More Pictures!

Potomac River



Future Missionary

Pictures!

Lewis & Clark on the banks of the Potomac

Hello Everyone !!

So how was the rest of Christmas for you guys? Ours was good. We went and had dinner with a family from the ward. They are very big into history so they wanted to do a re-enactment of Lewis and Clark and Sacajewia. They had us kinda dress up and we went out in their backyard (which sits right on the banks of the potomac) and we took some pictures. It was fun haha ! I will send you a couple pics from it. Then we just went and visited some other people. We saw this old lonely lady that lives in this trailer park. Shes kind of crazy but she is way nice. We tracted into her a couple days before christmas and she said she was going to be alone and had no food. So we went over there and tried to give her some cookies but she said she didn't have any teeth so she didn't want them. Woops haha. Should have thought that one out. She ended up giving us these sweet beenies that she made. Its like bright orange and ones yellow. I'll send some pics. Then Sunday...oh man sunday was hilarious. So there were like flurrys of snow in the air. They forecasted a whole 4 inches of snow !!! haha which we know is really nothing. Well we get to church...still no snow on the ground...and they end up having sacrament and cancelling the other meetings !! It never even snowed more than an inch that day. I was like that is kinda weird ! There were only like 50 people at sacrament...it was fun ! Thats really all the new exciting news I have. I know most of you are on vacation so hopefully I will hear from ya next week !! Love ya !!

ELder Davie

Puff Puffs!

Hello Everyone !!!

So I forgot my planner so im going to have to go off memory to fill ya in on my week.

On Saturday we had our ward christmas party. It was good ! We had a couple investigators there and were able to meet some new people so that was nice.

This week so far has been awesome for us ! In the last couple days we have found 4 new investigators. One of them is named Lillian. She is from Ghana. Her sister is a strong member in Britian. We had a great lesson with her and were going back on thursday for dinner (uh oh) and a lesson. They were eating tilapia and fufu last time so I pray that its something different. We were visiting this other ghanain yesterday named bafou. Hes inactive. They gave us some puff puffs. They were like fried dough..it was way good.

We are going to the temple visitors center tonight with some recent converts so that should be good. Its been freezing here though!!! Like 20 degrees. Cold. It snowed a couple inches last week and is supposed to snow again I guess on christmas. Should be exciting. I got your package mom !! 12 days of christmas haha. Some of the gifts were opened when I opened the box. There are a couple left still though :) Thank you so much !! I love the tie. Good pick.

Well thats pretty much it for me. Not to much new stuff to write about. I hope you all have a great christmas !! I love you guys !

Pictures!

Me , Robert, and Elder Bell. This guy is awesome ..hes hilarious ! We are teaching his 13 year old son. Robert is hardcore baptist.



This was us at the temple....one of the best days of my life!!

Loving Life!

Hello Everyone !

We just barely got back from the Christmas conference. I don't have very much time so hoepfully I can get all my thoughts out ! Christmas conference was great. It was just at the centerville stake center. We had a talent show type thing which was hilarious. Our zone played some song on kazoos...i got it on video. Elder Bill Marriott (Owner of Marriott hotels ) and member of the 70 came and spoke to us which was cool. Then president and sister albright spoke. President Albrights son was here also and him and his wife performed like 10 songs. Hes pretty dang good. You should check him out ....his name is Brandon Albright. Our week has been great. I am LOVING this experience im having right now with elder bell and serving in alexandria (bellehaven) Its awesome here. I got to eat fried plantains a couple days ago...I was not a fan haha. Good experience though. I don't know if you remember Gina Dickelman....she is a recent convert from Garrisonville. I taught her ex boyfriend Andy . Well she went through the temple last saturday and so me and elder bell were invited. It was AWESOME!!!!! Gosh dang it was good. What a neat experience to see someones life change and to be apart of it. I got to see the randalls which was so good. Gina said andy is on fire right now and has changed so much because of the gospel. He was baptized in August so hopefully this time next year I will get a call that hes going through the temple. Thats a day i wont' miss. Everything has been going well. I got the christmas cd...thank you so much ! I love it !! I just got a slip in the mailbox today saying I have a package so I will go pick it up tomorrow morning. You guys are amazing. Man I love my family SO much. I reflect daily on the relationships and the love that we have between each other. Its incredible. This area I serve in is more of a poor area. It breaks my heart to see the pain and suffering these people go through and to see the humble circumstances they live in. Alot of them live in small apartments with big familys and work multiple jobs. I talked to Craig a couple days ago. He misses "Davy Jones " as he puts it haha. He said hes "warming up " to the idea of baptism. Man I miss that guy. Ive been so blessed the past 14 months its unbelievable. I felt so much gratitude today to be able to serve in the dc south mission. President Albright is something else...he is so good. I hope you can all meet him one day !!!! Thank you guys so much for EVERTYHING!!! Your always in my prayers. I love you !!!

Elder Davie

FuFu = No Bueno

Hello Everyone !

So last week was pretty good for us. Last Thursday we had a bible study at the church. I guess every week they have it. Its fun. One of the guys who comes cooks up a ton of good food.

Friday : We had a lesson with one of our investigators named Paul. Hes from Ghana. He is great. Hes one tough investigator though because hes stubborn ! He knows what he needs to be doing and he knows it will bring him happiness but hes not doing it !!! He progresses slowly every time we go over there. He said he will try and make it to church in the next couple weeks.

