WEEK 62

   It sounds like you had quite the week! What cool experiences you have shared with me! It must have been a great thing to take part in so many wonderful things. I sure do love the temple and I am pumped because we are going next week!!  

 

   No need to be worried at all. :) I am perfectly fine and doing great. I will be having my check up with Doctor Kaufsman though sometime this week.

 

    Things with Elder Strong are going really well.  He is a really good kid and I love him already. We laugh all the time and I speak more Spanish with him than I have with ANY of my other companions. He is super humble and he has a great attitude about everything.

 

     Our week has been grrrrrrreat!  We still have not been able to see Andres but he came to church and we found out why he hasn't been home.  There was a hurricane a couple weeks ago that messed up the business that his Grandpa owns and runs so they have been super busy.  But we'll see him this week for sure. :)  Josh is seeing us weekly, he has come to church the last 2 weeks and has been keeping the commitments that we extend his way.  He just needs to make up his mind if being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is what he wants to do.  Francisco is doing really well. We had a  really good lesson about fasting on Thursday and he is going to pray as to what to fast for.   Pam we have not seen this week though. She has been super busy this week for some reason. 

 

   We had 3 baptisms in the district this last week!!!  I had the opportunity to interview all of them, baptize 2 of them and give one of them the priesthood. It is so cool how a simple interview guided by the spirit can create such good relationships with people!  It was so sick!!!  Guess what else happened!?  We found out that next Sunday our Spanish ward will be split into 2 Spanish units (a ward and a branch)!!!  How crazy is that!? 

 

    Great to see that you all enjoyed the Thunder games. Looks like quite the party! 

 

    I cannot believe that conference is here already either!!! We will be going to the stake center for all sessions and after we are going to eat at bishop's house. Oh Yeah!!

 

    Love, 

    Elder Taylor C. Davis

WEEK 61

   Happy Tuesday!

 

   I am doing pretty good actually. I received my meds on Friday and I am feeling pretty good.  I am just super tired. But in a good way.  So don't worry in the slightest. What a great feeling it is to come home every night, drained, exhausted and ready to go to bed and be able to do it with a smile on your face because you know what you're doing each day. 

 

   So things are going super well this week!  It has been a really great week.   My new companion, Elder Strong is a BEAST!!!  He's from South Carolina and yes, he is fresh the Mexico MTC.  :)  His Spanish is surprisingly good for a newbie. We already get along great and he is teaching me a lot. He is super nice and a humble giant.  He comes from a family of 5 boys.  He's 18 and he is already a super good missionary.  It's kind of nice to be the missionary that has a little bit under his belt, but still has a ton to learn and all that.  :)  I am super lucky to have him as my companion and we already get along really well.  He is the bigger built guy of the far side of the picture that the Todd's sent.  The one laying across us is our other roommate. :)  We are already having so much fun and it is awesome.

 

   Things with Andres have not really been good lately.  Ever since last week we have not gotten a hold of them and they didn't come to church on Sunday either.  We are just hoping that they are on vacation or something.  Josh is not too bad.  We've been seeing him regularly again and he seems to have more a desire to learn and grow, so that is great as well.  We saw Pam last night and she is doing super good!  She's reading, praying and just rockin it!  

 

   Guess who else we saw?  Francicso!!!  That fool finally was home and we had a SICK lesson with him. We talked about fasting and the Mormon message about God's light and afterwards we just sat there in silence while the spirit worked on him and it was so cool!!!  He was speechless for like 5 minutes and he said he'd love us to come back this Thursday.  So of course we will do that.  :) 

   Glad that things helped when the Todd's sent you that photo.  They are super nice people and they actually live right above us.  We sure do love them!!  Oh and I forgot to buy stamps this week, mainly because we were focused on getting things that we needed for the apartment and because it's the end of the month.  But I will see if I can borrow some stamps from someone or something so I can write. Also, I want to thank you for your letter that was tucked in with my meds.  I love you dearly and I hope this email finds you happy. :)

 

   Love, 

   Elder Taylor C. Davis

TENDER MERCIES

This morning when I turned on my phone, I received this picture along with the following text, from some senior missionaries who live near Taylor.  

"Your missionary son is great! They just stopped by."

I assume the message was from last night, since it was 6 a.m. California time when I received it.  

Such a tender mercy. The Lord knew I needed this today!  I was really missing my boy!

WEEK 60

   

Our "Book of Mormon" wall.

So it has been a pretty good week!  We were able to see a ton of people and we had 3 investigators at church!!!!  It was super sick!  Andres is progressing like mad and he is pretty much ready for his baptismal date on the 26th!  We saw him Thursday and yesterday and he is so happy to be able to be baptized so soon.  He is reading, praying and we have seen mountains of faith in him.  Pam is kind of progressing too.  We haven't taught her this past week though.  She has been super busy with school and all that.  But we hope to see her tonight, as well as Josh.  She really has impressed me with all that she's doing.  She seems happier every time we come, she reads and prays.  She just needs to take that step and come to church.  I know she'll get there soon though.

