to share what things we were applying to keep us from getting trunky which was funny haha! I got up and just shared with the sisters that I'm going to follow the counsel of D&C 51:17 where it says "act upon this land as if for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good." So yes I said I will be acting as if I will still be a missionary for another 5 years and they all laughed but I don't think they realize how serious I meant that..... (By the way that also means I'm going to do my grocery shopping the same: holla for my companion because she will have a ton of leftover free food from me!)

Monday was an interesting day! In the morning we had to take a sister in our zone to the eye doctor because she was having sudden trouble seeing out of one of her eyes. Her name is Sister Bae and she is from South Korea and she is the cutest human being I have met. She has a very quiet and cute little Asian voice and yet sometimes she says things that you don't quite expect and they catch you off guard and make you laugh quite a bit. I went back to the doctor's room with her so that I could translate all of the paper-work she had to fill out about her medical history. (By the way sometimes it's really hard to simplify some of those questions they ask you...it was interesting...hehe) One question was if she had any surgeries before and she turned to me and said, "Oh! I had lasik surgery before my mission! My eyes was perfect! (and then with an adorable frown) but now this eye is not perfect." So cute haha(: By the way, there was not anything seriously wrong with her eye she just got some face wash in it and it blurred it up a little bit but she's fine now. (: yay!

And now to tell you about one of the most exciting parts of the week! TODAY! Today was the day that we sang in the LDS Buisness College Devotional! It was so fun! And there were so many people and they were all our age and there were a lot of couples which was weird and they all seemed so serious! Are people back out in the real world always as serious as these guys were? I'm not sure... But anyways! We sang an arrangement of "I Feel My Saviour's Love" and then President Poulsen spoke, which was excellent! They had us sit up at the front where like the president of the school and the speaker sits, you know what I mean, and it was really funny to just watch all these young adults in the audience. President Poulsen asked all the RM's in the audience to stand (there was a LOT) and they had to recite the missionary purpose. They remembered it well! And it was cool because you looked at the faces of some of those young men and you could tell they were just beaming because they loved their missions! (: Afterwards President said, "Sisters lets all go get lunch together!" So President took us to lunch! Woo! It was so fun! President Poulsen is just one of the best people I have or will ever know.

Yes so there we are things have been pretty busy. You may think we're so busy we don't have time to teach investigators but that statement would be FALSE! We love our missionary work the most of all! We were able to speak this week with our investigator in Las Vegas and he is doing so well! (He's the one I told you about who is a single father of a 20 month old boy.) Tomorrow he is talking to the missionaries in his area because he would like to be baptized before March 7th. Yay!!!! We are so happy for him, he is just so wonderful and he makes the gospel a priority even though his life is hectic and busy. (:

Our investigator in Provo is still doing so well. Sometimes I feel like she teaches me and I just don't know half as much about life as she does! But she's awesome and she is already doing visiting teaching even though she isn't a member yet! Haha and she loves it so much!

A lot of y'all have been asking about our investigator in England! She is doing well, amidst the huge trials she's had. Things can be a little up and down but we know that everything is going to work for her. She has a lot of opposition but we've been able to see every day how the Lord is constantly aware of her no matter what. We pray for her a lot and, like we have always said, she has much more faith than she gives herself credit for!

Ok this email is getting supper long so I'm going to bring it down to a close. I don't think there is tons more to say so....yeah! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!!!

Sister Davis

My last time announcing for Music and The Spoken Word! So tender!

Back row: Sister Escobedo from Mexico, Sister Chau from Japan, Sister Ma from Taiwan, Me, Sister Kuo from Taiwan. Front row: Sister Mok from Hong Kong, Sister Brock from Oregon, and Sister Araujio from Portugal!

​Everyone who announced!
Left to right: Sister Chau from Japan, Me. Sister Ma from Taiwan, Sister Escobedo from Mexico, Sister Araujio from Portugal, Sister Amar from Phillipines, Sister Konietz from Germany, Sister Mok from Hong Kong, Sister Brock from Oregon, Sister Bomgren from Sweden, Sister Maladiri from Vanuatu, and Sister Richmond from Tahiti!

 

Wow I feel like it's been 10 years since I've written any letters...

