...and then we all said, "WHO IS THIS INCREDIBLE ELDER?!"

I'm going to be honest I'm not sure what to say because I just saw your beautiful faces 3 days ago. But I will do my best!

So this week was fun.(: We had Zone Conference last Wednesday and it was excellent. President gave the most interesting/inspiring instruction on the Holy Ghost. We also were so lucky to have some folks from the missionary department come to give us training. That is one thing I just love about being at headquarters is that it's no trouble to get those instructors to get on an elevator to come visit us! We had a lot of training about how to be more effecting in the teaching centers (where we teach our investigators online around the world). We also listened to a couple of recorded phone calls from people who had called in to get either a free Book of Mormon or a free Finding Faith in Christ DVD. The first recording was a young Elder who had just entered the MTC and we all listened as this women who sounded in desperate need of some help called in asking for a DVD. It was SO effective to listen to their conversation and then discuss what better steps could be taking in not just sending people materials, but helping them to know that there is hope and healing in Jesus Christ. The last phone call we listened to was STELLAR. I'm pretty sure I know EXACTLY what I want my future husband to be like, just based off of this phone call haha! To sum it all up, this lady called in asking about our church because she felt like she was missing something in her religion. Well this fantastic Elder got so excited and taught her about the Book of Mormon and the restoration in 5 minutes and not only THAT but as he was bearing his testimony to her about how he knew it was true he started to CRY! And then the old lady on the other end of the phone started to cry! And then she said she wanted missionaries and a Book of Mormon! And then he said that he loved her and asked if he could keep it touch to see how it all went and she said yes! And then she hung up the phone and the Elder gave a little sniffle and said, "Wow..." AH! All the sisters in the room were almost crying just listening to it and Sister Tiritilli looked at me and was like "Who IS this Elder?!" And I was like, "I know, right!?" It was amazing. The spirit was so strong. And every girl was in love with this Elder's testimony. Haha(:

The last part of Zone Conference president asked us to each bear our testimony and include the experience of when we knew we had a testimony of this church. I talked a lot about my experience in Nauvoo..which I should share with others sometime. But today is not that time. (:

My birthday was a really good day! We had a FULL schedule and we were running all over the place teaching teaching teaching! My roommates were very cute and stuck an awkward picture of me around the mission offices that said Happy Birthday in several languages so I felt very loved and embarrassed. (: And Saturday was very wonderful! We have a new investigator from Germany! She came on chat and expressed to us that she really wants to learn more. Her father is a member as well as some friends and she felt like there was something to what they all believe. It was a good way to start off a Saturday!(:

I'm not going to lie, the last 20 minutes before y'all showed up to visit I was SO nervous! Ask my companion. I was pacing back and forth and talking to her about how I was worried y'all would think I was old and not as dainty and cute! Haha oh I was so nervous! But then it was just wonderful to eat food and talk and see Kallie!!!! I think the best was watching her stick her hand in my water as she fished for ice cubes. And listening to her sing Justin Bieber to me...and making faces with her. It was just so good to hold a baby! We see adorable babies on a daily basis and we can't even hold them. :( So I just so enjoyed talking with my good friend Kallie Kay.

On Sunday we called our dear investigator in Ireland to follow up on how church went. Of course, he's doing just wonderful as ever! We talked a lot about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Before we could even invite him he began telling us that baptism is his goal right now because he knows how much peace and happiness he will gain by having a fresh start. He's so fantastic! Every time we get off the phone with him Sister Merrill gets this adorable look on her face and she says in a high pitched voice, "I just love him so much!" Hahaha(:

We're looking forward to the coming week and we're looking out for the coming cold weather! I have this feeling in my gut that this winter is going to be colder than the last...gah! But at least I'll be more prepared this time. I won't die. The work will carry on...etc etc. Well, I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Davis

Sometimes when you're a missionary...you have bad days...so you grab your friend Sister Sherratt and you walk to the mall where they have delicious peanut butter cookies...and then you eat it hoping that tomorrow...will be a better day than today...