   The district is doing well. Everyone seems to be happier now and it should be interesting to see if that changes or not.  I have just been trying to serve them as much as possible and I don't know if it's working, but I know it will eventually.  My focus this week was to get everyone pumped for this month because we have 5 baptisms planned for the same day as a district this month! So hopefully it all goes well and everyone is as pumped as I am! 

   Not too good to hear that you have been sick again.  I hope you feel better soon!  Sounds like you had quite the week though! Stake conference must have been amazing! Ours is coming up soon I believe.  I hope it is as good as yours sounds.  It is amazing how great stake conferences like that really are.  I remember my first stake conference as a missionary was a lot like that and it was super sick.  I bet it must have been cool to so many people that you know progressing in the Gospel and really becoming powerhouses of the spirit.  I know I have seen that here.

   Our mission should be getting tablets towards the end of the year so that will be interesting. 

   For my meds, I am pretty low. I think I might be able to make it to Tuesday if I take half doses. Sorry about stinking with informing you.  I thought two weeks ago I said I needed some in two weeks but I guess I said, " I might need some in a couple weeks." Sorry about that.  I will be alright though.  :)  Maybe you could go ahead and send them and I will have Sister Soffe call us when they arrive so I could pick them up. :)

   SO I have made up my mind...the messenger bag is a keeper!  I am loving it!  It is making my shoulders and neck a little sore but that will change when my body gets used to it.  I just hope it doesn't interfere with my back.  I have high hopes though. :)

   My clothes are actually doing pretty good.  My shoes are just fine.  I am pretty sure that they will hold up until the end of my mission.  My shirts are doing alright as well.  I have no complaints in that area. :)  I am doing fine with clothes and don't need anything thankfully. :)

   So transfers are tomorrow.... We just received the transfer calls and Elder Sherman is being transferred. :(  AND...... I am staying another 6 weeks. AND..... I will be training a new missionary!! I am super pumped, but at the same time I am super scared.  I have been praying for quite a while that my next companion will help me be better at street contacting and this might be my answer.  I just hope I am good enough to train whoever this new missionary is and that I can help him.  So if you want to pray for me in that regard I would greatly appreciate it. :) 

   Well I sure do love and respect you with all my heart!!!! :)  I am pumped out my mind and eternally grateful for EVERYTHING that you do so that I can be here.

   With Love and Admiration,

    Elder Taylor C. Davis

WEEK 59

   So I am doing pretty good.  As you probably would have guessed, I got sick.  Elder Sherman and I were sick from Wednesday until Sunday morning.  So on Sunday, we woke up, I opened my packages, and it was great!  I took a bunch of pics but they didn't turn out so well. We went to church and we left early because we felt like crap and we thought it would be smart to go home and rest so we could make our appointments that we had that day.  It worked!

   I fasted and prayed specifically that we would feel better and be able to go to our appointments and not get anyone sick. After I woke up after a quick hour nap, I felt great!  We left and went to our appointments.  First we saw the Perez family, a solid member family and the Mom made a huge deal out of my birthday.  She made us dinner (pazoli pasta), and even made us a cake!  It was super good.

   Then, we went to the Joaquin's (Cody's cousin's house) and they fed us, gave us cake, and my package as well!  Then!  We came home and the Todd's came over and sang to me and gave me some candy and took pics with us too. Overall, it was a super good birthday!!!!!

    Thanks so much for all the thought and love that you put into everything.  I really enjoy all of it and the "Deeds" card really made me laugh. I LOVE all of it.  I didn't know you had spent so much on the bag though! I am enjoying it!!!  I still have the tags on it just in case I don't like it very much.   I am going to try it out for the next two days and see, but as of now I kinda like it. :)

   Let's see, what else happened? Oh we went to a place called Aunt Emma's (it's a place like Denny's) on Saturday to celebrate for my birthday and it was delicious!!  When we went to Aunt Emma's place, our waitress' name was Darlene.  It was a super small thing, but it pretty much made my day. It was just cool that sweet old Nana was a part of my birthday. :)  That was probably the best part of my week.  We also used the gift card you sent, yesterday. :)  It was SUPER good.  We even have enough left on the card to go again! :) So of course that will happen.  :)

 

   Sorry to hear about you being so sick! :( You really should ask someone for a blessing though... You do have 2 members of the Bishopric on the street that would be more than willing to help you. :) Just Do It  Momma! :)

   Wow, sounds like you had a pretty crazy day before Mexico!!  But what a cool experience! We as a family have definitely learned the power of prayer and have strong testimonies of it because of that.  I am so glad that you were able to make it there almost on time and that lady was so nice to not make you pay for that transfer! :)  It also makes me very happy that you are doing so well and loving your job so much! 

   Glad to hear that my boys, both my Niners and those Utes are doing so well. Minus injuries of course.  It hurts sometimes when I know that a football game is on and I can't watch it but then I realized that football will still be there whenever I get back.  It is amazing how little you notice things when you focus on the work.

   So our investigators are doing well.  We have only seen Pam and Andres in the past week because we were both sick.  But Pam is doing super well!  She is praying every day and it seems like she is happier every time we come over.  Andres is doing super good too.  He is learning quick and we are really seeing his desire to be baptized.  

