My Last Email

Oh man everyone! The time out here in the Greatest Ohio Cincinnati has been so wonderful!! I am so grateful for the opportunity i have had to serve my Heavenly Father for the past 18 months. What a great week we were able to have though. We had so much fun!

The coolest thing happened this week. So we have been teaching this guy and he has been really struggling with his family. He just got custody of his daughter who was raised by a drug addicted mother that did not take care of her and did not love her. He is trying so hard to love his daughter but she just wont accept it. So he is just struggling. But we were over there sharing the restoration with him and he was listening and everything but he just didnt seem to quite understand how important it was and he was saying "Yeah i will pray about it" and "Yeah if i knew it was true i would be baptized" It wasnt a bad thing but it was just lacking something. So sister Stokes and i just started to testify of Jesus Christ and his Church and Joseph Smith. Then it finally clicked the spirit came in and just hit him over the head! He was like "Oh so everyone thinks that Christs church is dead but what you are telling me is that it is very much alive?" and we were like "YES!!!!" The spirit came in so strong and it was so amazing. He then sat and pondered on what we were saying more in depth. It was so awesome! 

So the funny thing of the week... this is really just a blonde moment for me and my companion... bless our hearts... haha so each night we have family prayer with our zone over a conference call. Well usually the zone leaders run it but their phone was being weird and we couldnt hear them very well so they asked us to run the prayer. So what we usually do just to get to know everyone a little better is ask them a question of the night. So the question that night was "What are your favorite kind of shoes to wear" Since the zone leaders phone was being dumb they were texting us their answers. One of them texted us "anything slip on" then all the other one said was "Pros shoes" well sister Stokes and i just looked at each other like we have no idea what kind of shoes those are but okay so we announce over the prayer "Elder Pope likes slip on shoes and Elder Wilcken likes pros shoes" .... well seconds later we get another text that said "Proselyting shoes" so we were like "and they both like proselyting shoes" then seconds later we get another text from them that says "Proselyting shoes not pros shoes" Then at that moment it clicked with both sister Stoke and i and we just died laughing. 

Well my dearest family and friends, i just want you to know that i am so thankful for the love and support i have received from all you. I have truly felt every prayer. I feel so blessed to have such a loving home to return to. These last 18 months have blessed my life forever. This is something that i will cherish for the rest of my life. The testimony i have gained on my mission will continue to grow but here is where i have to say i have truly gained a testimony of my Savior and the enabling power of the atonement. I know that He is the son of God. I know that He has felt everything we have ever felt. I know He walks with us everyday. The Doctrine He established while He was on the earth is the way we can change and become the children of God that He has sent us here to become. It is only through that Doctrine that we can truly carry the image of God in our countenances. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, I know that Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. It is powerful. I know God has blessed us each with power to perform miracles but it is up to us to decide weather or not we are going to live in a way to access that power. I love this gospel with all my heart and it has truly changed my life. I love you guys so much!!! 

Love your Sister Kirsten Davis 

The Greatest Ohio Cincinnati Mission!!! 

P.S. My homecoming will be this coming Sunday at 9:00 am. Anyone is welcome to come and then we will be having a pig roast after at my house. So come and eat some food too :) If you need the address to the church you can call my mom because i am not sure what it is. But her number is 801-710-7791 :) 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

FINISH STRONG!!!!

Well my dearest family and friends!!! I just love you so much!! I cannot tell you how blessed i feel to be a missionary. This week was so miraculous. I hope i have time to write all these stories but if i dont just know that miracles are happening every day :)

First off we had an awesome lesson with this lady who is a members nurses aid. She was at her house and was interested in learning more so we went back to teach her. Well before we start teaching the restoration we talk a little bit about how as she follows the promptings of the spirit she will have a desire to grow closer to our Heavenly Father and how she does that is through making covenants at baptism. She stopped us right there and was like "Wait a second you make a covenant when you are baptized?" and we were like yes we do. And then we went on to explain what  covenant was and how they bind us to our Heavenly Father. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. She said "No other church does that" As i was thinking about that after the lesson i just had the opportunity to reflect on how important our covenants truly are. What a blessing it is to make a promise with God. It is so amazing!!! 

Funny moment of the week....well this is one of many. So we were standing at the end of the line at Wendy's waitin for our food. This guy walks past and says Hi and so we say Hi back and ask him how he is doing. Now let me tell you this guy is completely white. There is now hispanic or anything in him that made him look like he wouldnt speak English. But after we asked how he was doing it sounded like he said "I dont speak much english." So my reply back was "Oh what language do you speak?" but i said it kinda slow so he could try and make out my words... Then he gave me a funny look so i said "Do you speak spanish?" Thinking maybe he would be able to understand some of that. Still that same look of i have no idea what you are talking about. Then he says to me "I speak english"... then he pointed to the cashiers and said "They dont understand my english" Then i realized that is what he said at the very beginning of this awkward conversation. He then finished what he was doing and walked away. I turned to my companion doing everything i could not to burst out laughing at what just happened. 