 

I'm not going to be a teenager anymore! :O

Time is moving too quickly...I really need it to slow down...I'm not sure how I feel about my birthday being this week...I'll be 20.... Having your 20th birthday come up literally forces you to think about where you've been the past few years and where you will be within the next few years. I think the most peculiar thing about it is seeing how different you are. Even in just the 11 months I've been out, I'm so different. I would say in what ways but then this entire letter would go on forever about things that others would probably be surprised to learn have changed about me. Missions are SO HARD. They force you to understand all of your weaknesses at an immense level. There's no hiding from them, you just have to learn how to overcome them and the ONLY way to overcome them is by relying completely on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen in the future, I just know that if I rely on God then He will help me discover what goals I have that are important for my growth.

As for our news this week, we have a new investigator in Ireland! He came onto Mormon.org chat and told us that he has been attending church there in his home town and he feels the spirit testifying so strongly to him that he's doing the right things. He's already begun the Book of Mormon and feels that it is true as well. The more we chatted with him the more it became clear that God has been working in his life to prepare him to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He gave us all of his information so we could begin teaching him, and we invited him to be baptized once he has learned all we believe and knows that it is true. He said, "Of course I will." We called him on the phone this morning (evening in Ireland) and talked with him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He has SO much faith in the Lord. Any time we would ask if he had questions he would say, "Well no I understand this all makes sense!" And then he would proceed to review what we had just taught him! Haha! He's such a sweet heart. Before calling I was a little nervous that if his Irish accent was too strong we would have a hard time understanding, but (even though it is pretty strong) we were able to understand all he said, such a blessing! I think I need to start practicing an Irish accent now that I've got my British one down...

So I'm extremely suspicious of President Poulsen right now because of a strange phone call we got last week! We were walking through the Beehive House one afternoon when the phone rang and it was President on the line! He then started to ask me about what day I was planning on going home from the mission and was naming these days in early January! So I said, "Um...president I think you have the wrong sister..." Then he paused and said, "Oh! Yes! I do have the wrong sister! I'm sorry Sister Davis! I was just thinking about you because you were on my mind about the....uh....(clears his throat)...yeah! Well! Carry on with the work Sister Davis!" Hahaha imagine me with an incredibly suspicious look on my face...that's what my face looked like. So when I saw him in church on Sunday I told him, "President I am so suspicious of you!" And he gave me this embarrassed smile and was like, "Oh Sister Davis no need to be suspicious!" Yeah. I'm still suspicious.

Oh and we took the best tour in the Beehive House on Saturday! There was a large group of men and women in their late 50's on a bus trip around the west and they stopped in to see the sights! Well as they began filing in I started to notice all the Bama clothing items so I said to them, "Are y'all from Alabama!?" And they said, "Yes!" I responded, "Roll Tide!" and as soon as I did half of the crowd started shouting, "Roll Tide Roll!!!" and the other half were cheering for Auburn! Hahaha! So I started saying, "Alright now lets not start a riot in here!" Oh it was sooo funny! As I was talking to the bus driver afterwards he told me, "Well you'll be excited to know that I'm the bus driver for the Alabama football team and as soon as I get home from this trip I'll be driving them up to the opening game in Georgia!" I almost died! I was jealous (but not jealous of course because I'm a missionary.) But yes, then he bragged about how amazing his job is and I was in shock. As a missionary on Temple Square you automatically meet some of the coolest people! Ah! It's ridiculous.

To start of the week of my birthday my companion and I went to Music and The Spoken Word on Sunday morning. (: (: They sang "The Sound of Music." I know! I know...it was just for my birthday, I know. Haha! Then this morning we went to the temple and that was so wonderful as always. For pday we will be going with Sister Sherratt (from California) and Klein (from Brazil) to a really tasty ice cream place! And then we'll probably make a fort out of pillows and blankets and color in a coloring book so that we will still feel like kids and I won't have to feel like I'm getting old. I am so looking forward to seeing the family this Saturday! That will be a very exciting/weird/awkward/wonderful/interesting/intense experience. (:

I hope you're all having tremendous fun with your last few days of summer! To my dear friends going back to school next week...have fun but not too much fun! :D

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Davis

The lovely sight from Music and The Spoken Word this week. (: (: So beautiful! Oh and the Bells on Temple Square were there this week as well! They played the Theme from Le Nozze di Figaro! AH! My favorite Italian opera ever!