Saturday : Well it was definatly an interesting day! We had a lesson with Jonathon. He flew in from Ghana about 3 weeks ago and just got baptized last week so we were teaching him the "new member" lessons. He lives with his sister shirley. Shes not a member but she loves the missionaries. Well when we got there she let us know we were going to be eating fufu with them ! I stomach dropped. So I had no choice but to eat it !!! It looked like a big pile of dough in this bowl with some weird soup. Then you just pick pieces off and rub it in the soup and eat it. The taste really wasn't to bad , but the texture...oh man the texture got me. I finished it all though. It was like the size of the pizza dough balls at little ceasars nate...remember those? It goes down way heavy though so it fills ya up quick !!! Then we had a lesson with Demetrius, our 13 yr old investigator. He lives with his adopted dad robert. Robert is hilarious. Hes baptist. He loves the missionaries though. He says we are his best friends haha. You guys will have to meet him one day. Then we finished the night with a lesson at lawrences. Hes a pastor. We shared with him like a 10 min restoration lesson then he took over haha. He wanted to read Romans 1 with us. It took about an hour and a half to read it !!! He like preached a sermon to us. Weird.

Sunday : I woke up and felt sick again !! I have been getting sick like every month...I don't know whats wrong with me ! I felt like I had the flu. I had some leftover amoxicillin because I forgot to take it all when I had strep. So I took that and now I feel great again ! Sunday night we had dinner with an ethiopian family and our investigator who is from Ethiopia. Needless to say we had ethiopian food !! I was starving since it was fast sunday ...all I wanted was some american food...pizza...hamburger...something !!! But instead we had durawatt. Not sure really what it is...but I don't think im a big fan. Then we had like this bread stuff. It looked like the rollups you make but they were purple and they were a little puffier and really soggy. I thought I was gonna lose it.

Those were some of the highlights I guess. Yesterday we went and checked on this new investigator we found. His name is Immanuel. Hes from Ghana also. We left him a restoration dvd last week. We went back and he said " I LOVED the movie you left me ! I have watched it several times. I feel good when I watch it ! " I thought he was just sayin it cuz some people do that...but then he like started quoting the movie !! It was amazing. He said hes already burned a couple copies and sent it to his friends in ghana haha. So were meeting with him in a couple days and he will probably get baptized soon.

Tonight we are going to the temple. Were heading down at 4:30. They have all the temple lights up and so we get to do down and do parking or something for it. Im excited its going to be fun !! The only downfall is that its been like 20 degrees.. Its FREEZING !!! I can't find the outer part of my coat that I have....so im trying to decide what to do. Im gonna buy thermals at least.

Well that was my week ! It was a good one. I am enjoying this area. It is so different then what im used to. What a great experience its been for me. I am lucky. I love you guys !!!!!

Exchanges with Elder Peterson

Monday Miracle

Hey Everyone !

Man it has been a crazy week.... a good week though ! Last wednseday we had stake correlation...the meeting with bishops, stake presidency , mission president and ward mission leaders. Wow that was scary. These are all very successfull people. It was intense. It went really well though. I said a little prayer as we were about to do our training, and felt at peace.

Saturday we had a lesson with Craig. It went ok. He had just got back from a business trip in Chicago. We could tell something was bugging him, or something was on his mind because he was being more quiet than usual. Finally he told us " One night after a long day of meetings our company went out and I had a couple drinks . " It was dissapointing im not going to lie, but at the same time it was amazing to see the remorse he had. We talked to him for a little while and hopefully gave him the strength to resist the temptation next time.

Sunday night we went to a departing missionary fireside. Basically all the missionaries who are leaving give a brief testimony. There were 23 leaving so it was a looonngg night. Craig took us down, I think it was a little long for him. I have some good friends who are going home though so it was good to see them all

Monday....wow what a great day monday was. Well our zone has been struggling a little bit. Ashburn zone is a very tough zone to lead and to be in. President called in the morning and we threw around some ideas of what we could do to make things more effective. Well we also found out a couple days before that there was some disobedience happening with some of the missinoaries so it was just a very stressfull day. Then we had district meetings which went well. By the evening though I was just beat. We went and visited with Flora...she hasn't been coming to church or meeting with us for a while. We had a great visit. Then we had dinner with a family in our ward. Then we had one of the biggest miracles ever. So it was about 8:45. We live about 10 min away so we were thinking of just calling it a night. We were in the safeway parking lot on the corner of broadlands avenue and claiborne parkway. My companion says well heres a few options ...... The last option was to go tract for a few minutes across the street. That was what I wanted to do so when he said it im like yes ! Lets go tract these apartments. Right when I said there in my mind I heard a voice say " You are going to find someone tonight ! " It was clear as day. I was going to tell my comp but I kept it to myself. I knew we would find someone. So were knocking...its about 9:00 now...were on the 3rd floor and have maybe 5 doors left. We knock on this guys door named Gerald. We talk to him for a couple min. You can tell hes religious and he was way nice. We asked if we could come in for a few minutes. After a pause he said ok. So we go in and sit down. His girlfriend is on the computer typing a paper for college. When we first got in they were both kind of closed minded. They were way nice but just disagreed with some stuff. The spirit was so strong. We kept teaching him for about 25 minutes. By the end, his heart had been softened. His girlfriend had stopped typing her paper and was fully engaged in the conversation. At the end Gerald said " Man you guys probably can't tell but im going through an extremely rough time in my life right now and on top of that my mom just passed a way recently. " He went on to say " I have been praying that god would send me a sign of help and of strength. Then you guys knocked on my door. " Then he said " I dont' know if you guys can but i would be so gratefull if you could come back and teach me more ! " During the closing prayer his girlfriend was in tears. I have never felt the spirit that strong in my entire life. Never have I had such a convincing experience in my life that has told me this church is true !! I have no doubts that what I teach every single day is what the the lord would teach his people if he were here. It was incredible...such an adrenaline rush. It felt like I was at a jazz game and dwill hit a buzzer beater to win the finals....but it felt even better than that. It was unexplainable.