   We actually were considering dropping the Schact Family because we hadn't seen them in 6 weeks but we saw them yesterday and set up an appointment with them for tomorrow night so hopefully that works out. :)  Francisco has still been dodging us and we don't know why.  We hope that as we try to see him this week he will be home and want to see us though. :) I am sure he will.

   The district is doing alright.  A lot of them are super stressed lately, so I have been trying to help with that.  Sister Cannon and Sister Huefner are both from Utah, Elder King is from Indiana, Elder Moreno is from Texas, and Sister Aquino is from New York.  Oh and and Sister Sanchez is from Iowa.  SO we have a pretty well rounded group.  

   President Schmitt is such a boss. He is super bold and to the point and I really like that.  I haven't really seen huge differences in him and Pres Clayton except for age and height really. Plus Pres Schmitt seems to be more affectionate towards us Elders.  

    I am doing fine mom. :) (I had mentioned that he was looking thin.) I actually think I might have gained some weight. I feel like I never stop eating.  :)

   I love you so much and thank you for the life you have given me. Thank you for always loving me without end and taking such good care of me. I am thankful to have you as my parents and know that I would be a pile of dust without you. You are the best. I mean it. I am also grateful for the relationship that we have developed while I have been gone. 

   I sure love you!

   Love, 

   Elder Taylor C. Davis

WEEK 58

   Dear Momma...sounds like you had quite a good week!! You got to go to the temple twice AND be there when Logan and Michelle received their endowments! I am so proud of them.  They really have gone far and done a lot together already. I totally agree that they will do well continually. They are now sealed for time and eternity.  What blessings!  Plus you got to help out the missionaries as well.  Your service and desire to do so has always amazed me. You always have had such a huge heart and I really admire you for that.

   Dad...what a spirit filled email! Thanks for taking the time and thought to write such a good email. I always feel edified after I read your emails.  I can see the progression and change in you as well. I can't wait to hang with you again. Your emails and experiences have brought me even closer to you than I thought was possible.  Thank you for your solid example. 

   I really appreciated what you shared about the 5th Sunday, that's pretty cool.  As I kind of am a leader, I have really enjoyed the things I have learned and that I get to do because of it. I see other leaders all the time that do things just so they can be recognized as a leader and that is sad to see.  A leader is not a big boss guy that tells everyone what to do and rebukes them when they do it wrong.  A true leader is a servant of the Lord and NEVER does anything for his own.  In smaller words, Leadership is Service.  That is what I have tried to be as I have been district leader.  It is amazing to see what I have learned having that attitude as well.  In the mission sometimes it is a theme that District Leaders stay district leaders for a long time.  Sometimes it isn't, it all just depends on who the Lord wants us to serve and how. That being said. I'm not sure that my time left here in this area is super long.  I have been in the same stake for about 8 months.  So it's possible I could get changed but who knows. HE does and that's all that matters. :) 

   

    That's what I love about Presidente Schmitt. This week I was worrying about transfers because I feel like a change is going to happen with the Shermanator and I but as Pres got up to speak at the fireside, I was overcome with the spirit and I heard the words in my head, "He knows where I need you. Let not your heart be troubled." This was super cool and was probably the highlight of my week. It is amazing how the Lord puts us where we need to be, in the precise moment we need to be there. 

    So my week has actually been pretty cool.  We had a super cool fireside in Spanish for all the investigators in our ward and another ward and it was super powerful.  I was able to sing in the choir with all the other missionaries and it was way cool.  Plus, Victoriano, one of the investigators that I used to teach was there and gave a super powerful testimony! He has already been to the temple to do baptisms and everything for his own family members!! So cool!  Plus it was nice to see all the members from my last area and how happy they were.  We also had a pretty good lesson with Andres last night. We taught him a very simple restoration lesson and got him with a baptismal date for this month!!!  So we will be seeing him twice a week and all that fun stuff. It is going to be super cool. 

   Teaching little kids is a lot different than adults but it is super fun.  You have to teach super simple and I like it because that's the way the gospel works. Simplify and intensify.  We were able to see Pam as well and we got her to agree to come to church this coming Sunday if she can go with a friend so hopefully that all works out.  Unfortunately we can't call the temple and put names in but we can put names in while we are there. :)  I can see why we can't though because then the whole world would be calling the temple.  We weren't able to see Francisco but hopefully he will answer the door and the phone this week.

   Our apartment is going pretty well. We do well with our studies, we stay focused and we are now keeping the apartment cleaner now so that is always good!  It will be interesting to see how it goes as we get further into our time there.  I sure do love the Elders that we live with. The only problem is that they and Elder Sherman are all sick so it's  only a matter of time before I go down!  I am praying and hoping that I don't get sick so we can go out there and set the world on fire!  Other than that, everything is going great.

   Well, not much to report other than that. I want you to know that I love your guts and I am so grateful that by some way I was lucky enough to be your son. You keep my life turning and it would stop without you. LOVE YOU! <3

   Love, 

   Elder Taylor C. Davis  

P.S.- Thanks for the sports updates! My homies are making me proud! Even if I am still not fond of Cap n' Crunch.