While exploring the top "empty" floor of Brigham Young's Home we discovered a kitchen with a working fridge and a bathroom with a fully functioning shower...SO weird. This is me being astonished by the working shower in a home that was built in the early 1850's.

 

I'm telling you this is crazy stuff... (August 11th)

Hello everyone!

Wow it's been quite the interesting week that is for sure! We've been running to and fro all over the valley on the Lord's errands and it's been fantastic! All of it was really last minute, but that's usually how things run on Temple Square. (:

On Thursday night when on our way to gather our things to leave, I was stopped by the sacrament meeting coordinators and they asked if I would be willing to go speak in a ward in the valley that Sunday, again! And once again I would not be speaking with my companion, they wanted me to go with Sister Sherratt, again! Sooo funny haha! So we didn't have time to put together a fancy musical number but we felt that we should just sing a hymn and stick with that. The exciting part about it, though, was that we would not be speaking in a family ward. We were speaking in a ward of women who are currently in the Orange County Women's Correctional Facility here in Salt Lake. When we showed up to the services it was a really small room with almost 20 chairs. It was an extremely spiritual environment and I really felt like I was on sacred ground. The women there were so welcoming and it was really fun to be able to just sit and talk with a lot of them before the meeting started. The topic I was given to speak on was the Savior's earthly ministry and I'll be honest I wasn't sure what I was going to say until right before going over to their services. I was sitting in our own sacrament meeting when, randomly, the story of Jesus healing the woman who had an issue of blood came into my head. I decided to base my talk off of that and I could feel that it was what the Lord wanted. I think a lot of those women I met are closer to the Savoir than most people I meet on Temple Square. I know that He is close to them because I could feel it when I was with them. For the musical number, the bishop had asked one of the women there if she wanted to sing with us, and she did! We sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." I hope that we will be invited back again sometime because I really enjoyed that experience.

Sunday night was very eventful as well! On Saturday night I got a call from guest services informing us that some elders from the Salt Lake City South Mission wanted me and Sister Fuentes (my former companion) to attend a baptism of one of their investigators! We were super confused at first and didn't even recognize the names of the Elders hahaha but when we heard who the investigator was we remembered her instantly! The Elders had brought her here on a tour 3 transfers ago and Sister Fuentes and I were the ones who had taken them around! So we got permission from the A.P.'s and went on exchanges to attend the baptism. After the baptism one of the Elders (from Spain) was telling us about how things had been going teaching them the last 2 months and their story was such a miracle! In short, she finally had received an answer to her prayer and realized that she wanted so bad to be baptized and she did everything she needed to be prepared in less than a week! When we were talking to her afterwards she was just so happy and she just glowed with the spirit of the Lord! We didn't have our camera but one of the Elders (from Chicago) took lots of pictures of us with her (that's another awkward story for another awkward day) but they promised they'd send them to us so hopefully we will get copies of those soon so I can send them home to show y'all. (: (Oh and the baptism wasn't even in Salt Lake so on our way there we kinda got lost in the vast waste land that is Kearns, Utah but we eventually found it haha!)

Scary story right here

Last night was probably the most interesting experience of the week. In the back of our apartment building there is a cute little park-like area with grass and trees and such, so we were going to have our companion study (our studies are in the evenings #onlyontemplesquare) on a huge blanket out on the grass to have an uplifting companion study in the fresh air! But it didn't last very long.. We began to open our scriptures when we noticed an interesting man over in the corner of the park kinda in the bushes who looked like he had a twitch or something...? So he was acting really weird and at first I just thought "Oh great someone is high and he's having weird hallucinations that's nice." But then it went from looking like he had a twitch or scratch or something to some really interesting arm movements and yeah-i-don't-really-wanna-get-into-it... But it suddenly occurred to me what was going on on the other side of the park and once it finally clicked in my head the spirit made it very clear that if we did not leave now that man would notice us and he would not like a righteous spirit in his range of sight SO! We grabbed our things and ran like dainty, righteous, terrified missionaries into the apartment and called security! Security, in turn, connected us with the police and we reported him buuuut police here must not like missionaries because they said they would see if there was anyone able to go check it out. Ha. So we called security on the square and told them that the sisters who would be walking home that night would either need to go a different way or have an escort. So our dear security officer, Michael from Melbourne Australia, walked the sisters home and we know he was going to take care of that guy but we don't know what happened but...all is well in Zion! Oh and I forgot to mention that the man doing creepy rituals was about... 15 feet from our bedroom window! AH! Sketchy!