Last night we had another lesson with Craig. We talked alot about the scriptures and how he needs to apply them to his life. We told him again that he needs to pay attention to the feelings he has. We told him if hes looking for an angel to come down and shake some sense into him that its not going to happen ! It was a good visit though.

So that was my week !! It was great. I can't believe transfers are in a week. Its flown by. I love you guys. Your always in my prayers. Thanks for all the love and support ! Thanks for never giving up on me !!!

Elder Davie

Hey Mom and Family !

How are you guys ? It was great to hear from you mom !! For Thanksgiving we will just visit with members. Someone signed up for dinner already . Transfers are actually on Thanksgiving day so there is a chance I won't even be here. We will see. I have a feeling I am staying in the area though..who knows. We did get a new investigator this week. It is a part member family in our ward. The husband who is not a member has been coming to church for 5 years but never had the desire to be baptized. Well hes ready to now. He wants to get baptized the same day as his daughter. She turns 8 the end of December so we set them on date last night for January 8th. We taught them the first lesson. It went pretty good. The weather here has been crazy. Its been in the low 70's high 60's. Im wearing a short sleeve shirt today ! I wish it was cooler...but at least its not hot. Oh ya I had a couple questions for you mom. Do you know if they ever got my missionary plaque ? Also I was on the Founders Park Stake website and it didn't list me as one of the full time missionaries serving? Maybe they forgot about me haha. Let me know though if they got my plaque. Its hard to think of what I want for christmas because I don't really need anything right now. Let me think about it this week and see if I can come up with anything. Last Monday we had dinner with John Beck ! Quarterback of the redskins. It was awesome ! It was interesting to hear some of the stories hes told. He has such a strong testimony though and gave us some good advice. He also invited us and our investigator to the redskins vs eagles game on monday. He said hed get us in. But I highly doubt our mission president would let us. Probably not the best environment for a missionary to be in. It would be a blast though. Thats about all the excitement of our week. I love you guys !!!

Elder Davie

Wacky Wakeup!

Exterminator!

After.....

More Pictures!

Halloween Time!

Miracle in the Making

So hows it going? How has your week been ? Anything exciting going on ? There hasn't been a ton of exciting stuff going on here. We had conference on the weekend which was really good. I enjoyed the priesthood session. One of my favorite talks from all the sessions was from some guy named like marvin arnold or something? It was legit. So I thought I would tell you a little bit about our investigator named Craig. So about 5 weeks ago, like the first week of the transfer, we were checking on this less active lady in these apartment complexes. My last companion didn't ever want to tract them because he said they had already been done over and over. So im like well I have a new companion now so lets just knock a few doors. We chose this one complex. No one answered except craig. He just barely opened the door and kind of stuck his head out and was just like what who are you like the usual. We did our approach and invited ourselves to come in. He stood there for a second in silence and said alright .... come in. Ofcourse I was still lacking faith and thought well this is probably just another one of those nice people who will let us in for a few minutes then never be able to contact them again. Well we taught him for about a half hour and he had some very good questions. We scheduled a return appointment for the next week...and he was there !!! Thats always a good sign. That same week he came to an elders quorum activity as well as church. Hes committed himself to live the word of wisdom without us even teaching him, he learned it from mormon.org. He has read all the way through first and second nephi and always has awesome questions for us. He has no religious background so everything is new to him. Hes still kind of skeptical , but I can see a change in him every time we teach him again. Since we first met him he said hes been having a hard time at work and just didn't ever really know what his bosses wanted him to do. We told him " Craig, pray for guidance and direction at work ! " So he did that night and has every night since. Yesterday he said " Its weird, the last few days at work ive actually went in knowing what im supposed to do, its been nice ! " We were like craig that is heavenly father answering your prayers !!! He was like well I don't know if its that or if im just getting the hang of it. He is progressing so much. We talked to him yesterday about baptism. He said when he finds an answer of wether or not its true, he wants to get baptized. Its amazing. The whole process from finding someone to teaching about baptism and so on is just an incredible experience I wish everyone could have. Its priceless. He is definatly a reason why im in this area with my companion. Transfers are next week. Its about 95% sure that im staying here again. I have some pics im gonna be sending you here in a couple minutes. Thanks for all that you guys do ! I love you guys !!