Okay now for the biggest miracle of all :) So our investigator that we have been preparing for baptism was having a hard time after church last Sunday. He was talking to his grandma about some things that were going on in his mind and she kinda freaked out and sent him to the psych hospital. So this whole week we have had zero contact with him. We have been working with his grandma who is a less active member trying to get her to come back to church. So we went over Sunday morning before church to see his grandma and she says that her grandson is out of the hospital but is not allowed to be at her house. He has some anger issues with her and it is kinda just a bit mess. But she said that the best thing for him would to be to go to church. So my thought was okay after we leave here we need to go to his apartment and see him to try and get him to church. Well as i am having this thought our phone vibrated and i looked down and he texted us telling us he was out of the hospital. So we texted him back and asked if he wanted to come to church. He then called us and told us he wanted to come to church but had no way to make it there. So we quickly found him a ride so he could come. We then went and met up with him to take him some breakfast. When we were there he told us that he had the thought that he didnt want to come to church but didnt have a good feeling about that thought then he had the thought that he needed to come to church and he said "By the feeling i had after that thought i knew i needed to come to church today" We were so amazed!!! That kid understands the spirit. It was so awesome and so good to feel that spirit at he shared his testimony about that. 

Man i just want you all to know that this gospel is so true. I know it is. I know that Jospeh Smith is truly a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is Gods word. It truly gives us the strength we need each day to make it through lifes challenges. FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!!! I know it and i love it and am so grateful for it!!! I love you all so much!!!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

Busy busy week! :)

We found a turtle in the middle of the road.

Man this week was just insane!!! But it was so much fun! First off know that i love you all and you all are just so stinkin amazing!! :) 

Got drenched in the sudden down poor. 

Got to see all my little buddies in east gate again :) 

Okay so lets start off with yesterday morning. So on Sunday mornings we take some of our investigators breakfast to try and help them come to church. So we were at one of our investigators houses and he was still in bed and his grandma could not wake him up. So before we had gotten there she called the ride we set up for him and she cancelled. But we were determined to get him to church. So we asked her if we could try and wake him up and by the grace of God we were able to wake him up. But oh no that is not even the least of the story. So we got him up and he actually doesnt live at his grandmas he has his own apartment but he is usually is at his grandmas. So he didnt have any church clothes. So he didnt want to come. At first we were trying to explain to him that it didnt matter and he could wear just the best clothes he had there. But he would not budge. He was not gonna come to church without his church clothes. Plus now he had no ride to church because it was cancelled. By this time it was 12:30 and we were about 15 minutes away from the church and church starts at 1. So we made this game plan he was gonna give us the keys to the apartment and we would go get his clothes and he would get a ride to church and we would meet him there. So the race against time was on. We called the lady that was originally gonna give him a ride to see if she still could. She was already on her way to church but said she would turn around. So she came and got him and they were on their way to the church and we were on our way to his apartment. Luckily his apartment was kinda on the way to the church. But bu the time we got there it was 12:45. So sister Stokes and I booked it inside and got his clothes. Then we were on our way now 12:50 and we were still about 10-12 minutes away from the church and the roads we have to drive on are not straight at all so we couldnt go very fast. It was a fun ride though. We made it to church only 2 minutes late. They were just barely singing the opening song. Our investigator got his clothes and was able to enjoy church.  He is so funny and sometimes i just dont understand him. He is so awesome and loves everything we share with him while we are teaching and loves coming to church. But the minute we leave it is so hard trying to get back in with him. We remind him everytime that Satan is going to work on him and he is like "I know i know" but it never fails. So that is our goal this week is trying to figure out how we can help him want it while we are there and when we leave. But he is so awesome!!! 

I also had a very humbling experience this week. I have just been really frustrated and feeling like i dont have the time i need to get everything done that i need to. I just felt like i wasnt enjoying the things i was doing cause i was so stressed about getting everything done. Then i read this talk about gratitude and i decided instead of asking my Heavenly Father to help me get everything done that i needed to get done i would thank Him for helping me get done what i could get done. So I started saying gratitude prayers. Can i just tell you all my whole perspective and my whole attitude has been changed. I feel so much better and feel so much relief. God helps us do so much everyday and i was totally taking for granted all that help He was already giving me. It is so important to be thankful. God is so good!! I love my mission and the lessons i learn everyday! You all are so fantastic!! Keep staying strong!! :) Love you all!!!

Love your sister Davis :) 

P.S. I recieved this revelation from a member this week.... Faith is not hoping that something will happen it is trusting in God and asking what you can do to make it happen. IT'S SO TRUE!!!!  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

week of miracles!!

Oh man i cant even explain to you all the miracles we have seen this week. But first off know that i love you all so much and i am praying for you always!!

So first off funny story. We were over at a members house last night for dinner. They have a little four year old girl and she is just a crack up. we had lasagna but instead of beef in it they put turkey in it which tasted good still. I actually couldnt taste the turkey at all. But their little girl turned to her mom and was like "Mom did you have this turkey as a pet and accidentally kill it and cook it." We all died of laughter. She just said the funniest things the whole night. She was completely just and innocent little girl that wanted to know so much. She reminded me a lot of my little sister when she was that age. Haha! 

