Traffic Court

Hey!

How has your week been?! Things have been going well here! So on Thursday I had my traffic court thing. Man it was pretty intense. Not what I was expecting. We walked into the courtroom and there were like 100 people in there sitting in the pues and the judge walks in and does his little thing. I was like what the heck am I doing here?! Luckily I had this guy with me who helped me out. I was the second person the Judge called out so me and the attorney walked up to the little pulpit thing haha and the attorney said a few things and then I was good to go! It was such a relief to have it all over with. I only had to end up paying like $80 so it was perfect! Besides that we have spent the week getting ready for Zone Conferences next week. This past Tuesday we had Zone Leader Council. It was my last one! I have been to 11 of them over the past year and a half. It was so weird to be there for the last time. There is 3 others from my group who were there. At the end all the departing misionaries get the opportunity to bare their testimony. The first kid got up and everyone just lost it. I was crying like a little kid! By the time I got up I was done for haha. It was the hardest thing I have done. The feelings and emotions of going home hit harder than ever and it was difficult! It made me realize how much I love my mission and love being out here. Its going to be so difficult to leave this place. Virginia is amazing. I couldn't imagine serving a mission at any other time in any other place. Things all worked out exactly how they were supposed to.

Elder Bell is out here visiting! I was his companion back in December. He is awesome! He came out with last night and visited a couple people and taught some lessons. Today were both going down to Garrisonville to hit up lunch with the Randalls. Then after that we will come back and head over to the Baptism for Russel! Elder Bell & I were the first ones to start teaching him. Im so excited! Its going to be awesome. I will make sure to take some pics and email them next week.

Well I love you guys! I can't believe the time keeps getting shorter and shorter.

Crazy Busy!

Hey!

How are you guys doing? I am sorry to hear about Addison. That is no fun at all! Hopefully everyone else is doing ok!

We had a pretty good week. It was busy with transfers! We spent monday and tuesday finalizing the transfer board and making sure everyone had cars, apartments, and phones. Its quite the process. Then on Tuesday night we called it all out to the zone leaders.Wednesday we went and picked up the new missionaries and took them back to the mission home for dinner and a testimony meeting! Thursday we went back bright and early and made breakfast for them then had some training. Then Thursday afternoon we have the transfer meeting. It went well. We made this movie that turned out pretty good, everyone seemed to really like it! I will have to get you guys a copy and see what you think. Then Friday was busy trying to take things to people like beds and what not. Luckily today things are settled down a little bit. Now the transfer begins. Its time to get ready for all the meetings ahead. We have a mission home fireside on Sunday then zone leader council on Tuesday. We will take the next day or so and prepare for that.

Well there isn't anything to crazy going on out here. We are just going to be working hard to find some more people to teach and baptize! I cant believe my last transfer has begun. Its not just two of us in the office here. Elder Doman went out ino the field for his last transfer. Now im here with Elder Jacobson. Hes one of my favorite comps. We get a long great and have a blast! Well I love you guys!!

Elder Davie

Miracle at the Gas Station

Each week the missionaries write a letter to their mission president, and the mission president's wife posted Brendan's letter from last week on the mission blog, so I thought I would post it on his blog as well.

"Hey President! Last week I had the opportunity to go on exchange with the Centerville Zone leaders, Elders Peterson & Johnson. These missionaries are amazing. They teach well, they work hard, they are obedient, and they have such a strong desire to share the gospel! We had a miracle happen. We were driving down the road to go to an appointment. I looked out the window and saw a man walking towards the gas station and my first thought was, "Stop the car! Turn in there! We need to talk to him!" Elder Johnson was driving so he turned the car around and turned into the gas station. I quickly walked into the station and went up to the man and started to speak Twi. His name is Alfred. He’s from Ghana, just as I had suspected. His eyes opened up wide and he had a huge grin on his face. He was very familiar with LDS missionaries. He had been taught the lessons from the sister missionaries back in Ghana. He hasn't been here in Virginia very long but he loves the Mormon church! He came to church the next week and he loved it! He is scheduled to be baptized in two weeks. It’s amazing to see how the Lord works and how he puts people in our path. It would have been so easy to have kept driving down the road and never have talked to him. I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. Miracles happen all the time as long as we desire them and are willing to act on impressions! Love, Elder Davie"

Crazy Weather and Another Baptism

Hey Family!

How are you guys?! I hope you had a great week. How was Texas mom? I bet you had a blast. Was Austyn following you around again? Haha. I can't wait to see the kids. I am not going to recognize them. I can't believe they are almost 4! Well except Addy and Taylor. So how has everything been going for everyone? I heard there are tons of fires in Texas em? Hopefully they're not by you anywhere. The weather has been CRAZY here lately! I don't know whats going on but northern Virginia has seen one thing after another! We had a tropical storm roll through here. It rained for 6 days straight...all day! On Thursday it started raining worse then I've ever seen....the roads started flooding and everything...it was nuts!! Luckily none of the missionaries were hurt. It has been a busy week for us. We have been working on transfers all week. Its quite the process. I can't believe its already time to start doing it again. I swear we were just moving things around on the transfer board! Its a neat experience to be in there with President and be apart of the transfer process. There are always a lot of factors that play into it but it all comes down to is this what Heavenly Father wants? Its neat. On Monday we went to the Nationals game which was a blast!!! There were like 6 home runs. The Nats killed the dodgers! It was great. Today were going to help a couple missionaries move then we have a couple lessons scheduled the rest of the day. We might try and squeeze some racquetball in somewhere too.