September 8, 2010

Hello!
Hows everyone doing? Hopefully good !! So things here are going very well. Last week (Transfer week) was kind of rough. Our zone didn't do so hot. So me and elder jones are working on that. We are getting along very well. We have a ton in common. We have had a great time so far so thats been good ! We have had a pretty good week. So guess who was at church on Sunday? John Beck ! Quarterback for the Redskins. I sat right behind him, we talked for a second afterwards. It was funny to see everyones reaction when he introduced himself in Elders Quorum. It was kind of cool though. He lives in a town home in our area. He won't be at church very often so it was fun to see him. Monday we had Zone Leader Council. It was pretty intense. Basically from 9-3 all the zone leaders, president, and the assistants get together , sit in a circle, and counsel about new ideas and how to fix problems in the mission. Obviously some people are quite oppinioinated so it is pretty funny sometimes. I didn't say to much, next time for sure I will though. It was fun though and we all had a good time. We always have zone leader basketball before the counsels each month so that was fun. Then last night while tracting me and my companion found 2 new investigators ! The first one is Belinda. She is from Ghana. We taught her a little about the Book of Mormon and she was accepting to us coming back and teaching more. She is awesome. She is going to make us some Fufu next time, not sure what that is so if you want to google it and let me know what im getting myself into that would be sweet. Then as we were driving to a members house to use the bathroom we saw this guy on his porch talking on his phone, he looked like he was from Ghana so we wanted to go talk to him. Sure enough he was. My companion knows some Twi so he said a couple things to him and he just loved it ! I thought it was hilarious to see a white guy speak his native lanugage. We taught him a little and he agreed to let us come back. He is visiting from Ghana for 6 months so hopefully we can help him before he goes back. Also our other investigator from Ghana came to church again on Sunday. Her and her whole family were there and they stayed for the full three hours ! The kids LOVED it ! It was a little long for Flora but I think she enjoyed it. We are going over there on Saturday afternoon to play some volleyball and have a lesson and have some Fufu. That is all the exciting news that I have I think ! Its been a good week, I am excited for this transfer and to see all the miracles ! I love you guys !!

Elder Davie

Hey mom !

Its been a much better week. Last week was rough, I have to admit. It was difficult and wednesday was a rough day. After I emailed you and we did shopping I went home and found this letter in my mailbox from Brother Hunt. He from the Garrisonville ward :

" Elder Davie, Thank you for your letter. It was very inspirational. Im glad that you have settled down at the brambleton ward in ashburn. Were all doing well, but let me just say that this place certainly isn't the same without you serving. It was a big loss to see you go and you are greatly missed. I want to thank you for all you've done for my family. You set a fine example for others to emulate and your a genuine man, leader and representative of our church. We were truly blessed to have had your counsel and consider you a family friend. You always have a place to visit and stay if you need to at all. You made a tremendous impression and always brought the spirit of christ with you during your visits. Thank you for what you do, have done, and will do in the future. We expect great things from you and we hope to see you one day soon , The Hunts "

Man I needed that. I felt like the lord blessed me in that moment...I was struggling so bad and was so down on myself and I was able to receive that. It was truly a blessing. We had a barbecue at the mission home on Monday for our zone. It was because we all got 72 hour kits. We played volleyball and basketball and ping pong and ate lots of food and chilled with President and his wife. It was a blast !!! I love President, he is pretty amazing. Also I met a less active lady in our ward who grew up in vacaville ! She graduated from Vacaville High School...small world ! Things are going good though ! I am excited to serve next transfer with Elder Jones...I don't know him but have heard great things. I think we have similar personalitys so it should be good. I love you guys so much ! Thanks for helping me through this experience and sharing it with me !!

Elder Davie

p.s. I am still zone leader...I am staying here in Brambleton and getting a new companioin

Cousins in the Mission Field

Hey !

How is everyone doing? I have had a pretty good week for the most part ! Last wednesday we had our quarterly "Stake Correlation" meeting. Wow that was pretty intense. Stake presidency, bishops, ward mission leaders and us. We meet in the high council room and meet together to discuss the work in the Ashburn Zone. Then me and my comp present some information for 5-10 minutes. It went pretty well. It was a little nerve racking but its all good. Then I was able to interview John Owens for baptism. It was my first time doing a baptismal interview so I was excited ! It went really well ! Then Sunday, man what a great day it was. Church was normal as usual. But we got to go to the "Why I Believe" fireside at the temple visitor center where President and Sister Albright spoke. Also the new Mission president and his wife for the DC North mission were there. Its president and sister matsamuri. She was in the General Primary presidency. I was able to meet them which was pretty cool. The fireside was awesome. They had a couple recent converts bare their testimonys which was so powerful. Then President got up and shared a ton of miracles from our mission and it was just awesome. He had a powerpoint to go with it and it was sweet. It was in the theater which seats 500 and it filled up. They had overflow rooms where people were watching. Guess who I saw ? Elder Hanks ! Haha . I saw him walk in and I went up to him and was like " Dude ! " I don't think he had any idea who I was. Once I told him he was like oh man whats up ! It was good times. He seems to be doing very good and hes very happy so let his family know I saw him ! I got a picture with him....I will send it in a few min. Monday I went on exchanges with Elder Hutchinson in Goose Creek. It was a great time and we had alot of success. Our zone also got invited to enjoy a bbq at the mission home here in a couple weeks. There was a competition for whoever can get their whole zone to get a 72 hour kit together first. We tied for first I guess so were going and the other zone is going. It should be awesome ! We were supposed to have a zone activity today....we were going to play baseball and have a bbq but its pouring rain ! So we had to cancel it which is a bummer. Pat Reid....the guy I was teaching in Garrisonville is getting baptized on August 28th !!! Im going to try and make it down. Then Andy who I was teaching in Garrisonville is getting baptized the next day ! On a sunday though so I can't make it for that one which is a huge bummer. I think thats all the new and exciting stuff going on ! I got the birth certificate ! Thanks so much ! Now I can go get my virginia license. I hope you guys are all having a wonderfull week !!!! I love you guys !!!