So after all that was said and done Sister Merrill and I were not feeling very well, just because of what we had seen and the not good feeling that came along with it. We called a senior couple in our mission but they were not in Salt Lake but they told us where we could go to find more senior couples to obtain a priesthood blessing. So we went to the floor above us and knocked on a random door and to our happiness there was a senior couple there who would be willing to come give us a blessing(: They were a senior couple serving in the Family History mission and they were from Ireland actually! So the blessing helped us feel SO much better and we were able to sleep well AND I now know how cool my full name sounds in a Irish accent! :D I'm so grateful for worthy priesthood holders that are always there and so willing to give us help when we need it. It seems that every blessing I've received on my mission have been some of the most powerful I've received in my life. I feel so blessed.

Well anyways, those are my exciting stories from this week! They're starting to put Christmas lights on the trees so you know what that means...only 3 more months until Christmas season on Temple Square! AH! SO EXCITED! SO MANY LIGHTS!

I love you all and pray for you all! Have a wonderful week and enjoy the last bits of summer!(:

Sister Davis

Sorry it's short! (August 5th)

So please don't be upset with me if this email is very short and simple, I haven't been feeling well yesterday and today so right now all I have on my mind is that I want to go buy Gatorade at Walmart after this so I can drink that until my body turns into Gatorade. Ahha. (:

But don't worry this week has been excellent! Transfer conference was yesterday morning and I'll be staying with Sister Merrill to finish training yipppeeee!!!!! So that's good(: We're happy about that. Good stuff. Good stuff. The only thing that's really changing is we're moving to the East 1 zone which means I'm headed back to serve in the Brigham's house! WOO! I'm excited, I've missed Brigham and his daughters creepy wedding dress that we're almost positive roams the halls of the house at night. Not saying her dress is ugly, I mean, it's got lots of lace so it's all in my favour, it's just old...old stuff is scary.

Our amazing investigator in England texted us at 3AM this morning to tell us that she finished reading the Book of Mormon today! I wasn't sleeping well because of my illness so when I heard the phone vibrate and I read the text and I thought I was dreaming because it was such exciting news! Then I looked at the clock and was super confused that she would text at 3 in the morning but then I realized they're 7 hours ahead of us in England so it's actually 10am where she is so then I thought maybe I'm not dreaming... So I fell back asleep and checked the phone again when we woke up and it turned out I wasn't dreaming and we were very excited! It was just a funny experience. #onlyontemplesquare

It rained a lot in July. I was so confused.

This month is the month I was BORN in! :O It's also the month that MOM is born in AND the month that the prophet Thomas S. Monson was born in! This is a good month. And I Iook forward to seeing the family the day after my birthday, that will be an interesting experience! I tried talking to my friend Elder Holland to see if he can make it to dinner with us but he's been so busy in meetings lately I haven't gotten through. So we'll see if the fellow St. George..ian...apostle can make it out to say hello. Haha! You all thought I was serious. (:

I'm really sorry but I can't think of anything that happened this week and I keep getting a headache trying to remember everything so I'll read back through my journal and when I find the awesome stories from this week then I will put them in next week's email. (: Ok! Well... love yous! Happy August! Yay!

Sister Davis

We didn't take any pictures this week! Haha so we took one just now so that we wouldn't have to email home without any pictures hahaha enjoy(:

 

Hello all you Lovely People! (July 29th)

This happens every week! I sit down at the computer and I can't remember a single thing that has taken place in the last week. Ahaha! Such is missionary life!