 

So lately sister Stokes and i have been praying for some solid investigators. It is so amazing to see how God just provides these people for you. You literally cant find anyone without the direction and help from God. I have learned that is why it is so important to follow promptings from the spirit. So for the first part of the week i had been having this feeling that we needed to go see Sister Tolle this member of the ward. So i mentioned it to my companion and we kept putting her as back ups to the people we were already seeing. Then wednesday came and i was like Sister Stokes i dont know why but i really feel like we need to go and see sister Tolle right now. So we went over there and nothing was going on so we just went in and visited with her not really sure of why we had to be there right then. But as we were in the middle of the lesson her nurse came. So sister Tolle told her nurse to come and sit down with us all. So she did... then she started asking questions... then she wanted to know more... then we set up a return appointment... and now she is a pretty solid investigator that wants to learn more. It was so awesome!!! 

 

Once again i just had the greatest experience yesterday. So we have been working with this recent convert and his wife who is already a member. But we are teaching them the lessons again. Yesterday we were talking to them about the Book of Mormon. We were in a members home and the spirit was there so strong. I started to bare testimony of the power of Book of Mormon and as i was baring my testimony i just felt once again the truthfulness and power of the Book of Mormon. It is truly the word of God. I cant even explain the power that book carries. It has changed my life. I could never deny it. I know that is where we can find strength to overcome our challenges we are faced with it is where we find healing through the atonement of Christ and it is where we build a relationship with God that is firm and unshaken. It is all because that book testifies of Jesus Christ. He is our strength if we allow Him to be, He is our healer if we allow Him to be. But it is our choice he cant force it on anyone. But i can testify life is a lot more bearable if we choose to let Him be those things to us. I love this gospel with all my heart and it is what has blessed my family! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

What a week!

Man i have learned a lot of great lessons this week. Once again to sum up the lesson in general it is to trust in God. But before i get into all that just know that i love you so much and am praying for you always!!

Okay to start off we had the funniest lesson with this young man we are teaching. We were following up with him about the prophet. We asked him if he there was a prophet on the earth today. He told us that he believed there was. We asked him what that meant to him to find out that there was a prophet on the earth. His reply was "Well when you sisters told me there was a prophet on the earth it was like finding out Obama was president" Ahhhhhh I almost died. Hahahaha it was so funny then i started to open my mouth before i thought and i almost said "Yeah except finding out there is a prophet it probably a good exciting feeling" but i quickly stopped myself mid sentence and looked at my companion. Good thing she knew what i was thinking and saved me. I didnt know exactly what he meant by that. Like if he was just surprised or what. But this kid we are teaching is so amazing. He is so sincere. It is so fun to teach him cause you can always tell when he is feeling the spirit cause he gets this big smile on his face. It is just the greatest thing ever to see how much joy the gospel can bring to those around us. 

Here is the part where i learned to trust in God even more. So our mission will take recent converts to the temple to do baptisms for the dead after they get baptized and we wanted to get this lady to go. They really encourage us to get a name for them to take with them. So we had been working so hard the whole week to try and get her in with a family history consultant and nothing was working out. Well in order for us to go we needed her to have a name. She could still go but we wouldnt get to go with her. But the only problem was the ride we set up for her she didnt know them and she is legally blind. So we had a huge problem. We felt so bad and just didnt know what to do. It was friday night at like 10:25 and we are supposed to be in bed at 10:30 and we still had nothin for her to take to the temple. We texted all the family history consultants to see if any of them could meet in the morning then we had to just go to bed and wait and see if any replied in the morning. We did not get much sleep worrying about that. Well morning came and we had two meeting before we went to the temple and not a single one of the consultants could meet with us. We had a short half hour between our two meetings to try and find a name. So we asked all the elders to see if any of them knew how to find a name. By the grace of God one of them did. So we were able to get her a name to take to the temple. It was insane. I cannot even express the relief i felt as we found that name. Everything just fell into place. We were praying so hard. But i truly know Satan does all he can to keep you from going to the temple. But i also know that we can overcome any setbacks. I needed that temple trip and Satan knew it. As i sat there in the temple i just felt so much peace and relief. I love this gospel and i love that God always wins. Yesterday our Bishop bore his testimony and said "Every aspect of my life is better because of Jesus Christ" I would have to add my testimony to that. I know that it is only because of my savior that i have been able to do the things that i have gotten to do. This church is so true!!! I love it!! TRUST IN GOD, HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YA HANGIN!!! I love my mission!!!! I love you all!!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

Back in OHIO!! :) Area: Cherry Grove, Ohio Companion: Steffani Stokes, Las Vegas, Nevada

My dearest family and friends!! 

How are ya'll doin? I just love you so much!!! So i am in a new area now. Funny story i am actually back in one of my old apartments so my address is 6403 Clough Pike Apt 5 Cincinnati OH 45244. I have such an awesome companion. She is so fantastic. We have a lot of fun and are makin a lot of memories. We have seen so many miracles this week! 

So first off the sisters had been trying to see this less active member and they just couldnt get in touch with her. So we were over by her apartment on Thursday and we were talking to this guy outside. Then all the sudden she pulled up and was walking into her apartment so we were able to get in contact with her. But not only that she invited us in to share a message with her. Her non-member grandson was there so we were able to teach him as well and pick him up as a new investigator. He is so prepared! He came to church on Sunday and wants to be baptized and change his life around. He is 18 and has been through a ton. He told us that he just wants to change his life around and feel forgiven of his past. He is preparing to be baptized on June 20 so we could really use everyones prayers that he will make it there. That has happened a lot this week. Heavenly Father has put us in the areas we are needed this whole week. It has been amazing to see how he is working through us. That is truly one of my favorite parts of this is to see God working through us. 