Elder Davie

How are you guys? How was your week ? HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM !!! How old are ya now? It has been a better week for me than the first week, thats for sure. I am getting used to things I guess you could say. Last Saturday we had a "Ward Social" party thing at the church. THey had a pie baking and cake baking contest. Me and my comp were some of the judges so that was fun to eat all the good stuff ! I was able to talk with the bishop a little more and get to know him. We talked basketball for like 20 minutes which was nice. He is a professor at Georgetwon ! Crazy. Nate this will be cool for you : My bishop teaches business at georgetown, he had Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green in his classes. Sweet huh ! And Deshawn Stevenson used to live right next door to him ! Sweet huh. He knows a ton about basketball so it was fun to catch up with him. He said Jeff Green is a very down to earth guy and has a good head on his shoulders. On sunday we ate at this home. Turns out there was a girl there who is sisters with a girl I knew in high school, small world. Then on Sunday night 8 of us from our zone got to go sleep over at the mission home. It was a blast of course ! Monday morning bright and early at about 5 we started heading down to Fredericksburg to go to the National Scout Jamboree. I guess its a pretty big deal. They only have them once every four years and it turned out to be here in our mission this year ! This was he first time the jamboree has let missionaries come to "Proselyte." There was like 50,000 scouts there so it was pretty amazing. The first half of the day I worked in the Geneology Merit badge booth. They had different stations in there. I started out teaching scouts how to conduct an interview with their ancestors. Then I taught them how to fill out a timeline. They had like groups of 10-15 scouts go to these different stations and we would teach them about geneology for 5-10 minutes then I would get a new group and we did that over and over for like 5 hours. Then the second half of the day I went to the church booth in a different section. There we handed out these patches and for the strength of youth to all who came by and we would talk to them about the church and answer their questions. It was really fun. One of the guys who was representing the church took that pic of me and sent it to you haha. You were probably like who the heck is sending me this picture of elder davie?! I don't know who he was but he works for the church. Then after the jamboree we all went to On The Border which is a really good mexican restaurant. It was a looong exhausting day but it was really fun. Then yesterday I went on exchanges to Ashburn/Belmont Ridge where I was trained it. We went and visited a few people that I knew from before so it was fun. It made me realize how much I miss the Garrisonville ward though...theres just something about that place. And now im here emailing you guys ! That was my week ! Tomorrow we have zone conference. I will be conducting and then me and my companion will also be doing some training there. I am not nervous as I thought I would be. It should be a good experience for me to get me out of my shell a little more. I will let ya know how it goes !! Well I love you guys !!

Elder Davie

Hey Everyone ! How are you guys? Mom are you and Nate still out of town? Im assuming so cuz I didn't see any emails from you this week. How is your vacation? How is San Antonio? Hows Austy? Emily sent me this picture of her sitting on a tree....soo cute ! Shes growing up !! So how has everyones week been? Anything new and exciting going on? Emily, did you take austyn to the neurologist? Is she still having seizures? Hows Daves leg? Ashley mentioned that you got the boxes I sent home. Do they keep raising the prices of those flat rate boxes? I didn't know they cost $15 to send ! I couldn't fit that stuff with me so I had to send it all home. I hope you guys enjoyed it all ! Make sure you don't throw it away :) I got the shirt you got me nate ! Thanks so much , I really like it !! It was at Sis Randalls but I just had my roomate bring it to leadership meeting last Monday so it worked out just fine. So your probably all wondering what life has been like for me the past week..... Well here it goes. My first week of Zone Leader consisted of 3 things : Day one I found a tick in my leg...it was really weird and was the first time Ive seen a tick or ever had one. I burned him out of my leg with a lighter then pulled him out slowly so I didn't rip the head off. Hope I don't get lime disease. Day two I got bit by a freaking pitbull. It wasn't a bad bite at all but it drew blood ! Day three I had to speak in church....not only did I speak but I found out like at 10 on Saturday night via text message lol. Needless to say its been an interesting week ! No but really it has been good. Its been tough, but good. I miss Garrisonville a ton. Like its been really hard to have to leave that area and that ward and start fresh. I struggle with change so its been a very difficult transition. The new calling as Zone Leader hasn't been tough , just the change. Ashburn is completely different from garrisonville. Its a whole different feel up here. I serve in the Brambleton ward. I was able to see some families on Sunday from the wards I was trained in so that was good. It is nice to be able to be in a car. Ofcourse the week I get in a car is the week the temperatures go from 105 to 85. Its all good though. Ive enjoyed the new calling. Its fun to be on this side of the spectrum and see how things go ya know? Its fun to have the ability to make decisions that I wasn't able to make before. We have zone conference I think like next week or something...I get to conduct so that should be interesting. It will be fun. We had a baptism on Saturday for this guy named Joe. He was investigating for like 10 years so it was neat. We are on the hunt for new gators now though. We found one yesterday while tracting. I think thats all of the new and fun and exciting things that are happening here. I love you guys and miss you all ! Hopefully I will hear back soon ! Love you guys !!

