WEEK 79

   So I am doing pretty well actually, it has been super nuts this week but it has been fun.  Things with Elder Johansen are going alright.  He was just really disappointed with how everything changed so much this transfer.   Holy Cow are you right about January flying by!   Just yesterday I was with Elder Strong!  Now Shoup is gone and I am with Elder Johansen.  Where has the time gone!?!?!?!?

   But all in the same, things are going well here in the Valley.  It's just been super full of changes and everything.  

    So before last Wednesday, we were told that we were merging our areas and that we were going to work both and have a car and live alone and it was going to be awesome.  But what they didn't tell us is that there were going to be sisters coming into the ward, they'd have to have our car and they would take my (Elder Davis') area.  Plus it was disappointing to find out that I had to come up with another bike.  Luckily we had 2 junker bikes in the apartment that we took into the shop so that they can take parts from one and use them to construct a bike that works for me.  Now we just hope that the process will not be costly.  :)  We have just been hoofing it in a biking area for the last week. It has been different and a little hard but despite off the problems, we still got a lot of work done this week.  :)

   We do still have 2 other Elders living with us. They moved in on Wednesday. Their names are Elder Weber and Elder Betts. They are both from Utah, Elder Weber has been out for about 20 months and Elder Betts has been out for about 6 months.  Oh and they are both English missionaries so that is fun. 

   So with all of the changes in the areas and everything, Josefina and Rafael are no longer in my area.  :( But they are in the sisters area and the sisters are good missionaries and I know they'll take care of them.  One of the Sisters was actually in my last district. Her name is Sister Huefner and her companion is  a new missionary so they'll work miracles in that area for sure.

   We are teaching a new family of two.  They are Ruben and Rosalee.  They are super cool and have been to church 3 times already and love it.  They are super busy and it is hard to find them home, but I know it will work out.  There is also a recent convert in the ward who wants us to teach her mom so that's super cool too.  :)

   I am glad to hear that the Randall's and the Higbee's are doing well.  I love them both so much!  :)

   

   As for my best part of the week, it would have to have been either when I found out I didn't have to go to transfer meeting (because I knew Elder Johansen was my companion) or when 2 of Elder Johansen's (and now our) investigators came to church on Sunday.  :)  It really made him happy and that was super cool. 

    I did get my SD card to start working this morning so I will send a picture or two. :)  I also got the packet to start for school stuff and I have started on everything. I will need you to send my U of U stuff that was in my little night stand before I left (If it is still somewhere in the house...)  But I have started working on the FAFSA and I need to figure out if I'm going to be a dependent student or not.  If  I am, you'll have to input some of your info for the FAFSA as well. It looks like it shouldn't be super hard to get things going and I should have time every week to make progress. Hopefully I can get it all done quickly so  I don't miss out on school.

   I don't know yet when I want to come back to have you guys tour the mission.  I'll think about it more though.

   I did get my package and I have to say it was right on time.  :)  The sweaters will work great for a couple weeks and then it will start to get hot again.  So thank you so much!!!!!!!

  My favorite places to go in El Centro aren't really too many or too cool. There's not much out here. But Sizzler and the bike shop are pretty cool.

   Dad, you make all the other missionaries jealous with how beautifully you give updates on the sports front.  That is something that I have really enjoyed and it helps a lot to keep our relationship real.  

   I love you and hope everything is going great! Love ya!

   Love,  

   Elder Taylor C. Davis

WEEK 78

   So yeah my week was pretty interesting.  Pday was actually like one of the best Pdays I have had in a long time. It was nice last week because we did something other than play basketball and we weren't super rushed.  I didn't actually do anything for jump day.  It was just like any other day...That is until we got a notice from the zone leaders that President was coming down and we were going to have a meeting with him that night at 8 pm... So you can imagine that we pretty much pooped our pants!   Even more so when we were told that he was just here to talk our district... Long story short, there was some disobedience going on in the district and he came to straighten it out. But not to worry, I wasn't involved and I am totally fine. :)

   What I took away from the meeting is probably different than anyone else.  I took away that I want to study the section in Preach My Gospel about our purpose and how to recognize the Spirit better and work on both of those concepts.