And SO MUCH has happened. I feel a little overwhelmed trying to remember everything I want to tell from this last 2 weeks...

But anyways lets start with TRANSFER NEWS!!!! Because, yes, I have this awesome new companion and YES I'm going to attempt at learning yet another language. My companion is Sister Bernhardt from France! We are over the West 1 zone this transfer (which is why my p-day changed to Tuesday). She's pretty funny and older than me, again....pretty sure all my companion's have been older than me...I'm such a small little child.... But she is SO funny and so French. (: We enjoy being together.

I may or may not have mentioned that last week that President Harman asked me to put together a musical number for a ward in Bountiful, Utah? ... So I gathered together myself, Sister Garcia from Spain, Sister Mathias from England, Sister Aquino from California, and Sister Sindylkova from Czech Republic to sing, with Sister Ma from Taiwan to accompany us. We threw it all together in less than a week and we sang in our sister missionary ward Sunday morning. That afternoon I drove the crew up to Bountiful to sing in a ward and it went so well. THEY HAVE BABIES IN THEIR WARD! Adorable. Babies. I kept having to remind myself not to stare and make faces at the little children during the meeting but to be an example since I am a missionary after all. (Though I will admit after sacrament meeting I asked the mother sitting behind me what her secret was to get her little 2 year old girl to fold her arms and sit quietly during the prayer. It was astounding and so adorable!!!!) Anyways. After the sacrament meeting we were asked to stay for a "linger longer" to talk with the members and their non-member friends they had brought. We met one guy from main-land china who just loved church and asked to get a picture with all of us (of course). But in a nutshell it was just a really really fantastic experience!

President Poulsen pulled me aside later that day and asked me if I would be willing to get the sisters together again to sing that same song for the LDS Business College Devotional this next Tuesday, since he was asked to be the speaker. Fist pump!!! So we'll be singing in that next week and we are so excited!!!! Singing is the greatest!!!!

Our Missionary Leadership council was yesterday and it was excellent! We met again on the 9th floor of the JSMB. All the zone leaders gave instruction so Sister Bernhardt and I were asked to focus on the fundamental Teach People, Not Lessons. It went really well and we had some sisters do an exercise I had been forced to do at girls camp back in the day and it was successful! They all cried! (In a spiritual kind of way.) So yes, that was great. For our lunch break we took the tunnels to the Church Office Building to eat in the cafeteria there and we happened to see Tad R. Callister again! We all walked past him and strained to see if there was meat on his plate... which there wasn't any. (: Hahaha But that's just a random side note.

Right after MLC we had to run (literally) back to the square to get to our assignments. At 4pm we had a V.I.P. tour. And dad you are going to die....(or I could just accuse you of being jealous since I am known to do that...) The people we took on the tour were some of the chief executives of Amazon. (You know, that massive online company?) So yes we were absolutely terrified! But they were actually really nice! And there were a lot of people who work for the church who accompanied the tour so no just in case you are wondering we were not nervous at all... But in all seriousness the tour went very well and they asked a LOT of questions. We showed them the inside of the temple (the model of the temple, that is, haha) and explained to them how Mormons worship in temples. The spirit was just very unusually strong throughout the tour, especially when we ended at the statue of Christ. Sadly, because they are VIP guests, we're not allowed to invite them to learn more or anything like that, but the man from church hosting did tell us that they already gave them a Book of Mormon a few days earlier. We were happy to hear that. (:

Teaching has also been going very well this week! A few days ago a young lady came on chat with a very strong interest in learning more. In fact, she asked us, "What steps would one have to take to become a Mormon?" Which is a good question! She has a lot of religious background and she actually is majoring in Biblical studies in university! She said something interesting to us though. She said, "I feel like I know a lot. Yet, I feel like I don't have the whole truth and I just want to know what the whole truth is!" Quite the statement! So we talked about The Book of Mormon and we will be speaking with her again later this week on the phone.

All in all the transfer has been going extremely well and we have been SO busy. At first I though I was going to die with all the things we had to do, plus the fact that I had to go an extra week without a p-day to rest. Yet when I woke up this morning I was almost disappointed to have a p-day because I felt like we've just been on such a role so why stop!? Then I pictured mom and dad's worried face not receiving a letter from me this week so I decided that p-day is a wise thing. (: So yes mom and dad, I do love you immensely. (:

Exciting upcoming events for this week will be Zone Training meeting, announcing for Music and The Spoken Word, singing in the LDSBC devotional, and beginning exchanges with the District Leaders! There's just so much work to do I LOVE IT!