Elder Davie

Zone Leader

Hello ! Well today is a very difficult day. I got a call from President Albright and I am going to be transfered. Its very very hard. Garrisonville has become my home. I could have stayed here another 9 months and loved it just as much ! I am almost in schock because I thought for sure I was going to be staying. It caught me off gaurd. I know this was bound to happen and I know I had to get transferred sometime so why not start the adjustment now right? So your probably wondering where im going and who my new companion is. Well I got released as district leader. Guess I didn't do good enough job. Haha j/k. The reason I got released as a district leader is because I got called to be a new zone leader. My new companion is Elder Wallace. I have met him before. He is nice. But ya we are going to be zone leaders in the Ashburn Zone. Back to where I started. I actually will be living in the same apartment complex I was trained in. Not the same apartment but the same complex. Its bitter sweet. I am absolutely scared to death to be a zone leader. Lots of responsibility. Lots of assigments. Lots of hard work. It brings me comfort to know that the lord makes us equal to our callings. I can do this right? I hope so. I was not expecting this at all. I was hoping to stay here another couple transfers and stay district leader so I could get the hang of it. I am ok with not planning district meetings though :) It will be the most challenging yet rewarding time in my mission. These experiences I am about to have will be difficult but fun. I will let ya know how it goes ! I am going to visit some families today and take some pics and say my goodbyes. It still hasn't hit yet that im leaving, its really weird. The next few months are going to fly by. My mtc roomate larochelle is also a new zone leader so thats awesome ! At least I will now be in a car and the zone leaders all have blackberrys...that wont be to bad :) Im anxious to hear how you are all doing ! Thanks for the package mom ! I especially love the jesus the christ book....amazing ! Thank you so much !!! I love you guys !!!

Elder Davie

Hey mom ! It was good to hear from you ! I did get your goodie package! Thank you so much. The chips ahoy hit the spot. I also got your wal mart gift card you send which was awesome. I should have used it on groceries but I REALLY needed a little boom box to play some music on so thats what I used it for :) Our ward has been taking care of us really good. All I need to survive is bread and pb and j. This week has been really good. We had transfers on Thursday. My new companion is Elder Sean Peterson. He is from Richfield, UT. He is a clone of Brad Dixon !!!! He doesn't look like him but his personality, the things he says, the things he likes, everything. Its awesome. Its like being companions with brad !! We are going to have a great time. He is a VERY hard worker as well which is awesome. He has that greenie fire. I have loved the experience of training someone new. Its been awesome. My roomates from the MTC are all training to and 2 of them are District Leaders. I am blessed to have started out with such a good group. We haven't found any new investigators this week which is sad. Keep us in your prayers to help us find people to teach !!! Our homeless investigator James moved down to Fredericksburg to stay in the homeless shelter. He found the church down there on Sunday and showed up ! The elders down there called me and said " Hey this guy came to our ward and said you have been teaching him ..... " It was awesome ! He has such a desire to learn more. So they are going to take over and teach him while he is down there, im not sure if it is a permanent move or not. I will definatly be at the baptism though. Hopefully it will still happen on June 26th. My bishop helped me get my bike to the shop last Saturday. I had a "Bad wheel hub" or something . Kind of ridiculous since ive only been riding it for 12 weeks. So we go in the shop and bishop tells them to fix it and tells them to put fenders on it and tells them to put 2 new tires on it. $200 later ..... my bike is fixed...and my bishop paid for it. I have such gratitude for him. What can I do to pay him back? What can I do to make sure he knows how much I appreciate it? Any ideas? I am going to write him a letter expressing my thoughts but I want to do something more for him. So my first week of being district leader hasn't been to bad. Its weird calling my district every night and trying to help them because I still feel like im the one who needs advice and help. But I have great people in my district ! I have a senior couple, sisters who go home this transfer, and some elders. We had a mission conference yesterday with Elder Hinkley. It was weird because his voice sounds like President Hinkley ! He doesn't look so much like his dad but he sure sounds like him ! That was fun though being able to meet him and to see some of my buddies. Since we had that we don't have district meetings so i don't have to prepare that this week which was a relief. Its been a busy calling. Its been raining alot here. Like almost every day. It just rains for like 10 minutes then stops, then gets hot and humid. Well I can't think of anything else exciting that happened. Well actually something funny..... Last week we had a dinner appointment, it was my comps first dinner. When we were eating desert he was trying to cut this brownie and it flew off his bowl onto the floor, it was hilarious. Then he was going to reach for his glass of water and the dog started barking and it startled him and he spilled the water all over the table. We were all cracking up. Good Times. I attached a picture and will send some more here in a second. I love you guys ! HOpe you all have a wonderfull week !!!