   I actually had a good talk with President and the whole time he was there, I felt like I needed a blessing for some weird reason and I just kept brushing it off because I didn't "need it" need it.  But it kept coming to my mind so I asked him and it was actually a pretty cool blessing.  He earned a lot of respect from me that night.  I did get a package but it was the one from Colton, with my vitamins.  Nothing else.  The zone leaders should bring mail down tomorrow though.  So no worries.  :)

   We got transfer calls this morning and I am actually staying here for at least another 6 weeks.  Elder Shoup is getting transferred though.  :(  It will be hard to see him go because we have gotten so close and gotten a lot of good work done here.  But we have both felt this week that he is going and it was only a matter of time.  I really love Elder Shoup.  He's such a good guy.  I know that wherever he goes is where he is needed.  :)  He will change lives wherever he goes.

   I do already know who my companion is though.  It's going to be Elder Johansen.  It will be good.  We already get along pretty well.  

   Since Elder Briggs left on Friday, Elder Shoup, Elder Johansen and I have been in a trio working in two areas and it has actually been pretty fun.  We have gotten a lot done and have had a lot of laughs.  We weren't able to see Rafael, but we were able to see Josefina and she came to church and was super happy.  Plus one of the members that works with her asked her when she is going to get baptized and she said soon.  We have seen a lot of less active members this week and have been fired up about the work and I think it's proving fairly effective.

   Feeding the homeless was pretty cool!  We also got to help with an event for the seniors in the Imperial Valley and that was super cool.  Hopefully I can send pictures next week.  For some reason my camera won't take my SD card anymore.  :(  But I backed up all the pictures, so we are good there.  I just have to format it this week so I can use it again.  I still have to show you how clean our apartment is.  :)

   My favorite meal this week is hard to choose since we had a meal every single day of the week!!!  It was super nice and cool to be fed that much!  The members out here are super cool!  My favorite meal would have to be the burritos that a member brought over from Mexi-Cali for us.  Yum!!!

   I love you, as always an appreciate everything you do!  Love you!!!

   Love,
   Elder Taylor C. Davis
 

WEEK 77

   This week has actually been pretty nice. We were able to get a lot done. I made a lot of goals this year that I hope to accomplish by the end of June. I have set goals to finish the Book of Mormon again and D& C before I come home. I have also made it a goal to think more about Christ during the day. I also want to be in complete shape by the time I come home.

   As far as the most important to me other than thinking more of Christ during the day, secondly I would like to be in shape when I get home.  

    We actually didn't have too many meetings this week so that was nice. More time to work. :)   What stands out to me the most about this week is that I have been writing thank you cards to all of the people that sent me ties and gifts for Christmas and it has been really cool. It's been like a late Christmas and I have enjoyed it a lot. :)

   It's crazy that the year has gone by so fast already!  I am basically pooping my pants because I was hoping it would be a nice, calm last 7 months.  But it has already gone below 6....What the heck?  But all the same, I am going to make the most of it and work my hardest until the end.  I feel really good about the goals I have set and thin I will be able to do a lot this year.

     We were able to meet with Rafael yesterday! And it went pretty well.  He is doing pretty good.  :)  We jsut need him to come to church this week so he can keep his baptismal date.  No new investigators yet but we are trying super hard to find some more people. We were unfortunately unable to see Josefina,  but we hopefully will see her tomorrow. :)  I am very hopeful; that this next week will be a good one and I am excited to see what comes of it.

   I am actually really loving this area  I love the ward, the people, and of course the weather.  :)  No snow, 70 degree weather all day, every day and I am loving it!  Yesterday was the beginning of me being the "assigned driver."  I was pretty nervous because I hadn't driven in over 3 months.  But I've still got it.  I am driving a 2013 Ford Fusion.  It's pretty nice.  It's a Ford, but it is still better than the piece of Chevy we had before.

  We actually have been fed a lot in this area. :)   It's nothing like I've ever had in my mission before!  So that is pretty nice. :) We actually have dinner appointments with members every single day this week! I am so stoked!

   About the journal thing, it's kind of a mixture of everything you mentioned... I have limited time, I am having and have had those kinds of experiences. It's just the curse of being a man of few words. But I have made goals to do better at that in my journal and it is turning out pretty well so far. I do go blank when I sit down and try to write in it most of the time but I am still going to make an effort.

   With the homeless, we basically just help at events that help feed them and we pretty much just serve the food to them and initiate the prayers and everything like that.   When we can, of course we talk about the gospel as well.  Other service things that we've done are like yesterday, we helped an old lady out by sweeping her walkways and garage. We volunteer at the foodbank, take down Christmas lights, and all that jazz.

   For exercise, we run every other day and on the others we either play sports, body work outs or just run. I have also been doing push ups in the morning and at night and that is helping a lot as well.