But until next week....I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Davis

Picture of me with my new companion!

 

This week I learned Hu ke tua! and 出去!

Tongan and Mandarin. Just in case you were curious.

This week was very spiritually uplifting. On Sunday I spoke in church. Each sister on Temple Square has one chance to speak in our ward (our ward just consists of our mission btw) in our entire mission and it's always within the last few weeks of service. So yes, I spoke in church on Sunday and it actually went very well! I spoke on 4 different principles I have learned on my mission. I won't give you my entire talk but I will mention what those four principles are.

1. Never fall into the trap into doing what is easy. 2. You've got to just calm down and trust in the Lord! 3. Comparison destroys the purpose of creation. and 4. Forgive others and yourself quickly.

So there you are, it was great! I really did not want to cry because I hate crying on the pulpit but of course, you know me, as soon as the words "the temple" came out of my mouth I cried...awkward! But it was ok I forced myself to remember that people can't understand me when I cry and it was too important of a testimony for people to not understand so I stopped crying almost as fast as I started haha! After sacrament meeting we went to Music and The Spoken Word. (: And I was so happy! They sang an Ola Gjeilo piece called The Ground. #choirgeek #THEBEST 

But really...somebody tell Robert Reimer about this song I expect Trilogy to sing it in their final concert when I return.

We have a wonderful new investigator from Las Vegas, he's a single dad with an adorable little boy and he has been so prepared to learn about the gospel! He said some missionaries stopped him in his driveway and gave him a He Is The Gift pass along card. He said her enthusiasm sparked his interest so He watched it and felt the spirit soo strong. He then decided to call in Mormon.org so he can learn more! He went to church last Sunday and really enjoyed his time there and loved the relationship of the members. We are excited for him to continue learning especially about the TEMPLE!!! :D :D

Speaking of the Temple, we finally went to the temple this transfer! In the last week of the transfer! Haha but it was muchly needed and so wonderful! I just always have this one issue when I go to the temple, I just don't ever want to leave the Celestial room! Honestly, I could sit in there for a few hours and just ponder and be content. But life is about more than being content...so eventually I do drag myself out of there. :( But the temple is great! There is no better place to find peace, feel safe, or just feel closer to Heavenly Father. I love the temple. It was also an excellent temple trip because I received some answers regarding after my mission, which is sad but true. (Not that the answer was sad, it was good, but the fact that it had something to do with other than the mission was sad...) Nonetheless, I am very grateful that we're able to visit the Temple once a transfer (once very 6 weeks).

Yesterday we went on exchanges with some sisters in our zone, Sister Yim from Hong Kong and Sister McElhaney from Arizona. Sister Yim is currently training Sister McElhaney. It was such a great exchange! Sister McElhaney is an exceptional missionary, even just being in her first transfers. I spent the day with Sister Yim and she spoke so highly of her companion. She's very loving, very hard-working, and extremely eager to learn. Sister Yim is an amazing missionary as well. She follows the principle of obedience with exactness and she is just like a missionary sponge. Last transfer sister Yim was companions with Sister Merrill, whom was my companion her first transfer and she asked me lots of questions like, "When you were with Sister Merrill how did you do [fill in the blank]." That surprised me a lot but it was also really cool because Sister Yim just loves to learn on how to improve and different methods of doing the same thing, which is how successful people find success. So Sister Yim is going to be a very successful person. (:

Just a quick update on our investigator in England; she's doing very well! It was a little hard being at home first and she was doing a lot of praying and just really trying to determine what steps to make next. She was a little stressed but we stayed calm because we know that everything will work out for her. She has accepted a baptism date now that she is working toward and she has a lot of confidence in it! We're really excited for her and she is really learning the principle that no matter what the Lord will always provide for our needs.