Another miracle happened. Back in January Elder Bell and I were working in Mt Vernon. We were trying to stop by this guy for weeks and we finally met him...Russel. He is the one that I got pictures with by the huge motorcycle. He is the sweetest guy ever! Hes from Ghana but hes been the states for a long time. Hes like an older brother. Well we taught him for months and then I ended up leaving. Well Russel's dad passed away in July. He was a stake president in Ghana. Russel went to Ghana to be with his family and be at the services for his dad. He ended up going to church a few times and loved it! He came back last month and told the missionaries he wants to be baptized!!!! He went to church this past week and he loved it! Russel is going to be baptized on September 25th. This is a mission maker for me. I love this guy with all my heart and I absolutely can't wait to be at his baptism. It is going to be the best feeling ever.

My last transfer starts next week....I'm going nuts. I'm scared, hesitant, nervous, anxious, and just kind of unsure. This has become my life out here. All I know is missionary work. It feels like I've been doing this a lot longer than 2 years. Ya tracting isn't always the funnest thing to do, meetings get boring sometimes and the stress is enough to make someone go crazy......but in the end I love it! I will honestly miss not being here doing these things...and I never thought I would say that. You always hear the missionaries going home say " I wish I had a little more time and I would do anything to keep being a missionary!" I always sat in my chair thinking ya sure ya do. Now that I am coming to that point I'm starting to feel like that! I would do anything to just have a few more transfers....a little more time to reflect and to try and refine myself. I hope every day that I have become a better person out here. I always think " Did I do enough? Did I work hard enough? Is Heavenly Father pleased with my mission?" In the end I have had some amazing experiences that have changed my life. I never knew northern Virginia existed before my mission and to think of all the amazing people Ive met out here blows me away. Ive been waiting my whole mission for a confirmation to know that this is where I need to be. Why didn't I go to Ohio? Surely I was meant to meet someone here from Ohio and baptize them right? I was wrong. I have had the strongest feelings the past couple months that this is exactly where I needed to be. Not because there was someone from Ohio that came here that needed me....but just because there were people in northern Virginia that I needed. Its a humbling feeling. Sorry I'm just kind of rambling on. I have been to the airport 5 or 6 times in the last 6 weeks and every time I go I get this pit in my stomach. I'm scared for when its my turn! I just have to face it head on though.

Well I gotta get going but I am going to try and email a couple pics real quick. I love you guys!!!

Elder Davie

Another Baptism! And Another Fine?

Hello Everyone!

How are you guys all doing? I think that's awesome that Nate bought mom a ticket to fly out to Texas! Your a good kid Nate! That's why I love our family so much. Were all so close. There's been so many times where I will be talking to someone out here and they will be like " I can tell you and your family are pretty close!" I'm always just like Yep!

So its been a good week for us. Last Sunday I had the chance to go back to Mt Vernon for another baptism. This girls name is Matennah. Elder Morrill and I tracted into her back in June I think. We taught her for a couple months and then when we left the elders picked up and kept teaching her. She decided to be baptized which is awesome! She is from Liberia. I will send you a couple pics. Then on Thursday we had Return and Report. This is where all the new missionaries who just came in a few weeks ago meet back up at the mission home. We do a little bit of training with them and then we have a testimony meeting. Its fun to see how much they have all grown in the short few weeks. They come out scared to death and the come back a few weeks later with smiles on their face and just loving missionary work! We start transfers next week....can it already be?!?! I swear we just barely planned out the last transfer meeting. I can't believe how fast this is going. Often times I pray to have its slow down so I can digest all the experiences and really live the moment! I love it out here...I know I've said that a lot but I really do. This past week for some reason I've been pondering a lot about my mission...just kind of thinking back about all the people I've met and the missionaries I've met. I have some good friends out here. I just feel grateful to have come to DC. I know without a doubt this is where Heavenly Father wanted me. For some reason Ohio just didn't work out....but I'm forever grateful for the experiences I've had here.

Ive been sick the past couple days...just a bad cold so nothing to bad. Oh ya...so remember I got the ticket last month for running a red light? Well I went to pay it online...when I logged in and everything they had 2 different fines on there for me! One for failure to obey a traffic signal and another one for "Evading a traffic control device". I googled the second one and its where you like pull through a gas station to avoid waiting at a red light or something. I don't know why I got tagged with that one and it doesn't say anything about it on the ticket I got. I talked to President and the easiest thing will be to just go to court n the 22. They said a lot of times they will drop your fines or lower them if you show up so I will see what I can do. I went from thinking it was a $150 to $240 with the extra fine! I'm sure it will all work out though. Today we went and played some racket ball. It was a blast. We have played a few times that past couple weeks. The only problem is that it costs like $10 for the court rental and everything at the rec center...so its pricey. Then a sweet recent convert from the ward just took us to this Japanese Hibachi grill. It was just like tepanyaki....mmmm it was good! Well I love you guys ! I hope your all safe and doing well!

Elder Davie