   Pdays here are pretty chill. It's a mostly dude zone, so the elders usually just play b-ball every week. Sometimes, we do something different and play sports outside. Elder Shoup and I will just chill this week. (Kind of a sick of b-ball.) So it'll be nice.

   I can't think of anything I need right now, other than maybe some more thank you notes.

   No break through s on college yet. I technically can't do anything until I get the papers in the mail from President, so hopefully i get those today.

   I was actually able to get some sweats and they have been nice for running and stuff like that. :) So thanks a ton for that! :) As always, I love and appreciate you more than you could ever understand!

   Love ya!

   Love,
   Elder Taylor C. Davis

WEEK 76

   Things were pretty different this week.  It was kind of a rough week.  A few days ago, our car was broken into and they took a bunch of Elder Shoup's stuff and the brand new flash drive that I got for Christmas.  I had just transferred all of the stuff that I have inherited on the mission like documents that I have made, music, videos and other things that I have used, to it.  Luckily, the day before, I had backed up everything regarding music and I wasn't dumb enough to put all of my pictures on there so I fortunately still have all of those.  :)  They took Elder Shoup's GPS and a couple of cords and some money that we had been saving up in the change bin in the car. Nothing too valuable, but we sure learned to never leave ANYTHING in the car ever again!  Fortunately, the flash drive was the only thing of mine that was stolen. :)  I feel bad it was stolen because it was a gift and it had sentimental value, but it's okay. :)  

   We have also had a lot of meetings and other things that have taken us away from our area. As far as meetings, we have had zone meeting, district meeting and stuff like that.  Plus we give a lot of rides to the other missionaries. Especially since one of their bikes broke. But that should be fixed soon. :)  

   Elder Shoup and I were able to make one of the most high tech maps I have ever had on my mission and now our area is super organized so that we can do work more effectively. So I am super pumped for that.

The map was a joint effort of course, but I have made a lot maps on my mission so it was cool to customize it and all that. I will be sure to take a picture this week and send it. 

    As far as mail is concerned, it is really hit and miss if we get mail every week or not.  We did not get mail last week and I am not sure if we will get it this week either but I am hoping we will. 

    I am glad to hear that your New Years Eve was so nice though! Pops has really changed a lot over the years and he really is a good man.  I freaking love that guy. My new years was kind of lame but it was still good. I did a lot of reflection and pondering about everything though and I actually felt pretty good about it.  We had planned to drink some apple cider that a member gave us and party it up at 10 right before we had to go to bed but somehow some other elders stole it and played a prank on us.  (Don't worry, we got them back.)  But other than that, it was good. We just chilled and hung out in the apartment and I set some pretty good goals for the new year and I am looking forward to it. 

    As for when I come home, I have given it some thought and I actually should be getting some papers and forms and stuff about college and dating and fun stuff like that soon.  I will be sure to be on top of all that because I have seen it become problems with other missionaries and don't want that. It will take time out of my email time though so I will end up just emailing the family personal emails and then just sending out a generic to everyone else. I will think about it more though and let you know next week.  

    As for us coming back as a family after my mission is over, I think that sounds like a great idea! I think that would be super cool. 

   Thanks for the fast!!!! We really need it and I am sure that it will pay off.  Unfortunately  we were not able to see Josefina last week but this week should be better.  We were able to see Rafael and he has a baptismal date in February!  He just needs to see that he needs to come to church in order for that to happen.  So hopefully we can help him see that this week.  Other than that, not to much to report.  We have just been cracking down on the less active work and trying to organize the area so we can be more effective and it has really payed off.  We have been doing a lot more service lately and of course it pays off.  We are going to help feed the homeless again this week so that should be fun. 

   (In the last pictures we have received Taylor has looked very tired, so we asked if he felt okay.)   I'm totally fine.  I just haven't been sleeping very well lately. My mp3 player bit the dust too and no I have so music so it takes me a little longer to fall asleep now. But I think I'm getting the hang of it :)

   

    I know life is hard sometimes :)  AKA - the break in.  But you know me... I am more disappointed than anything. Not really sad. I know it will all work out though. :) 

    As always I want you to know that I love you and that you have changed my life for the better.  I am thankful for all that you have done for me.  Especially while I have been on my mission.  I don't deserve most of what you guys do for me.  

   Well, I love you and hope you enjoy your week :) I gotta go now but I love you!  XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

  

   Love, 

   Elder Taylor C. Davis