I think that is all I was planning on writing about this week. It's just been a really great week full of many teaching opportunities! Transfer conference will be on Monday morning. If I switch zones next transfer my pday will change so if you don't get an email from me next week, you know why! I will let you know quickly who my new companion will be. I'm going to miss Tim-Tams, frequently laughing and speaking in Tongan when I'm frustrated...but oh well. The show must go on!

Want to hear a joke I told my companion the other day? 

The other day I saw three guys walking down the street. Two of the guys walked into a bar, but the Mormon ducked. (Insert awkward smile here.)

I know I know...my mormon jokes make no sense.

Ok bye now!!!!

Sister Davis

 

We found Grandmother Willow today! So awesome! #pocahontas

 

Here is a secret about missionaries...

Sometimes we don't want to write letters home. Sometimes we just like to read letters and then not have to worry about responding haha(: But we still write because we love you! So mom...dad...I just love you. And that is why I am writing this letter today haha(:

This week was complicated...

Our investigator from England came. (: We got to spend 2 days with her! Ah! The dream of any Temple Square missionary! We met up on Friday afternoon and took her to the Conference Center and Beehive House. We also took her to the mission offices and she met President Poulsen! He had us come in his office and we all sat around and chatted for a while. He's so awesome. (: After which we ate dinner with her, which was fun. We went to the mall across the street but then took our food to what we call "the celestial vending" in the bottom floor of the Church Office Building. It was closed but since she was with us we were allowed to take her in through the tunnels. We then took her to the teaching centre's with us and she watched us take chats and phone calls, which she was completely curious about! I let her look in my area book and read all my records I put in about her hahaha! She enjoyed reading that a lot. On Saturday morning we met up again at 9 am and showed her around the North Visitor's Centre. At 10AM our investigator from Provo came up and we all met up and watched Meet the Mormons in the largest theatre we have. Yes. Yes we used our largest theatre for the 4 of us...it was awesome. Then she went with us to our 3 hour shift in Guest Services haha! I let her get on my familysearch account and look around on what that was like, which she seemed entertained by! She even found herself! Haha(: We talked a lot. Well, we always talk a lot even when she's not here but ya know. Then I brought her to Sister Mathias' District Meeting! (My companion and I split up each week and attend different district meetings.) So she went with me and sat in and experience the ever-so-exciting district meeting of a missionary! Of course, all the sisters were just awestruck by the fact that she was an investigator from the other side of the world who was really visiting us! They all adored her accent as well.

[Random side note: it's interesting how there isn't just one British accent. As a child I always just assumed there was one but our investigators accent is completely different from Sister Mathias', and Sister Mathias' accent is very different from other sisters here and other people I know. Just shows you how cultured I was as a little child...#merica]

We then ate dinner and showed her the rest of the buildings on Temple Square. The Assembly Hall was closed for some reason but we decided it would be ridiculous if she came all this way and didn't see every building!!! So we took her in through the tunnels. #shh... But there was nothing going on in there anyways so...don't judge us! #yolo THEN! Alan (you'll remember he was baptized 6 months ago and is now married to a member and they attend BYU?) came up with his wife and a friend and we all met up to go to Saviour of the World! We originally were not going to sit in the show with them but circumstances worked out that we could and we were SO HAPPY! Not only that, but we went in and the theatre was packed but, you know me, determined to have the best seat for our investigator I walked down to the front where the special reserved seats are and asked the host if it would be possible for our group to sit there. I was about to tell him we had a non-member in the group (I know I know I'm aweful) but he ran to the other host and then came back and said YES!!! So, no joke, we literally had the best seats in the house! Heavenly Father loves our investigator. (: Yes He does!!! After the show we had to say our goodbye's and she left with Alan and Mikah (they gave her a ride back to her hotel).

So now she is back in England. *shed a tear* We miss her. I miss her. I don't want her to be so far. We pray for her constantly. She has hard decisions to make. She has so much faith, though! She has done a lot, but she doesn't do it for anyone other than herself. When we first began teaching her 9 months ago she wouldn't even allow us to call her on the phone haha she would only chat with us online. And it's been neat to see how God answers her prayers, which He does...a LOT. God would never leave her alone, however. He has purposes and a plan for her. He is very aware of her. She may or may not read this blog post, but if she does, I hope she feels the spirit confirm to her that every righteous decision she has made the past 9 months has lead her to where she is right now. D&C 6:14. There are no coincidences.

