March 29, 2009

Like Utah, England has decided to have cold, windy, rainy weather recently, except yesterday of course, because it was Sunday. We were looking forward to our ultimate frisbee game today, and it is looking like we were still be able to do it, but yesterdays weather would have been nice. England weather seems to change many times throughout the day. The clouds move so quickly here.

From what I hear, everyone is very excited for Conference this weekend. It makes my heart rejoice to hear each one of you express your love for the gospel and the words of modern day prophets. We are so blessed, but we are not loved more than anyone else. Everyone deserves to have the blessings that we do. It is easy for us to feel those now, and difficult for others to do so, so we usually have to show them by the way we live that the principles of the gospel form the only way to true peace and happiness. Seeing that example is so important, we have a great responsibility of providing that and giving simple testimonies to others. The Lord will guide us.

This is our first full week in our old area. We have very few investigators. It is not fun, but we are learning even more about finding, and especially working with the great, and pure-hearted members in this area. There are so many wonderful people quietly doing their jobs. I have probably never had a time in my mission where I have had to find as much as I am now. I am learning a lot. I believe the Lord is teaching me specific things for this time. One of the bright spots, however, is J**.

I have told you a bit about J**. He keeps coming to church. His wife is Less-active, and he hasn't started working on her yet, but he is working on his Less-active mother. It is great to see how the gospel teaches people to reach out to others. J**'s kids are also starting to gain an interest in the gospel.

I am sorry this is quite shorter than other e-mails. WE have a train to catch to get to our Zone Activity. I want all of you to know that I am doing very well. I am ever grateful to be involved in this refining process, and ever grateful for you-my pillars of strength. I have a testimony of the gospel and the understanding that it brings into our life. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission, and I want you to know that I pray for you daily.

I love you,

Elder Davies

March 23, 2009

Greeting from across the pond. We have been experiencing great weather this week . . . until this morning. The rain and wind has ruined our Zone Activity, so we will be trying for next week. But it did give me more time to read and reply to your e-mails. Thank you for them all.

I am grateful for the perspective that the gospel gives us in our lives. Many difficult things happen, and also many wonderful things happen. We are better able to cope with those things when we have the gospel in our life. We all have to learn how to trust in the Lord, and to not worry about much else.

We had a zone conference this week, and it was great!! They always are. We had a visiting authority from the 3rd Quorum of the Seventy. His name is Elder Malm from Sweeden. He was such an accomplished man. I never cease to be amazed at what the gospel does in our life when we live it. There is so much cause for hope for the future. The work here is slow and difficult at times, and then other times the floodgates can open. Down in the Burnley south area, things were just flying everywhere. We are now back up in the North area back into a two-some. I really do miss serving in a three-some with Elder Nelson. The transfer is already half over, because this is only a 5 week transfer. We will finish it off well with conference weekend. Up in the North Area, things are going a bit slower, but we did get 2 new investigators last week, which brings our total number of investigators to about . . . 2 :)

J** is one of those investigators. He came to church and asked to be taught. He had some contact with members earlier in the week, and expressed a desire to come back to church. He had investigated about 10 years ago. He has many different ideas and beliefs, but he recognized the good that came from attending church, so he wants to come back and try to learn the truth. Our lessons with him have been interesting. We haven't been able to teach much yet. The second time, some of his kids were there. The were great. I love teaching kids.

I was sad to leave R***** and C****** in the South area, but they are doing well, and came to church yesterday. J**'s kids are named M****** and J*****. They are 10 and 11. They also came to church yesterday and they loved it. Hopefully, we can start to teach them more regularly.

To cap off the week, we had a baptism on Friday. S**** was baptized and it was a sweet experience. Her brother J**** should follow closely behind. In the craziness of missionary work, sometimes the purpose of our work can be misty. I had a strong reminder on Friday that this is the salvation of souls. S**** started to cry during the hymn before her baptism, and her brother J**** started to cry as we walked to the baptismal font. Their father has been less-active for a long time, and they have been coming with their grandparents. Their father came to the baptism and the confirmation on Sunday. At one time he vowed to never step a foot in the chapel again. I can truly see that whole family coming back. What a blessing!!