Elder Davie

District Leader

Hey How are you guys? Ash mentioned she went to the bees game yesterday...did you go with her? Also how is austyn doing? I know you said she started having seizures again, that worries me. How has your week been? Any new and exciting news ? We have had a pretty good week. We got stuck teaching the first part of our class again because our ward mission leaders wife is the new relief society president so she was getting set apart. I think thats all the new and exciting news that happened this week. Last sunday we had a tornado warning, isn't that crazy ! I have never seen it rain that hard in my life ! It was nuts. I love this ward. It is the best ward ive ever been in. I have met some awesome people. So now your probably wondering....what was my transfer call? Well.... I have been pleading with everyone including the lord to let me stay in Garrisonville ! I could stay here the rest of my mission, I really could. Well the lord bargained with me.... I am staying in Garrisonville. My companion is going to Vienna. This will be his sixth time getting transfered out of 6 transfers that hes been out, that is nuts ! I was really hoping to stay with him, we have had some great times and we got along really well. So whos my new companion? Good question, I don't even know. I know that he's been living in Provo the last few weeks and will be flying out here today. Ya im training..... Im scared to death. Im getting a brand new greenie. Feelings of inadequecy overwhelmed me when I talked with president last night. But thats not all..... I am the new district leader down there. Are you freaking kidding me?! I can't believe it, im scared to death. There are so many other missionaries that would do 100 times better than me. Im not ready to be district leader, but I have to take it head on and do my best. So training and district leader, this will be a growing experience for me. Keep me in your prayers ! It will not be easy... But its another chapter in my mission. Well I love you guys ! I am excited to hear back from you !!! Love you !!

Elder Davie

Email dated June 2, 2010

Hey mom How are you guys doing? Did you and Emily do anything fun? What were the results of the MRI? Im dying to hear ! This week has been really good for us. Last Monday we got a referral in a text. It was from church headquarters. His name is James Allison. He referred himself by requesting a Book of Mormon. We call him up and he tells us he's homeless.....so were like sweet were at walmart come meet us here ! So we gave him a Book of Mormon in the wal mart parking lot and talked with him for a few minutes. He has a truck and a cell phone and thats it. Hes probably in his early 50's. A couple days later we schedule a time to teach him. We taught him at the church. We gave him a tour of the church then sat down and taught the restoration. The lesson went pretty good. At the end I felt like we should invite him to be baptized. He accepted. He will be baptized on June 26th. We are having another lesson with him tonight so it should be fun. We have a couple solid potentials. The area is growing. Im happy here. I could finish my mission here. Bishop Garvin is absolutely amazing. He is one of the most influential people ive ever met. Theres something about him. I hope you guys can meet him one day. Our whole ward is amazing. I have formed some life long friendships here. Last Sunday we were in meetings with our bishop and ward mission leader...it was about 11:15....church starts at 12:30. Someone knocks on the door and its the bishops wife...she says " So and so just called and is sick and cant speak today." My heart did a couple backflips when I heard that. Bishop looks at us and smiles and says " Elders can you stay after the meeting for a second, I have an assignment for you" We only had to speak for 5 min which wasn't bad. I was nervous as all get up and was sweatin it up. I talked about dad. I felt impressed to. I talked about how the gospel can bring happiness. Then jsut bore a quick testimony. Then we go to Gospel Principles class. We walk in and the teacher (our ward mission leader) says " Elders I have to meet with the bishop for a couple min can you start the class " I was like ya sure. 25 min later he comes back ! It went ok though, just have to get the class involved and ask questions . It was a stressfull day though. One of those mentally draining days. I wish I could speak without freaking out. Oh well though. Well that was my week ! Oh ya, there was an insane lightning and thunder storm last week. Ive never seen and heard lightening and thunder like that before. It was nuts ! Its been extremely hot here. I love you guys !!! Hope your all having a great time in Utah !!! Stay happy !! Love you !! Elder Davie

P.S. The picture was taken at the Reids house. They are a part member family. We go there and eat there quite often. We were having spaghetti so sis reid made us wear bibs so we didn't get our shirts dirty haha. It was hilarious ! Love ya guys !

Email dated May 26, 2010

Hey Mom ! Hows it going? That is awesome that Emily is coming into town today ! I was wondering when she was coming ! This last week has been pretty good for the most part. We had interviews with President last Thursday which is also a treat. We don't get long with him but its so nice to sit down and talk. Then on Friday we went and visited a few people. Saturday we had a barbecue at Bro Randalls house. It was fun ! Sunday went really well. They have "Family Weekends" here once a month which means no meetings except for the 3 hour block. We still met with out bishop to go over some needs of the area. It was good. Then we had District meetings on Monday. I gave a lesson on " The Dangers of Counterfeiting the Spirit" . Then yesterday we did alot of tracting. We also had dinner at the Mccartys. She is being induced today, im so excited for them. We have got to know them really well, its been fun. I will send you pics of the little baby when I get some. I gave sis mccarty a priesthood blessing about a week ago because she was struggling with the pregnancy. A couple days ago when we saw them again she told me that I said some things that really hit her and she was thankfull for it. I don't tell you that to boast, but it was a testimony builder for me and it strengthened me. It is a good feeling to know that you have an impact on people. Today we have a zone activity. We are going down to some park and having a barbecue and playing "games"....boring. :) So me and my roomates and my comp are leaving early ....guess why? .....Were going to the Quantico Marine Base to go check out the FBI Academy !!! Sweet huh?! Theres a member of our roomates ward whos in the FBI and hes gonna take us in and show us the academy where members of the FBI train for missions and what not. Im excited. We have had a good week. I have to do District meetings next week....That means I have to conduct and prepare everything...im not looking forward to it but it will be a growing experience. I better not be a district leader next transfer....that would be bad news. :) Well mom I love you. The other day at lunch I was laying on my bed just pondering . I felt the warmest gratitude for my family. You nate ash em brandon dave austy and dal. Im gratefull for you guys. I love you guys !!! I hope you all have a safe week !!! God be with you till meet again :) Love you mom