In other news: My companion is the greatest! She makes me laugh all the time and if I don't have a 6-pack when I get home I will be really upset. Possibly rage. Speaking of rage! If you haven't seen Meet the Mormons yet, you better! Oh and that reminds me, my companion's Christmas package finally made it all the way here from Australia! Hahaha! We have been feasting on Tim-Tams! AH! I must live in Australia someday JUST so that I can eat Tim-Tams! And my companion is great because she never thinks about the fact that she returns home in 13 days! WOO! Life is good. My companion is good. (: It's good to have a good companion.

This letter is too full of emotion! I should not be so sappy! What is not sappy that I can tell you...? Our avocados are ripe! FINALLY! We've been waiting to eat them for 3 weeks!!!!!

Well I can't think of anything else that is not sappy that I should write about so I think that sums up this week's email!

Ok bye now!

Sister Davis

The New Year is here!!!! Meet the Mormons is here!!! Our investigator is HERE!!! (January 1st)

Everybody stay calm!!! Except this is kind of a BIG DEAL!

(This email will not be chronologically...I'm just jumping to the good stuff first.)

OUR INVESTIGATOR FROM ENGLAND IS HERE!!!!! And I met her 2 days ago!!!! And it was so crazy!!!! :D She was here with the family of one of the Elders that has been teaching her back in England! We were in Guest Services when she first came on the square but I couldn't just sit down there when I knew she was upstairs! So we went up and I was thinking we would just be quick and take longer at a later time...ha! Yeah right! We were talking for almost 2 hours I think? It was a long time, but it was great! She is coming back to be in downtown SLC all day Friday and Saturday so we have lots of time to fill!! Today she is spending the day skiing up in Park City with the members. Woot! :D

One of the things we will most definitely be doing is showing her Meet The Mormons!!! We had a mission wide training from the Missionary Dept on Monday morning to tell us all about the details and how we are going to be involved in the showings here on Temple Square. It officially begins showing on Temple Square tomorrow (January 2nd) at 7:30PM as the first showing. But, of course, the movie will be in the systems attached to all the theatre's on Temple Square so we're reserving a theatre just for our investigator from England to watch with her...maybe tomorrow? #tsqmissionary #perks The main point is that we are stoked about how many people will be coming to watch it! Usually after Christmas is over the square slows down quite a bit but we have no doubt this will keep it busy enough to have people to talk with. It's just such a fabulous movie! Woo!!!

If you're in the Salt Lake City area and want to watch Meet the Mormons in the Legacy Theatre on Temple Square you'll need to go online and reserve tickets. The tickets are free, but they are required for seating purposes. If you don't get tickets, however, there will be a standby line in the JSMB (Joseph Smith Memorial Building) for any extra seats in the theatre. If you don't get in even after that, you can go to the North Visitor's Centre for overflow in theatre 5. You can obtain tickets here: 

https://www.lds.org/church/events/temple-square-events/2015-meet-the-mormons?lang=eng

Languages it is currently available in is just English and Spanish. By summer of 2015, however, the missionary dept says it will be available in other languages such as Mandarin, Portuguese, Japanese, etc.

Ok, now that we have the formal information out of the way...

This past week we had exchanges with all the District Leaders in our zone, and THAT was fun! Sister Garcia (from Spain), Rangel (from Brazil), and Mathias (from England) are just amazing district leaders! They do SO much and are very on top of everything. We were able to do a lot of teaching with each of them and it was a great experience! After we completed exchanges we had Zone Leader reports with President, which went super well!!! Sister Poulsen and Sister Taito (from Figi) kept laughing at me though...and they kept looking at me and Sister Tuinukuafe and saying "Oh those two!" I don't know what that means...but it was interesting!

Funny story! At the end of Zone Leader reports we told president about our investigator in England who was here and he got really excited! He asked about how she got interested in the church and we told him she had been watching a Mormon family on YouTube for 4 years called The Shaytards (Shay Carl and his wife are pretty famous YouTube who just post videos of their family/life all the time haha). We had never seen them and neither had president so he said, "Well lets go look them up!" So he sat at his desk and pulled up the shaytards on YouTube and we watched a little bit haha! It was very...interesting... We kept laughing at how dramatic they are but president was just watching with a very intent/interested face and it was SO funny! Sister Poulsen and the AP's were just laughing too. So now I can say the first time I saw the Shaytards was when my mission president looked them up during zone leader reports! #what?