I love all of you and I love this work. I don't have the opportunity to serve for much longer. I hope that I have been doing what the Lord wants me to do. I love Him and His grace and love and forgiveness. I love the words of the prophets and am very excited for Conference. May God watch over you all until I hear from you again.

Love you all,

Elder Davies

March 16, 2009

We have had a great week. Last Week I told you about the family we found on North Street. R***** and his sister, C******, came to church on Sunday and loved it. We are going to get the ward involved in helping the mom come back, and to get the dad to come in. The dad has worked with members throughout much of his life. We will be seeing them on Thursday.

I read a quote in my quote book that I wanted to share, but i left it at the flat. It showed that we have the power to overcome our trials, and they cannot determine our joy.

My three happies for the week are:
The sun is shining!
Our investigators are coming to church.
I have the honor of laboring in the vineyard.

We have had to stop visiting D****, and he is not going to be baptized this Friday. This is because he did not come to church yesterday. He knew this would happen if he didn't come. In the past, missionaries would just change his date, so we can't do that anymore, because he doesn't take it seriously enough.

B**** is progressing really well. We should give him a date this week. He is very cool. He reads and understand a lot. He is about 50 and really likes electronics and taking care of himself. he has changed his lifestyle a lot in the last couple of months. he is solid.

L** didn't enjoy the lesson we gave last week. It was about the Law of Chastity. Very, very, very awkward. He has so much changing to do.

S****/J**** are doing so good. S**** should be baptized this Friday and J**** in a couple of weeks. J**** has been reading a lot lately, and was able to tell us what was in 1 Nephi 10-12 without looking at it.

V***** was given a date for baptism in April and she should be getting back to us this week. she came to church and we love her.

S****** stopped smoking using the workshop. He looks and feels so good. He still has a lot of family problems to overcome, but this is one more thing out of the way. He has a pure heart, but his family can stop him from coming sometimes.

D*****, a recent convert, said the sacrament prayer for the first time yesterday. He was so nervous, but he did a really good job. What a graet guy!

We had tea at some members last week named the W*****'s. They live in a really nice house on a hill in Nelson. It is a very hilly area. Beautiful to visit in the summer! We were able to see a great view over the Pendle area. Too bad I don't have my camera!

We had a lot of potential people fall through this week. a lot of people just make appointments with us. People are quite scared of religion, and they can't see the wonderful blessings that could be theirs. We will keep trying.

My favorite scriptural moment was from Jacob 5. I especially loved when the Lord was coming to the vineyard for a final time with his servants. That is us. he had great things promised for us, but also expects much. I know that greater joy comes from His work than anything else. There are many ways we can all get involved in the work. We should do this, and we will be blessed for doing so. There are many ideas that Sister Allred shared in her talk last conference. Review that and think of an idea you could use.

Elder Davies

March 9, 2009

It has been a crazy week as we have been working in both of the areas we are to cover. There is much travel, and traveling in a three-some is becoming a little bit more comfortable. Sometimes it feels like we are surrounding people with our message, but that is excellent. We are usually able to contact most of the people on each of the buses we ride on. I wish this could last longer, but we are supposed to break up in the next couple of weeks when the missionaries come from Provo, once their Visas get there.

We have many investigators we taught for the first time, because this area we just moved into has a lot of progressing people. The ward is ready for all of these converts and do a good job at helping them out. It is great to have a missionary minded bishop. We try to keep good relations with the ward, but it can be difficult when some silly things happen. We so desperately want to keep that trust, so we usually just say whatever is needed to keep the relationship positive. We learn a lot of things on our mission that we didn't think we would.

We are teaching a 25 year-old young man named L**. He has had a very difficult life. He loves how he feels at church and what the gospel is helping him do, but he has to overcome many obstacles. We really grow to love these people, with a love that isn't our own. I am convinced of that. Without the infusion of God's love, we wouldn't be able to grow so close to people in such a short amount of time.

