July 23, 2008

Great to hear from many of you this week! Thank you for that. I hope this e-mail finds you to be enjoying life and the gospel. I love the words of the brethren and how much effort and time they put into our well being and keeping us on the gospel path. We may not have all of the answers, but we always know exactly where to find them.

We have had another great week in Liverpool. We had a Baptism on Saturday! C**** was baptized by her friend, P****, whom referred her to the missionaries. She has progressed rather quickly and overcome her fears of water. She has a testimony of the gospel, especially Joseph Smith and prayer. Member referrals are the greatest. While on the Recent Convert front, we have been trying to track down the new member that was baptized last transfer. She has been moving and switching phone numbers a lot, so it is hard to keep up with her. We dont think she is doing it to get away from the church, just trying to get into an area she isn't scared of. We have had a lot of help from a ward member here named S******* P*****. She has been fellowshipping with us a lot, and just provides a great anchor for new members and investigators. She really understands her role as a member of the church. I love it.

One of our investigators, named C*****, who she has been working a lot with is progressing very nicely. I think I have told you about her. She is still just trying to give up smoking. She has only smoked once this week, and is all our of cigarettes. She has to quit smoking by today if she wants to keep her baptismal date, which she does. She is so excited to be baptized, and I am amazed at her faith. She has already started to share the gospel with people around her. We really need her to stop smoking today, so please pray for her. That is C***** A*******.

We had a great experince this week with a new investigator. We had a media referral that was from months ago. We called and set up a time, he said to come by between 12 and 2. We got there about 12:30, but no one answered in his flat. Before we had left for the day, we looked at what PMG said to do with Media Referrals. One of the suggestions was to try by on the neighbors and stuff, because maybe that was why we had been led to that area. So, we did it. We rang all of the flats within the building that he lived. None of them answered . . . until the last one. A man came to the door looking very tired and not exactly excited to see us. We asked him if he knew the person we were looking for and he said he had never heard of him. We looked at the post in the flat, and it said a different name. So we started to talk to this man. Come to find out, he works a lot and we had just woken him up. He only has time to sleep during the afternoons. He is home between the hours of 11-3, which makes our scheduled appointment between the hours of 12-2 quite convenient. Heavenly Father even gave us a little bit of room for tardiness. Well, we asked this man if we could share a message with him for 10 minutes. He said that he had no belief in God or Jesus Christ, but that we could come in. We shared the Plan of Salvation with him, and he started to really consider the likelihood of a God. He gave us a return appointment for Sunday, but before we left he saw the Book of Mormon on the back of the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and asked about the Book. We told him a little bit about it, and he expressed an interest in it. We gave him one, and he was very grateful. We hope to have our appointment on Sunday and follow-up with him how everything went. Yay for Preach My Gospel. Sometimes we have fears of relying upon anything besides ourselves. The realm of the unknown. But with something from God, like PMG, it isn't the unknown. We can rely on it. It is there for that, which is great in a world of the unknown!

I am not quite sure what else to tell you. If there is anything specific, let me know, and I can answer questions in later e-mails.

Liverpool is great. There are 2 Marriot hotels here! I thought that was crazy. Also, the city is going through a lot of exciting times this year, because it is the European Capital of Culture for 2008.

I don't know a whole lot, and continue to feel that way the more I learn, but I do know this. God has Prophets on the world today, and His Authority rest with those men. Their purpose is to guide and direct our lives, often times on behalf of God. If anyone has questions, search the scriptures, both ancient and modern, and apply the principles in your life. You will understand and grow in Testimony and Faith. I know this. I love you all and fully appreciate all of the support and love I receive from you.

Thank you,
Elder Davies