Some little miracles that happened this week!

A former investigator that Sister Esquivel and I taught a year ago called into my personal extension and left a message saying he wanted to talk with us again! I freaked out! His story is a long one, and you may not remember him. But he was the guy from New York who was into some bad things and then was converted but then dropped off the face of the planet. Yeah! Him! He called us! And he's doing really good! And he's still Christian!!! So that is exciting!

There was a man from Las Vegas who came onto chat about 2 weeks ago who was really interested to learn more, but sadly we couldn't get a hold of him after our amazing online chat BUT this morning I saw a voice mail from him! He called us last night trying to get a hold of us and he says he still wants to go to church and learn more! We are so happy!!!! That was a tender mercy. (:

Speaking of tender mercies!

Yesterday was crazy. I for some reason I couldn't sleep AT ALL and I was just laying in bed awake all night long. By the time my alarm went off I felt soooo terrible. I got out of bed and went out to the living room planning on trying to work out but I was so dead that I ended up sitting in the middle of the living room like a zombie and I wasn't sure but I thought I was going to perish. But then we had a MLC (Mission Leadership Counsel) so I got myself ready to go and we came down to the square. The meeting went well but I just felt sooo out of it and I couldn't figure out what was wrong and why I couldn't sleep etc. and my companion thought I had turned into a vegetable haha. So we came home for lunch and I seriously collapsed on my bed and just started crying like there was no tomorrow! My poor companion was like "Oh my gosh what is wrong!?" and I was like "I don't know I just feel like I'm going to die!" So she just sat by my bed and patted my sad little head while I cried for two minutes haha and then the next thing I knew I was unconscious. I had a lot of really weird dreams and when I woke up and looked at the clock it was 3 hours later! I also found that my companion had taken like 5 blankets and put them on me and tucked me in and put heating pads in the blankets too because our apartments heater was broken and she said I felt super cold! Crazy! Apparently after I fell asleep my companion called the mission president's wife and they found covers for our assignments and she said for me to just sleep. So anyways when I woke up I just felt so awful like I had been hit by a truck haha so we stayed home the rest of the day and had lots of good gospel discussions. (: The APs gave me a sleeping pill to take but I still couldn't fall asleep until 3AM this morning...but for some reason I still feel a lot better than I did yesterday. It was just such a crazy experience I have never felt my body just shut down like that before! But there was a huge tender mercy because we had an appointment with a new investigator that we missed but when we called her this morning she said that it was ok because the local missionaries ended up showing at her house yesterday at the same time our appointment was! SUCH A TENDER MERCY!!!!

So yes, missionary work is hard and sometimes you almost die. BUT the Lord takes care of us. For me, He sent me the sweetest loving companion ever who just patted my head while I cried and covered me with blankets so I could sleep! Haha(: And she made me laugh on New Years Eve when we were talking about how in a year from then we would look back on this New Years eve and laugh about how we spent it reading conference talks together and watching super old church movies that are cheesy but awesome! It was a good New Years. And even though I couldn't sleep, it was a tender mercy because I got to listen to fireworks at midnight while all the other sisters were sleeping! See! Life is grand. (:

Anyways wow that was a big long dramatic way to tell you that I'm sick. But it had a happy ending, right?

I will be buying lots of orange juice today.

Anyways so that is the condensed version of the goings-on this last week! The weather is FREEZING COLD and I don't know how I will survive but I know the Lord will provide! I am grateful for gloves, scarfs, jackets, long sleeve shirts, leggings, boots, earmuffs, and the ability to walk swiftly from building to building. :D

I love you all and hope you have a marvelous week!!!!!!!!!

Sister Davis

 

 BY THE WAY! This was an abandoned skate board someone left is west gate for an entire transfer! So we finally just brought it home and now we skateboard around the apartment when we're bored... :D Don't judge by byu sweat pants, really cool hat or my charlie the unicorn t-shirt...I have awesome friends who send me awesome stuff ok!?