Hey ! Sounds like you guys had a fun time on your vacation ! I remember last time we went we had a blast but it was tiring and we were ready to come home. Things have been going ok here. We had zone conference last Thursday. That was an interesting experience. We had 3 zones there combined so probably about 40-50 people. Every zone conference they have everyone prepare a 5 min talk on a specific subject then at zone conference they randomly pick 2 people to speak. Out of 50 stinkin people who do they call ..... " Next we will hear from Elder Davie .... " I was wiggin out. Speaking in front of people especially when I get put on the spot is not my bread and butter. Oh well though. We don't have any new investigators this week which is to bad. Last sunday at church our bishop and 1st counselor came up to me and my companion and said " You guys are 2 of the finest elders we have had " It was a relief to know that they appreciate our work. Besides that there isn't much new going on. Its been raining the last 3 days which is no good because my pants get muddy and wet. I have a couple more pics im gonna send you. hopefully you will send me some pics of your vacation ! Today we are going to play basketball with some other elders at 12:30. Then tonight we have a lesson with andy....were going to teach him lesson 3 : the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we have dinner at his house with Gina (Recent Convert) then after that we have a lesson with edwina who is a referral we received so it should be a good day. On saturday were having a bbq at bro randalls house...hes our ward mission leader...they are having a bbq for everyone who comes to the gospel principles class so it should be fun. Well it was good to read your email ! Im glad you guys made it back safe ! I love you ! Elder Davie

May 5, 2010

Hello ! Life has been quite a bit easier, I get along really good with my new companion. He's pretty quiet but we have good times. The baptism on Saturday went pretty well. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. I was nervous but life goes on. Paul Peacock is the one who got baptized, he is awesome ! I have enjoyed getting to know him ! We are going to be teaching him the new member lessons so that will be fun. The weather here has been miserable. I got my first taste of humidity. It feels like your riding around in a plastic bag. It was only like 80 degrees but holy crap I thought I was going to die. The second you step outside you start sweating and you don't stop until you take a shower before you go to bed. Its crazy. You think I would lose weight but it makes me thirsty and hungry so i eat more ! Luckily today its not to hot. My roomates are going to Mt Vernon to go see George Washingtons house. We were invited to go but it would be an all day event and I want a day to kind of relax emotionally and physically. My companion agreed we would rather stay home. The missionary work is going a little better. We tracted into a guy who agreed to let us come back on Thursday Morning and help him spread some mulch. We are excited about that ! Then we have an investigator named Andy, I have never met him because he got deployed 6 months ago. Well he is back and we got in touch with him and we are going to teach him on Thursday afternoon ! I have a good feeling about him. My companion is trying to teach me how to solve a rubicks cube. Its hard ! Its fun though trying, takes the stress out of life. Its hard to have to plan for every second of the day, to have to be doing something constantly. So how is david getting around? Does he have to do crutches? Wheelchair? That will be fun to see them when they come out. So you leave to cali in like 2 days ! You are so lucky you have no idea. I want to go there when I get home !!!! Well I hope your doing good ! I will send you a few pics in a minute...I love you !!! Elder Davie

Hey Ash & Dal & Brandon!

How is biggest loser going? Me and my roommate are playing. I'm slacking. It's hard because I have limited time and money. Well it sounds like a good excuse at least! =) I'm winning and I've only lost 3 pounds and it's been two weeks! It's Thursday morning, which means the countdown to P-Day officially begins! =) Thanks for sending me all those pictures. They were awesome! I love the one where mom jumped in the tub with her clothes on. Ha ha! so are you going to go to some playoff games with Nate? How is the car running? It will be interesting to see what happens at transfers in 2 weeks. I have a feeling they will bring 2 different missionaries here and we will both get transfered. This area has been tough. I really like the ward though. I am so incredibly jealous of your Disneyland trip. Is Emily still going? I hope Dave is doing better. May 9th isn't coming quick enough. I can't wait to chat with ya'll. Well, I gotta go study. I love you guys!!

Love,
Elder Davie

Ash!

Hey. How are you guys? Sorry I have been slacking at writing you letters. Things are good here. It's like 75 degrees. Blue Skies. My companion hurt his foot and can't walk on it so we're stuck inside all day. Boring! Some lady just dropped off Popeyes for us. I can't remember, do they have Popeyes in Utah? It's just like KFC. It's alright. I told mom a crazy story in the letter I sent her so ask her about it. Also, I sent her some pictures. So what's going on with Dallin these days? Can he pretty much say whatever he wants now? We are having this 18 year old come on exchanges with us tonight. I love having the kids come with us because they're always so excited. It makes it fun. I have learned a lot on my mission. I remember my boss asking me about a year ago "What would you say if someone asked you what the Book of Mormon is?" Sadly, I didn't know how to answer that simple question. I love how you guys are having family home evening with Dal. That is such a great tool to help him find his testimony early on. Even if it's as simple as "I love Jesus". You guys are seriously awesome. I look up to you all and I have learned so much from you all. There is a reason why I am the youngest, I couldn't have led the way like you guys did. I needed that example and the encouragement -- you guys gave me both. I gotta go. I love you guys.

Love,
Elder Davie
A.K.A. "Sweet Baby Davie"

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