Now for the funny moment of the week. We met this lady that has these big ambitions to travel the US and see all the national parks. She was getting ready to go and we asked her if we could help her. She said she needed help getting rid of all her stuff so we went by on Saturday to help her with that. Well her van filled up and she still had a chair and an ottoman. So we told her we would try and fit it in our car. Well she left to go take a load to Goodwill and we were there trying to get the chair in our car. Well it got stuck half way in and half way out. It wouldnt budge. We had no idea what to do. We tried everything. We tried rolling down the window to give it more room. We tried going in the other way and pulling it in. We tried pushing it out and pulling it out. But it was stuck. There was no hope and we were dying of laughter cause of how rediculous it looked. But we couldnt go anywhere because we couldnt close the door. Well the lady came back and saw we were still trying to get it in the car. She laughed for a minute then started to help us try and figure out what to do. Then we got the bright idea to slide the front seat up and lean the chair forward and we were able to loosen it up enough that we could rotate it in. We havent tried to get it out so we dont know if it will come out but we got it in there. haha! It was so funny!! 

I dont know if you all have had the chance to watch the Lift video that the church has put out but it is amazing. There is so much that is said in that video that can be implemented in our lives. One thing that really stood out to me was when they talked about how healing the body in and inward turn but healing the soul is an outward turn. It is so true and i totally saw that in my last area i was serving in. There was this young man who had been through so much as a little kid. He was abused and just had seen things that no little boy needed to. He had a lot of hurt built up inside him. He was recently baptized. He still struggled with depression and feeling happy. He would tell us the only time he would feel an ounce of happiness was when he went out and taught with the elders. We told him that is because as he was teaching the gospel he was serving God therefore he was turning outward and healing his soul. Sometimes souls take a long time to heal but i truly know that by serving others our souls can be healed from any hurt or pain we receive throughout our lives. Here is the link to the video. I would really encourage you all to watch it. https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-05-003-lift?lang=eng. I want you all to know that i know this gospel is true. I know God loves us and has a plan for each of us. I know we can develop the character of Christ as we live our lives the way God has directed us to live and as we do new things every day that take us out of our comfort zone and change us. I love the quote "There is no learning in the comfort zone and there is no comfort in the learning zone." It is so true. But i do know God will help us as we put forth the effort he will consecrate our performance. I sure love you all and pray you have a fantastic week!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

Leaving again!

Well all you great and marvelous people I am getting transferred one last time. I am really sad to leave this area. I just love it here. That is one of the greatest things I am grateful for is the love that Heavenly father has blessed me with. I have learned to love people that I never thought I would love before. I have especially learned to love the gospel like I have never before. But I will let you all know next week were I end up. 

As I look back at this transfer I have had some of the greatest times and have learned some of the greatest lessons. I have developed friendships here that will be forever. The great thing about this is that God is the one in charge so where ever I go it will be a mission from Him. Sometimes I think I forget that. But that is where the trusting in him come into play. So that is what i will do and if anyone of you are struggling with what ever is comin up next in your life I invite you to do so too. Everything happens for a reason and God will never leave ya hangin! I can truly testify of that! I love you all and sorry this is a short one but I love you!

Love your sister Davis!

54 Lessons!!

Can i just say GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!!! Well first off let me tell you that i love you all and am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and fantastic friends. Thank you for all you all do for me and for the Lord. 

So this week sister Chavez and i had made it a goal to teach 50 lessons. Our mission average that we all try to hit is 20. We have been getting in the 30's the last couple weeks and we decided before the transfer was over we wanted to hit 50. Well half way through the week we realized how close we were. Then Saturday came and we realized we needed 19 more to get to 50. We woke up Saturday and we were so tired. It was like the tired you feel when you are a brand new missionary trying to adjust to the schedule. But we prayed super hard for the help of God and we were able to teach 10 lessons that day. So we needed nine more. Then by the grace of God these two recent converts came up to us at church and asked us if they could go on splits with us. Good gad-free!! It was awesome and we were able to teach 13 lessons with them. So we were able to exceed our goal and get over 50 lessons that week. It was awesome. We had so much fun!! But it is truly amazing to see how God answers each of our prayers. 

Look how beautiful this is?

It is called the sunken gardens. 



awesome airplane! 

Funny moment of the week! It happened just this morning. So sister Chavez and i decided to go the YMCA to work out. Well we were super tired and we were in playing racquetball and we took a break for a minute and were reading the words on the glass door. Well since we were inside the court the words were backwards to us. So we read the top words just fine.  But then we got to the words below them. In my mind i was thinking the top words were in English and the bottom words were in spanish of what the top words said. So we were trying to figure out how to say these words in spanish. After about 3 minutes of trying to figure it out sister Chavez is like "Oh sister those words are in english too" It said "Eyewear is recommended." But reading it backwards in our defense could have totally been mistaken for spanish. We laughed pretty hard after that and it woke us up quickly!! 