There is one thing that I do remember, and possibly will never forget... We have this wonderful investigator in England, and we've been teaching her for about 5 months now. Her biggest struggle is being able to have faith and know that God really is there and really does love her. Because of her family background, she is uncomfortable with religion and has fear of connecting herself with any specific type of religion. Well, she gave us her phone number this last week and aloud us to call her! We were SO happy! We called her a second time later in the week and it is just so neat to see and hear how faith is growing faster now because this is becoming more real to her. When we arrived at the computers on Sunday afternoon, we noticed we had an email from her informing us that she decided, on a whim, to GO TO CHURCH!!!! We were is shock!! But a happy shock! She went and was there for the full 3 hours! She even met the missionaries there and they gave her a tour of the church and introduced her to so many people! AH! When I was reading that email I wanted to cry I was so happy! We have been praying soo long and soo hard that the Lord would help us find a way so that she would feel comfortable enough to go to church, and our prayers were answered just as we were starting to get to the point where we didn't know what else to do. That alone, was the best part of our week. (:

On the 24th we all got to wake up early and go to the DAYS OF '47 PARADE!!! All of the Temple Square sister missionaries were given a prime spot on the blanket covered grass haha! The best part though was when the prophet Thomas S. Monson was in the parade! We were so excited and we were waving to him and cheering and his adorable little face had this expression of "Awe look at those cute sister missionaries." Haha! It was fun to watch the sisters from foreign countries watch the parade because many of them had never been to something like that before. One of our sisters from Norway came up to me after and said, "That was so weird! I had never seen real cheerleaders before...they look just like they do in the movies!" Hahahaha! It was so fun though because I remember watching that parade on tv all growing up and it was fun to finally be there! Sister Merrill and I both agree that the best part of the entire thing: Marching Bands. So fun! (:

On Sunday morning I was comps with Sister Sherratt and we went with Sisters Esquivel and Isakson to speak in a family ward in Bountiful! They told us they wouldn't be needing a musical number but the day before they changed their minds and said they wanted us to do something. Luckily, Sister Sherratt, Esquivel and I are all singers so we were able to arrange up an acapella version of "Israel Israel God is Calling" in one day. It went really well and I so much enjoyed speaking in a family ward! On the way home Sister Sherratt took a detour so she could drive past all the massive houses in the mountains. We laughed until our guts hurt as we watched her scream and covet when we went by homes that looked like the massive ones you find in St. George. Haha she's a crack up!

On Sunday night the square was covered by former TSQ missionaries and all of us got to attend a concert in the Assembly Hall. The performer was concert pianist Josh Write and ooooohhh it was sooo amazing! Hey dad remember that piano piece that is the hardest classical piano solo that you would listen to almost every day before my mission? Well he did that song and, of course, made it look like it was nothing! He also talked to us about experiences on his mission and different things that it had taught him. His last piece was an original arrangement of Claire deLune and the hymn How Great Thou Art (grandaddy's favourite). It was such an enjoyable evening.

Ok last story I promise! Yesterday morning as we were running in the canyon I turned around to say something to my companion and out of the bushes sprang a DEER!!!! It walked right across our path and up into the trees just giving us this look that said, "What? What you want? I'm just chillin.." It was so cool and not more than 10 feet away from us! DEER! :D

Welp those are the highlights of this week! It's been good, it's been real...it's been real good. I cannot believe the transfer is at an end next Wednesday! Sister Merrill's first transfer will be complete.. sooo weird! :D

Have a wonderful week! Love yous!

Sister Davis

This dinosaur on the float...his mouth is open because he can actually rawr!!! :O

Sister Lytle and I at the Days of '47 parade! We are the only two in the mission from Utah and we're both from St. George! Yippee!!

 

Week #43...I think? I'm not even sure I know anymore! (July 22nd)

Soooo this week was crazy.

