LETTER DATED NOVEMBER 26, 2013

So much has happened in the last week but I have done I pretty good job at letting you know everything in my emails.  I am doing much better this week.  Tomorrow morning I will take Elder Karlinsey to the transfer meeting and pick up my new companion!  I am sad that he is going but it will be a new adventure to have a new companion.  It will be interesting to see how things turn out though.

It is sad that so many people were released from such great callings on Sunday.  Let me know what the new Young Men's president is like!

Thank you for sharing what ***** wrote.  I'm not going to lie, it's hard sometimes because I feel like I will never live up to the reputation everyone has set for me.  But they always say such nice things about me so I guess I'm doing something right.  Thank you for always believing in me.  You are the reason why I am who everyone sees me as.

For thanksgiving we plan to go to Bishop Jorgensen's house.  Other than that, we have no plans. 

I am glad that things are calming down there.  It has been hard for me because I know how worried you all can get. Hopefully now that I am better, things will be a lot easier.  Thank you so much for all the prayers and fasting. I hope you know how much it means to me.

As far as investigators are concerned, almost nothing has changed.  We have an appointment with **** tonight and we hope to see ****** on Thursday.

My scripture study is getting better.  I haven't been able to do much before now because of my back.  But now that it is better, I am going to study my brains out.  Something that I have been doing to help is I write down references about certain gospel topics in the back of my scriptures.  It helps me a lot!  About my favorite prophet...I'd have to say that it's a toss up between Mormon and Abinadi.  They were both such bosses!  They weren't afraid of anything!  I want to be like that.  I also want to be trusted by the Lord like they were.  My favorite non-prophet is also a tie between Moroni and Ammon.  They were so bold all the time and such great leaders.

I am so grateful for the Primary Book of Mormon Project.  It amazes me!  I feel so special to have it.  I am so proud of the Primary for what they have achieved.  I am not gonna lie, I kind of really would like to keep it for myself.  Ha ha.  But I will give it to someone that needs it.  Please thank the Primary for blessing me with the opportunity and tell the kids how grateful I am and how cool I think they are!!!

I love you all so much!

Love,
Elder Davis

THANKSGIVING

Taylor and his new companion attended Thanksgiving dinner at the Jorgensen's home in Poway.  Bishop Jorgensen is a bishop in the stake Taylor is serving in.  He is the brother of our dear friends, Scott and Paula Jorgensen who live in our neighborhood.  We are so grateful they invited him to dinner.  We received these pictures of he and his companion from our friends here.  Happy Thanskgiving Elder Davis! 

Pie by the pool.

WEEK 18

I am happy to tell you that I am feeling better than I have felt in months!  I have actually been able to work this week and it has been great!  About the blessing:  before it, Elder Karlinsey and I were talking about me and Elder Karlinsey shared scriptures with me from D&C 42 about healing.  He then asked me if I would like another blessing.  But this time, it would be for healing everything. Basically it was a miracle status blessing.  He asked me if I had the faith to be healed and I told him yes. I knew that going home was not the answer for me.  So he gave me a blessing.  It was one of the most powerful blessings I have ever received!  I KNOW that it was God talking and not Elder Karlinsey.  I was promised that I will be made completely whole again if I remain faithful and have the faith to be healed.  Then immediately after that, I was blessed with faith.  WOW.  Then I was told that I WILL return to Utah someday. But if I remain faithful, it will be at the end of a mission worked with mighty miracles.

Immediately after the blessing, I stood up and bent over and what not and I felt SO good!  The very next morning I was able to go to morning sports and I felt normal again.  I know that this was because of the blessing and nothing else.  I know it happened because this is where Heavenly Father needs me.

As far as transfers go, Elder Karlinsey is being transferred.  We will find out where tomorrow but I feel like it needs to happen and that God needs him somewhere else.  Yes, I am sad that he is going.  But I know that it is inspired of the Lord.

For Thanksgiving we have been invited to be with the Jorgensen's and I am actually going to call them today.  I think it will be fun and pretty cool.

Thank you for sharing with me what happened with ***.  That is so cool!  I know that you needed to be there as well because I know how in tune you are with the spirit. Thank you for your example and for your cool story.

As for investigators, **** lost her baptismal date.  Again.  But she is moving things along and we hope she will be married soon.

It would be nice to have my dry-fit 49ers shirt because I would enjoy it and I need another shirt because I have more shorts than shirts.

I want to tell you that I love you and appreciate you so much and I am finally feeling good.  I hope to still give it my all and help all I can.

I love you so much and am grateful for all that you do!