Flyin!

i couldnt help but think of

grandpa larsson while sitting in the air plane

Okay another funny moment. We were teaching this 14 year old boy. We had taught him a few lessons. But the last time we went by we shared the Book of Mormon with him. He had been praying and everything and we were super excited for him. So we had just finished up the lesson and getting ready to schedule another time to come back and he was like "Sisters i think i get it. I get the gist of it. You can come a couple more times." Then he stopped there. Well sister Chavez and i were super excited. We were like "That is awesome you get it and you want us to keep coming" But we were just building it up and up and getting more and more excited. Then his next words were "but i get the gist of it so you can stop coming"....... Oh man how i would have loved to have been on the outside looking in on that because the expression our faces were probably priceless. Then in the exact same tone and in the exact same breath sister Chavez and i were like "Ohhhhh okay" Then we awkwardly sat in silence for a minute cause neither one of us new what to say after what we had just built up. Haha!! 

Okay on a more spiritual note this week was amazing!! God truly provides for each and everyone of us. We could not do this without him. He is our third companion. So i was laying in bed the other night and my mind was going like crazy. We had so much we had to do the next day and so much that still needed to be done that night but it was time to go to bed. So i felt like i was going to go crazy trying to go to sleep. So i remembered stories that i have heard about people reading the Book of Mormon when they cant go to sleep. So i pulled out my Book of Mormon and started reading. It was so cool. As soon as my eyes hit that page my mind seriously went completely clear. I couldnt understand the story i was reading because i was tired but all i was doing was reading the words and feeling the spirit and my mind was completely at peace. It was like it was washed away of all my worries and stresses. I was scared to put it down because i didnt want it all to come back. But i did eventually put it down and was able to fall asleep. But i know that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. It has been given to us as a gift from Him so that we may know how we can keep our families safe in this life and receive that great blessing of being with our families for eternity. 

Next we had kinda a scary situation but it strengthened my testimony so i want to share it. We were walking down the road and all the sudden we hear a voice that sounded like it said "Sisters!" so we turned around and no one was there. So we kept walking and we heard "Come teach me about God" so we turned around again to see someone in the window. So we started walking towards this house to go knock on the door. Well we did and no one answered. So we kept walking and started talking to people again. And as we were on our way again down the road. We heard it again "Come teach me about God" this time it looked like they waved at us. So we started walking toward them again thinking maybe they didnt hear us knock. So we went to the window and knocked on the window instead. Then this teenage kids pulled the curtain back and said "I am atheist" and closed the curtain. So we turned around and started walking again. Well as we were walking away this kid started yelling out the window at us these awful satanic things. I got the sickest feeling in my stomach and started praying out loud so my companion could hear too. But it just broke my heart to see this young man doing that. I prayed that he would one day be able to feel the love Heavenly Father has for him. My testimony was truly strengthened as i felt the comfort of my Heavenly Father as i was praying. I know Heavenly Father knows us. I know He loves us and just because we go through hard things in life does not mean God is punishing us. We each are given trials and challenges to help us grow. A sailboat cant go anywhere without winds and waves. Just as we will not go anywhere without our own kinds of winds and waves. But i know that as we have God as the captain of our sailboat we will be blown in the direction we need to go. I love this gospel with all the fiber of my being. I know it is true!! I love you all so much!!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

MoThErS dAy!!!! YEAH!!!

Well can i just say it was so good to see my family yesterday. (a lot of this email will probably be a repeat for my family who i talked to yesterday) I just fell so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Thank you all for all you do and know that i love you so much!!!

This week was just a great week. We had a lot of fun and memorable moments.

So first off... how many girls have ever mowed lawns before?? Apparently it is not a huge thing for girls to do i guess... but i went on exchanges the other day with two sisters in the zone and we went to do a service project for a lady in their ward. Well when we got there the lady asked if i had ever mowed a lawn before and i was like yeah i have thinking it was a normal thing for girls to do. Then she looked at the other two sisters and was like these two have never mowed a lawn before. haha i almost died when i heard that. So i had the privledge of teaching these two sisters how to mow a lawn. Thank you daddy for teaching me how to mow a lawn. ;) I havent gotten to mow a lawn my whole mission so it was a lot of fun.

Next we had an awesome zone meeting this week. Just filled with the spirit. We had an awesome testimony meeting afterwards. While we were sitting there i was trying to figure out what to bare my testimony on and all that was coming to my head was how happy i felt to be where i am at. So that is what i bore my testimony on. I know that this gospel brings true happiness. A happiness like no other happiness that you could experience anywhere else. It all comes from just living the gospel every single day. Applying the doctrine of Christ in your life, continually thinking to God. I truly am so happy to be here in Indiana serving my Heavenly Father. I know this gospel is true i know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, i know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that we have a prophet on the earth today. I know God has a plan for us all and i know that He loves us more than we can imagine. I know that our families are FOREVER!!!!!  That is what brings me happiness, this knowledge. I love you all and pray that you have a spectacular week. LOVE YOU!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

Mom's notes: It was so good to see you yesterday!! I thought it would be easier hanging up this time because it is only two more months and i will get to see you again. But it never fails it is still just a pain to hang up with my family. I miss you so much mom but i love this work that i am doing. It is the greatest thing i have ever done in my whole life. I wouldnt trade this time for any tumbling competition even as much as i love tumbling ;)

hey you too fun happy amazing hardworking valiant sweet loving beautiful missionary! I miss you a lot and I'm so so so glad you got to spend so much time helping us in our ward building the kingdom of Zion in Ohio!  Martha Vandemerwe

Miracles! Miracles! Miracles!

