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