Love,
Elder Davis

 Elder, Elder Karlinsey & Taylor

A dinner Taylor and Elder Karlinsey made together.

MIRACLES

On Saturday Sis. "R" told us not be afraid to ask for miracles.  On Sunday I gave a lesson in Relief Society wherein Elder Holland said, "Believe in miracles.  I have seen so many of them come when very other indication would say that hope was lost.  Hope is never lost.  If those miracles do not come soon or fully or seemingly at all, remember the Savior's own anguished example :  if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead."

After speaking with the doctor, hope was not lost.  We were prepared to drink the bitter cup if need be.  The bitterest would have been if Taylor's cancer had returned or if the results would end his mission and neither of those are the case.  But we still have a son who was dealing with pain that is causing him to not be as effective on his mission as he would like to be and preventing him from serving to his full ability. We still have no answers how long it will be until he can fully function again and that is worrisome.  After the phone call with the doctor my husband and I held each other and expressed our feelings that we didn't know how we could go another month or two having Taylor in so much pain and worrying incessantly about how he was.

As we were preparing to go to bed, we got a call from Sis. "R".  It was about 10:30 pm MST.  She said Taylor had just called her.  She said she had never heard him so happy.  He told her his companion had given him a blessing and that he was feeling normal.  Better than he had in months.  He didn't give her all the details, he said he would share them in his email tomorrow, but that he believed a miracle had happened!

PHONE CALLS

We have been on pins and needles all day waiting to get the results from Taylor's MRI.  At about 3 pm MST we left the house to run some errands.  Apparently right after we let, the spine doctor called.  His message said he had Taylor in his office and wanted to go over the results with us.  It was about 4 pm when we got home and received the message.  We immediately called him back, but he did not answer.  We left a message and once again resumed waiting.

About 8 pm our time he called back.  He began the conversation by relaying the fact that when he had called earlier Taylor was in his office and he wanted to put the phone on speaker phone to give us the results.  The ever strict adherer to the rules "Taylor" told him he could not do that.  The doctor told Taylor he could just listen, not talk and Taylor still objected.  Although it would have been awesome to hear his voice, I love his conviction to obey the rules to the letter.  He is an amazing young man!  Through all of this, one of the hardest parts has been not being able to communicate with him.  We have had to rely on our communication with our Father in Heaven to see us through this.

We had an in-depth conversation with the doctor regarding Taylor's results.  The MRI showed it is NOT cancer!!! Hallelujah!  Apparently Taylor was born without the lowest disk in his spine.  Why no one has never noticed that before, we don't know.  The next disk up is trying to compensate for the lower one being gone.  However it is deteriorating due to the chemo and radiation treatments.   The doctor said Taylor will basically deal with this off and on for the rest of his life.  There will be times when it is totally fine and there will be times when it will take him down.  There is no indication of how often it will happen.

Next we discussed treatment options.  He said Taylor looked a little more comfortable today, but that it could take weeks to months for him to feel normal again.  The doctor does not want to push more steroids because of the side effects.  He is going to give Taylor two weeks to see how this hit of prednisone has worked.  If he does not see marked improvement he will do an in-office injection into the area and wait two weeks.  If he does not see improvement in two additional weeks, they will do an epidural injection into the site.

While it is GREAT news that it is not cancer, it is still very concerning and discouraging that there will be more waiting, hoping and praying that one of these treatments will restore his health.

PRAYERS

So many people have been concerned about Taylor and want to know what they can do for him or us.  The only thing we can say is, "Pray."  Everything is in the Lord's hands and he will be the one to determine the outcome.

On Sunday our Bishop gave a brief update of Taylor's condition and asked the members of our ward to keep Taylor in their prayers...and they did.  In every meeting we attended, even in an evening planning meeting.  The members prayed for Elder Davis.

Not only the adults, but the youth (young men, young women and especially the Primary children) are always asking us how Taylor is doing.  We have heard countless stories of how little tiny children are praying for him.  The young man who is the usher for sacrament meeting never fails to ask how he is doing.  And we can feel his genuine concern for Taylor.  We are blessed to live an area where we can draw strength from our ward family and today we really felt that.  I cannot express the comfort we have felt through your prayers.

HEALTH UPDATE

I spoke with Sis. "R" this morning and it was not the best news.  She relayed to me that Taylor is still in as much pain as he was before.  He feels that the prednisone is not helping much at all. She told me that Elder Ballard had visited a few weeks ago and spoken with the missionaries and he had told them not to be afraid to pray for miracles.  We have decided that is just what we will do...Pray for a miracle!!!