Mission leadership Council 5/1/15

Wow! This week has just been so busy! I feel like i say that about every week but i am so grateful that it is so busy. It makes life so fun and really makes you stop and realize how much God is in control because there is no way that we could get everything done if he was not in charge. First off know that i love you so much!!

Carolyn's baptism

So we saw so many miracles this week. First off the lady we have been teaching got baptized. Which is so amazing! I just love that women. It was such a neat experience. So we were standing in the bathroom with her right before she went into the font and we decided to say a prayer with her. We just prayed that it would be a good experience and that she would be able to feel the spirit. Well she then went down into the font and was baptized by a recent convert himself. Which was such a neat experience to see. Then we were standing in the bathroom again with her and she looked at us and said "I feel like my burdens are being lifted from my shoulders. It is working" Both sister Chavez and i got a huge smile on our faces. It was so amazing! She just makes me smile... the gospel just makes me smile... okay it is probably actually the spirit that comes when we talk about the gospel that makes me smile. :) GOD IS SO GOOD!! 

I love her!! 

Another miracle that happened on Saturday. We were on exchanges with the other sisters and the week had been so busy we hadnt spent a lot of time in our own area so we had not found very many new people to teach. So we had like 30 minutes left in the day and we needed to find. So i turned to sister Mickleson and was like "Okay sister we are going to see some miracles happen right now." So we prayed and got out of the car and started walking hoping some people would be outside. We had some referrals on that street so we decided to contact them. Well from that we picked up two new investigators. Then we kept walking and two more people were outside and we picked them up as two more new investigators then as we were walking back we ran into two more boys and picked both of them up as new investigators. So we found six new people to start teaching in like 30 minutes. It was so crazy. God truly puts people in our pathway as long as we are willing to try. We truly witnessed a miracle. 

Then a funny thing that happened this week. We were again on exchanges with the other sisters and i am still trying to get to know this area better. We had a gps but i dont know how reliable they are now after this experience. So we had just picked up a member to go with us teaching. We were following the gps and we turned down this road not thinking anything of it. Except we thought it was a little weird that all the parked cars were facing us on both sides of the road. Then  this member looks up from what she was doing and she was like "Uh we are going the wrong way" and then i looked at the gps and was like "No i dont think so this is the way that the gps is telling us to go" Then the member said "No i mean this is a one way road and we are going the wrong way" Haha we then realized why all the cars were facing us and we quickly turned off onto a different road after we freaked out a little bit. Luckily it wasnt a busy one way road. Good times and times never to be forgotten! 

I love you all so so much!! :) Keep staying strong and know you are always in my prayers!! :) 

Love you!!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

There is not enought time in the day!!! #missionaryprobs

Sister Chaves & Sister Davis

My dearest family and friends! I love you all so much! This week has just been crazy busy! We always just have so much going on which i am so grateful for. I love it so much!! It is the best feeling in the world! 

So i have the funniest story to share! But i am afraid not everyone will get it... so if you have seen the movie "what about Bob" then you will enjoy this but if you havent then you might not get it. So this is especially for my daddy and Kylie :) haha So we were at this ladies house. She used to be a member of the church but she had her named taken off the records but she wants to be rebaptized so the bishop has asked us to work with her. So we were over at her house this week talking to her and she was telling us of these anxieties she has about leaving her house. These anxieties were not very ligitimate anxieties. I mean they could happen but it is like one in a million chances. So she was sitting there telling us all her worries and i thought to myself "Man i feel like i am listening to Bob sitting here talking" I just didnt know what to say to her so then my next thought was "How did Dr. Marvin handle that situation?" haha then my very next thought was "BABY STEPS" hahaha i almost couldnt contain myself with laughter but i kept it in. Then i had this debate in my head "Should i tell her about baby steps or should i not?" then i figured well i thought of it for a reason so i went on to explain that she just needed to take one step at a time during the day. Just focus on one thing that she has to do and take baby steps throughout the day and she will be able to do the things that she wants to do. (I went into greater detail but that is the gist of it)  She looked at me and was like "That is the greatest idea i have heard." She said "I have never heard it explained to me that way" So she said she would try it and see if it works. We havent followed up with her yet to see if it works or not but we plan to. I was laughing so hard inside about that whole sitation though. Unfortuantely my companion hasnt seen What about Bob so she didnt get it. But it made me smile :) 

Next, this lady we are working with is getting baptized on saturday. We are so excited. She is part of the big family that the other missionaries have been working with before i got here. There are now seven in the house that have gotten baptized. This lady is the grandma. She loves the gospel and is so solid. We have so much fun teaching her. She truly knows how to listen to the spirit. That is the greatest feeling ever... teaching someone that wants to act on the feelings they get  from the spirit.