Zone Activity was last p-day and that was a hoot! We went to the home of our mission secretaries and had a BBQ! Then they showed us photos from when they served missions in South Africa! Hey y'all...remember when I said I wanted to serve my mission in South Africa? Well...I understand now why the Lord didn't send me there. 1. I would have spent way too much time trying to learn a million different languages that I wouldn't have had time to be a real missionary. 2. I probably would given all of my possessions away. Or (and most likely) --> 3. I probably would have disappeared running around with elephants, tigers, and/or penguins. Yes. They have penguins in Africa. :D

And then of course the amazing event happened where MY ENTIRE STAKE YOUTH CONFERENCE CAME TO TEMPLE SQUARE!!! Little did they know, my companion and I were put in charge of planning the activities they would do with sister missionaries. (: (: (: They arrived on the square Thursday but we were not going to be doing activities with them until Friday morning so we had to travel underground everywhere on Thursday because so many of them were looking for me haha! It had some perks though! When we were at the conference center we saw a group of them and had to run into the tunnels which took us backstage where we were able to hear the guest singer for MOTAB rehearsing on stage. Were I not a missionary I would tell you how much I loved his voice...

Sooo, about two days before they came we sat down in the mission office, said a prayer, and began planning. We immediately had ideas just start coming and we could feel that they were inspired. Since they were the largest youth conference that's come to Temple Square all summer (way to represent!) we couldn't take them out of the theatre 5 like the other groups would. We decided to put colours under everyone's chair and that would be what determined how each of the youth would participate. We had so many fun activities that we started with, which we all connected back to missionary work. The last two activities were the best, though. We asked two women we talked to on the square to be investigators for these youth who were preparing to go on missions. The first young lady's name was Kayla and she was just traveling through on her way to California with her boyfriend. The youth who participated in teaching her were given the chance to ask her a questions that would help us teach her and/or determine her needs (spiritually). As missionaries, we want to ask inspired questions, of course. The youth were sooo nervous but once they started the spirit was sooo strong. I've never seen a group of youth pay such close attention to listening to the spirit in my entire life! When they had asked her questions, I told them that if any of them were feeling inspired to share something in particular with Kayla, they could now do so. It was amazing to see the responses. The second young lady's name was Emily, she was in Salt Lake visiting friends who are members of the church. This group wasn't required to ask questions, just to get to know her and teach according to how the spirit directs. In fact, as they were talking to her about the spirit, she asked them how they knew they had the spirit in their life. They were sooo scared to be asked a question so they decided to use one of their "life-lines", ask a leader. It was so neat to see our Stake President, President Doty, jump up to answer the question! During the entire thing the youth were just so involved and you could tell that even those in the audience wanted to speak so bad!

After the youth had finished with us we talked to the two girls about their experience and thanked them for their willingness to let us do this with them. Well, these two young ladies told us that even after the teaching practices were over, some of the youth in our stake invited them to sit next to them to listen to the youth speaker! Not only that, but as the youth speaker was talking, some of the youth sitting next to them were explaining what different things were so that they could understand everything going on. They also said that many members of the stake came up to them after to share their testimony and that they were daughters of God. We were sooo happy and impressed to hear that the missionary experiences we wanted to create lasted far beyond what we expected. I hope those youth don't forget about it, and I hope they all have a stronger desire to serve missions.

Only 1 more week until Debbie's baptism!!! MAH!!! We're so excited that we've been starting to turn blue from holding our breath! I am almost positive that there isn't a soul in the world who has been more excited to be baptized than Debbie. Each time we talk she sounds as if she's going to explode with joy! Just another living example that the gospel brings happiness that nothing else can.

This Sunday I have been asked to speak with some other sisters in a home ward in the north side of the Salt Lake City Valley. It's going to be so weird attending a sacrament meeting with families and babies and...noise. I'm pretty excited. (: I'll be speaking with Sister Sherratt, Esquivel (my follow-up trainer), and Issacson (from Norway). It'll be a neat experience and I'm stoked because I just LOVE speaking to large groups of people about the gospel! Which is crazy because when I got my call I was so nervous that I would have to speak instead of sing to large groups of people. But hey, even a turkey can fly, so I'm pretty excited that the grace of God has granted me to have some wings. (:

Exactly one month from today is my birthday...I feel so awkward. As I was talking with Cierra and Kelton (while they were here for youth conference) I told them that I would be turning 20 next month...and I'm pretty sure that was the first time they felt uncomfortable being around me...which made me feel uncomfortable...which was kinda sad. Haha(: I'm getting so old.