We are also teaching a man named S******, whose step son was just baptized a couple of weeks ago. He has also had a difficult life. We are helping him overcome smoking, and there are so many things standing in his way. I can't express how blessed we are to grow up in the areas we have grown up in, with the families that we have grown up with, and the perspective of the gospel that really changes the way we live.

D****'s baptism has been moved to go with another baptism that we will be having on the 20th. The Elders down here have been teaching two young grandchildren of some members. S**** is 14 and J**** is 12. They are great kids. I love how some people are just prepared for the gospel. S**** is going to be baptized on the same day as D****, the 20 of March. The ward likes to do them on Friday nights.

We have been teaching a lady from Monserrat named V*****. She has some family in the church, but used to be 7-day adventist. She is such a great lady, and she does some really good study. She is one of those people who look like they are 25, but really are 60.

I am very much looking forward to Conference. I have been reading the Ensign's for the last two conferences, and I have realized more the blessing of having living prophets and apostles. If everyone would just hearken, how different would this world be. How much more happiness would exist in our lives? How much more blessed would our families? How would our ability to resist the world increase? How would our understanding of life's difficult things improve? It is God's way, because it works. We have that evidence that it does before our very eyes, within our very lives. I have pen-ready, heart-opened, eyes-pointed, and ears-waiting for the whisperings of the Holy Spirit as Prophets of God invite us to grow closer to Christ on April 4 and 5.

My three happies are:
Serving in the three-some.
Watching the gospel change lives.
Having a beautiful new neice. (Do other families oogle over their neices and nephews as much as we do?)

Favorite Scripture? John 15:10-11. All of the commandments given to us really do help us to have a fuller joy. Every commandment received from God, or His servants, ancient or modern will be directed at this end goal . . . our eternal happiness!

Favorite Memory? We have had a lot of funny moments over the last couple of days. It would have to be watching David's reaction to our "12 days of Chirstmas" song.

Miracle for the week? We were looking for a less-active on North St., but couldn't remember the address. We had to get going, but when we got to the bus stop we realized that we had 20 minutes. We decided to tract North St. Not much was happening until the last door. We had 5 minutes left. We started to talk to this lady and she told us that she had been baptized into the church, but had fallen away when her parents split up. She married a non-member, and so it didn't help. She invited us in, and her kids were amazing. They really wanted to come to church, especially the 15 year old boy. He says he doesn't like beer, coffee, tea, or alcohol anyway, so he wants to join us. He should be coming to youth on Tuesday. I am excited to see what happens. He could be the key to getting his family into the church, and one day sealed.

Sometimes we take for granted the gospel and the knowledge that we are sealed forever. It cannot be taken lightly. It is Eternally important for us and for all people. This is why I love to do this work. I love you all and know that God lives and looks over us. Never lose hope!

Elder Davies

March 4, 2009

We have an interesting transfer ahead of us. Elder Carter and I were serving in Burnley North, and Elder Nelson and Elder Napier were serving in Burnley South. Next to Burnley is an area called Blackburn. Elder Szauter was serving with Elder Stevens in Blackburn. Today, Elder Stevens went to serve somewhere else, and Elder Szauter was going to train a new missionary, BUT the new missionaries have had trouble coming because of their Visa's. So, President sent Elder Napier to serve with Elder Szauter until the new missionary comes, and Elder Carter and I moved down to Burnley South to serve with Elder Nelson. So for the next couple of weeks, there will be three of us serving together! Elder Nelson, as Mom knows, went to High School with me, so it is very funny. We will still be teaching the people in our area who are progressing well. It is only a 30 minute bus ride up to our flat. We will be in this trio until the new missionary comes, if he is able to get his Visa. They only think it will take a couple of weeks. We moved some of our stuff down to this flat, and the other flat will just be empty until further notice. That is my crazy, semi-transfer.