 I had a neat realization this week. So Wednesday we had a district meeting and one of the sisters in our district is blind. Well we were playing a game called four corners in the gym. That is a game where there is someone in the middle of the gym and they close their eyes and point to a corner and whoever is in the corner is out. But we run from corner to corner. Well i was helping the blind sister move from corner to corner. She was hanging onto my hand and we would run all around. As we were playing i thought to myslef "Man she has got a lot of trust in me to run with me around the gym like this" She really has no choice, if she wants to participate she kinda has to trust and rely on others. But it is her choice still if she wants to do that or just sit in a corner and let her diability get the best of her. I think it is awesome that she chooses to trust others so that she can enjoy the fun too. God never meant for us to come to this world to be unhappy. In the same sense sometimes i find it hard to take those "blind steps" into the dark not knowing exactly what is going to happen from it. But that is when i need to be reminded that i am hanging onto my Saviors hand and He is the one that is pulling me forward. That is where we need to draw our faith from. With our hand in the Saviors hand we can move forward even if we cant see what is up ahead. Those steps of faith in the end make us happier than we could ever be. Once again God never meant for us to come to this world to be unhappy. It is our choice though to trust Him or to sit in the corner and let our doubts and fears of taking the "blind steps" hold us back. I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with this sister on Friday. So i got to spend the whole day with her. She seriously is amazing and such a great example to me that anything is possible with God and that we should never let anything hold us back from accomplishing our greatest desires. I know this is true i know as we truly rely on our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ, eventually all those "blind steps" will lead us into the eternities with our families. That is my greatest desire of all. I love you guys and feel so blessed to have such fantastic family and friends. Have a great week and know you are in my prayers always!!! I LOVE YOU!!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

Back in Indiana!!!! I love Indiana!!! Area: Huntington, Indiana Companion: Audrey Chavez, Price, Utah

Our zone!!! :)

Holy cow!! This place is amazing!!! I love you all so so much!! So i am now in Huntington Indiana. Which is up north by Fort Wayne. This place is just full of love. My new address is 337 Williams St apt 1 Huntington IN 46750. I LOVE IT HERE!!! 

This week was just another week full of miracles!! We have had quite some adventures this week. So first off we had the biggest spider we have ever seen in my whole entire life in our apartment. We were getting ready for bed one night and i was sitting on my bed writing in my journal and i looked up and there was this spider on the wall. I freaked out just a little then i got a little closer and really freaked out once i realized how big it was. Now let me explain. This spider had the biggest bum i have ever seen on a spider. It also had like a shell for its back. It looked more like a crab without pinchers but not quite that big. We were on family prayer with our zone and sister Chavez and i werent even listening cause of this spider. We couldnt just smoosh it because of the crunch it would have made and it was so big. So we got some cups and we caught it. Then we didnt know what to do with it. We wanted to show someone how big it was but we couldnt keep it in the cups cause it woulda gotten out so we decided to put it in a plastic container. Well when we put it in the container it kinda fell out and it had started to spin a web so it stuck to the cup and was just hanging there so we both started screaming cause we thought it was going to crawl back up the cup. Well the elders live in the apartment behind us so they heard us screaming and they thought we were just really excited for the miracle that was just shared. But we didnt hear any miracle because we were so focused on what to do with the spider. Well when the screaming didnt stop they knew something was wrong. So over the phone call we hear them ask us if everything is okay. So we get on the phone and explain what was happening. Then we realized how ridiculous we sounded freaking out over a spider so we had to keep it so we could show everyone how big it really was. The elders later told us that we freaked them out so bad from us screaming and not answering the first time on the call that they were on their way over to see what was going on. But then we answered and everything was okay.  So we went to bed with the spider in the container and woke up the next day and it had spun a web and layed eggs! So then we were gonna have a whole bunch of baby spiders running around. So we took it to the elders and showed them and they even said we had a legitimate reason to freak out. Needless to say the elders ended up killing the spider for us. Usually i dont have a problem killing spiders but this one was huge. 

Now on the more spiritual side of things ;)   



This is two more in this family of 7.
There is only one more in the household yet to be baptized.
Then we are preparing the grandma of the
family to be baptized on may 2

So when i got here the sisters were preparing two more of this family of seven to be baptized. All that is left in the household that hasnt been baptized is the 16 year old boy and the elders are teaching him and he will be baptized this Saturday. But I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to come here and see this family continue to grow as they all enter into a covenant with our Heavenly Father. then we are teaching the grandma of the family as well and she is preparing to be baptized on the 2 of May. FAMILIES ARE ETERNAL!!!  But as we were at the baptism we had the opportunity to share with everyone the message of Joseph Smith. What we usually do is share the background leading up to the first vision then we show the movie starting at the first vision. But as we were watching the movie i could really just feel the spirit so strong. The line when Joseph Smith says "I knew it and i knew that God knew it and i could not deny it" stood out to me. I realized that is how i felt. That is a testimony i have definitely gained on my mission. I know that Joseph Smith truly saw our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I could never deny that feeling that i have. This gospel is truly meant to bring our families together FOREVER!! This life is just a moment in time compared to eternity. We were able to teach the grandma of this family the Plan of Salvation after the baptism. The spirit was so strong as we taught and shared personal experiences. Questions were answered not by us but by the spirit. I know people say that all the time but seriously as they asked questions they were questions that we did not have straight up answers for. But at the end of the lesson the grandma turned to us and said "I have had so many of my questions answered tonight so thank you" WOW!! What a testimony builder once again that our Heavenly Father is in control. As we taught i had the chance to sit and ponder on my life and the experiences i have had and my heart was filled with comfort and gratitude. I am so thankful to have the knowledge about Gods eternal plan for us. I have no doubt in my mind that we will see our loved ones again. They will know us and we will know them. We will all be reunited in joy and happiness one day when we get to stand before our Savior Jesus Christ. I know it and i will forever know it nothing will take that knowledge away from me. It is way to important to me to ever deny it!! I love you all and pray that you all will have the most spectacular week of your life. I love you all so so much!!! 