I can't think of anything else to write now soooo... But I do want to say that email time each week is soo entertaining because we're always sitting her next to Sisters Sherratt, Cheng, Hansen, and Richardson and half of our time we're laughing because all of us are sooo dramatic while reading emails from home. But hey, as mom would say, it's all about the drama.

Ok I love you all have a wonderful week and share the gospel with everyone!!!!!

Love,
Sister Davis

In the home we visited they had a music room so we spent a little bit in there. I'm pretty sure this picture describes the relationship between Sister Merrill and I perfectly haha(:

UTAH!!!! (During Zone Activity last week)

At the Lion House Pantry...my whipped cream was being freaky...

Such an exciting week! (July 15th)

My companion is amazing! This week she passed off in giving tours, AND she passed of with Fleet driving cars! She is working so hard and it's wonderful how quickly she is absorbing, learning, and adjusting. It's also neat to see how much the gospel means to her in her life and how it's affected her choice to serve a mission. We are almost constantly talking about every gospel topic you can imagine. Although new missionary experiences can be scary, she's always willing to try. Sometimes we have awkward moments...but honestly we just walk away and laugh. It's also funny to see how willing she is to talk with antis. Many sisters here get scared very easily with talking to those people who come trying to argue with us, but Sister Merrill loves to give simple answers, testify, and move on. Any fear she has, she does her best to not let is show. All-in-all she's doing very well!

We have a wonderful new investigator from California. She has known members of the church before but never had a good chance to really look into it. We taught her for the first time yesterday and she is just so golden. She has so much trust in the Lord and as she explained to us her personal beliefs we were able to connect them so simply to all of the things we know to be true. It's so exciting to know that when we are diligent the Lord leads us to people who are looking for the truth, and even those who already understand truth but just need to be shown what to do with it!

On Saturday morning we woke up early and loaded the bus for Brighton Girl's Camp!!! Brighton is the oldest girls camp in the history of the church. There were several activities available including slack-lining, a zip-line, repelling, rope courses, etc. Ah it was so fun! It was so weird to go repelling as a missionary though because (it's like driving a car for the first time as a missionary) you just don't ever expect that you would ever being doing that! But it was SO fun! It was Sister Merrill's first time and she did really well! Sister Sherratt and I had a ball just jumping down the cliff-side! Many of the foreign sisters hadn't done it before so they were pretty scared, but it's like anyone else, once you get over the edge of the cliff it's pretty smooth sailing! One of the slack-lines was one that you had to have a partner to do it with, so obviously my companion and I did it. In a nutshell you just have to put all your weight on the person on the line across from you because the ropes get further and further apart. Just as Sister Merrill and I were getting ready to go, President walked up and decided to watch us. It was the ultimate test of companionship unity but we were surprised at how quickly and easily we did it! President congratulated us. :D Woo! After camp they fed us lunch and we came back to the square, changed and went back to missionary work! It was a great day!

Sunday morning was exciting because I got to be one of the English sisters announcing tours after Music and The Spoken Word! We had a good sized crowd and after announcing we were able to take a tour with some wonderful folks! In every single tour we've taken this last week we were able to teach The Restoration (about the prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon). In fact, just an hour ago we met the sweetest newly-married couple in the North Visitors' Center and they had some wonderful questions! We taught them the restoration and they accepted a Book of Mormon as well. It's such a testimony building experience to watch as people from all parts of the world come to Temple Square, feel the spirit, and have an interest in learning more about the gospel. It's so clear to see that this is not an American religion. God isn't wanting to give these things to one group of people, He wants this to go to all the human race.

Well we really have to run. Zone Activity is later today and we have much to do. I love yous a lot and I pray for you daily. It's crazy to think how time is going so fast and how it's bound to only move faster. Continue to enjoy your summer!

Love,
Sister Davis

​Woo!

On our way to Brighton Girls Camp!!! So fun!

Me with Sister Rhodes from Las Vegas

My companion and I at Brighton!

My companion and I doing some slack-line crazy trust exercise thing..and we did it perfectly. :D

Our group at one of the ropes courses(: so fun!

Me with Sister Brock from Oregon and Sister Esikia from American Samoa

​All of us who announced that morning! Woo!

This is me. I speak English. Haha(:

With the Asian sisters and Sister Esikia from American Samoa