Not much has happened since last week. We have been doing a lot of finding, but haven't been finding many interested people. It baffles my mind, but I can't really explain the difficulties without some of you coming out and trying it. That is usually how we learn things. Returned missionaries will understand what I am saying.

D**** M***** should be getting baptized on the 14 of March. He is finally to a point where he is ready. The Elders down here have a couple of people dated for baptism, so we just picked up some solid investigators!!

We have been teaching someone who has Schizophrenia. It is really hard for her. We are helping her to quit smoking, but the voices in her head say awful things to her. I might have told you this last week. We have found a lot of great people, but haven't had much progression with any of them yet. I talked to this really cool girl from South Africa. It was so refreshing to see someone who could carry a really good conversation with you. She was really nice. She showed some solid interest in the church and I really hope that she gets in touch with missionaries, like she said she would.

Everyday we meet many people. I know that I am learning a lot from these great experiences, but I am sure that the whole lesson for me will continue to be unfolded throughout my life.

I love you all, and am so grateful for the things I have learned from each of you.

Elder Davies

February 25, 2009

We have had a great week. Yesterday, the President and his wife came over to inspect the flat and conduct the interviews for this transfer. Our flat passed with top marks, and we got a prize of nice brownie mix for it. This week we have found some new investigators and continue to schedule appointments for the future. Unfortunately, many of these fall through, but the more we schedule, the more will go through. Many of these people have real difficulties in their lives. Young, single mothers who need something, but there is so much against them. I wish they could see what blessings could come into their lives 5 years down the line if they were to make righteous decisions now. That is a real test to have that kind of perspective. We are just trying to show them a lot of love, without getting in their face too much.

I don't know if I told everyone, but we have a funny P-day schedule starting next transfer. P-days on Mondays, except for on transfer week, and then P-day and transfer day stay on a Wednesday. Dad a has list of the P-days for the next couple of months, so you can get that from him!

We don't have a whole lot to update on investigators. D****'s Baptism is being moved back to the 14 of March to help him prepare better. He lets his kids tell him what to do too much and they tell him they want to go home from church after sacrament, and so he goes with them.

Z*** and P*** we don't get to see often. P***l is still skeptical about things and Z*** isn't feeling well.

We challenged M****** and C******** to take steps towards baptism by setting a date. I think C******** doesn't grasp the importance of it all, and M****** is very poorly and feels like he has to be perfectly well before baptism.

We met a lady named A**. She is really great. She is a quaker, but her partner is Catholic. She wants to bring her kids to church.

Another girl named K**, who has two young sons. She used to hate religion, but a message about families softened her heart. She didn't understand much of what we said, but I hope that she felt the spirit in the room as we introduced the Book of Mormon and promised blessings.

The real great test is finding interested investigators and everyone know that tracting is not the best way to do that. We are focusing on trying a couple of different means, but it can be really hard to organize and think of other ways. We usually result in just walking around talking to everyone in the streets and knocking on their doors.

We have had some wonderful moments this week. I realized that we have wonderful moments every week, we just can forget them or not notice them sometimes. Yesterday, a member needed some help, and we had planned to go out and find some new people. We know how important it is to find new people, but we prayed and asked heavenly father what the right decision was, and we both felt that is was important to help this member. As we did so, we really felt the blessings of making the decision with the lord. Counsel with the Lord in all your doings. The more into the gospel I get, the more profound conference talks start to mean. I recoginize that they can actually be applied to our lives. Elder Bednar gave a talk last conference about Praying Always. He uses the counsel with the lord scripture in Alma 37:37. Prayer can be a simple part of our day, but if we consecrate our day unto the Lord and seek his will in our day, we will see miracles. We can always be asking: What do you want me to do? Where do you want me to go? What do you want me to say? etc. . . .

Family, I love all of you. I know this gospel is true. I know we are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. That knowledge alone changes lives. Sometimes I want to ask teenage girls around here if they know they are daughters of God. They try so hard to impress the world, and they are killing their own soul in the process.

Elder Davies