Love your sister Davis :)

It is so warm!!!

Well first off.... I love you all so much!!! You are all so wonderful and so amazing!!! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and group of friends!!!

This week was so busy but let me first tell you the funniest thing ever!!! So a couple weeks ago we had a competition with the elders in our district. The prize for winning the competition was that the losers got pies in their faces. Well we won that competition!! So we got to throw pies in all the elders faces. It was the funniest thing of my life!!!! I got it all on film but i cant figure out how to send them home. 

We had an awesome growing week. It is truly amazing to see how the Lord blesses us all. Nothing super big happened but every week it never fails my testimony is strengthened. So I just want to share my testimony with you all. I know without a doubt that we have a loving Heavenly Father. I know this is HIS work. He is the one in control. He is the one that makes it all happen we are truly just the instruments. But i do feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be an instrument in the Lords hands. One thing that i have learned is that we must always be prepared to act on whatever the Lord asks us to do. I loved the quote from Henry B Eyring "When we offer succor to anyone the Savior feels it as if we reach out to succor Him" That is so true! I can testify that as we help and serve others the we are showing out love to the savior. 

Sorry this email isnt super long i dont have much time today. But just know that the gospel is true. Know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. We have a living prophet on the earth today. I know God knows us and loves us. I love you all so so much!!!!

Love your sister Davis :)

Conference!!!

Mission Leadership Council...4/3/15

What a week it has been!! I love you all so much!

Okay so wasnt conference just amazing?! I just love hearing from the general authorities. They are all so inspired and give such great counsel. I thought it was so amazing how focused on the family they have been. Man if that is not telling ya something about how important families are then i dont know what will. Man i just love my family. I truly know that families are the most important things here on this earth. If it wasnt for our families we would be completely lost. I know our families can be together forever. 

So this week the funniest thing happened...except it was kinda driving me crazy but bless this ladies heart. So this lady and her husband came out teaching with us this week. They are members and they were so sweet they drove us around all day and then fed us dinner. But this lady i swear does nothing! So we went to this less actives for lunch and the lady that was with us was like "I dont cook cause i am the girl and it's not my job" Then sister Hatch and i went to put the dishes in the sink and the lady was like "I dont do the dishes cause i am the girl and it is not my job" all day she was saying stuff like that!! I couldnt believe what i was hearin! I was cracking up though after they dropped us off. It was so funny. Not a whole lot would get done if all girls were like that. Thanks goodness our moms have taught us how to do dishes and cook dinner!! 

Specialized Training 4/2/15

MTC Buds!!! 

Then on April fools day we were supposed to have district meeting because we have one every wednesday. And us and the other sisters show up and we waited and waited and our district leader never showed up. So we were like he is totally playing an April fools joke on us. So we call him and were like "where are you?" and he was like "Oh yeah i forgot to send out the text that there was no district meeting" and we were like "Yeah right where are you really?" and he was like "No really the assistants texted us last night and told us and i forgot to tell ya" so then we called the zone leaders to see if they were being serious. Well the zone leaders were laughing at us so hard they ended up coming to the church to see if we really showed up. Needless to say district meeting really got cancelled so we used that time to plot our revenge. 



Then we had another funny experience with the little boy that just got baptized. We were over there on Saturday and we were talking to him about Easter and we asked him if he knew what the true meaning of Easter is. He said he didnt know so we explained it to him and then to make sure he understood we asked him again what he understood the true meaning of Easter to be. And with a mouth full of Jellybeans stuffed in both cheeks he explained it perfectly. I just thought it was so funny to sit there and listen to him tell us his testimony of the Savior with cheeks sticking out to China full of Jellybeans. He is such a cute little boy!!! 



Dancing in the rain!! 



All our chocolate we saved through out this transfer. 

We had an awesome leadership council meeting this last week. President Porter gave each of us time to bare our testimonies at the very end. As i was sitting there i felt the spirit so strong. I was thinking about what i have learned the most on my mission. That is really hard to narrow it down to one thing because i have learned so much. But i was really thinkin hard about it and i really feel that i have come to understand more fully the enabling power of the atonement. There have been so many times on my mission that i have truly felt like i could not go any further. And i drop to my knees to plead for help and everytime i have truly felt the arms of our Savior pick me up and push me along. I know without any doubt that our Savior knows exactly how we feel. He knows what it is gonna take for us to become the children of God our Heavenly Father needs us to become and sometimes it is hard and sometimes it hurts real bad but that is why our Savior suffered. He did it so he could help us. I can not tell you enough how important it is to just cry out to our Heavenly Father. Do it all the time whether you are going through a hard time or not. But dont let your faith falter in the hard times. Remember that it is after the trial of our faith that it grows and we see the miracles. I can truly testify to that. Remember God will never leave you hangin and everything happens for a reason!! I love you all so much!! I KNOW MY SAVIOR LIVES!!!! Keep stayin strong! I love you!!!!! 

Love your sister Davis :)