Elder Brendan Davie

My Homecoming Talk

2011-11-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

My dad was kind enough to record and upload my homecoming talk. In case you missed it and would like to hear it, check it out:

http://bcitestsite.com/

Thanks again to everyone who supported me throughout the best 2 years of my life. I love you all!

I Leave You With My Testimony....

2011-10-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well this is it. This will be my final email as a full time missionary. It's been a busy week. As you know President has been out of town all week. On Tuesday my companion and I were talking and decided we wanted to do a mission fast for everyone who was on date for baptism. That night we arranged a conference call with all the zone leaders. It was so powerful! Its like a huge brotherhood out here, I love it. Everyone is excited to do missionary work and to help these people get baptized. The spirit was strong as we all pondered ideas to help each other out. It was fun. This morning for P-day we headed up to the Temple. We went with our roommates ( The office elders) and Elder Doyle who is the car czar took us up there. It was such a blast. I love being in the temple. I am blessed that I have had an opportunity to go a few times in the last month. I saw one of my former bishops from the Annandale ward so that was fun.

The next few days are going to be hectic as ever. President gets home tomorrow so we will come by the office and probably work on the transfer board some more. Then on Monday we will work on the transfer board all day and finalize everything. Make sure everyone has a place to live, a bed, a bike to ride or a car to drive and all that fun stuff. On Monday we will call the new assistant and go pick him up. Then on Tuesday we will continue to finalize everything. That night we will call out to the zone leaders who is staying and who is getting transferred. Then on Wednesday we will go pick up the new missionaries at noon from the airport and have dinner and training the rest of the night. Thursday morning we will wake up bright and early and go make them breakfast at the mission home. Then we will do some more training and take them over to George Mason University to do some street contacting. Then we will head over to transfer meeting for a couple hours. After that the departing missionary group will head back to the mission home for a dinner and testimony meeting. Then President will take us into DC to see it at night when its all lit up. Then friday morning I will wake up at 5 and get ready to come home. There will be no time to take a break! Is this really happening? Did I really leave 2 years ago? Am I really coming home? Why does it feel surreal? Am I ready to come home? Ahh so many feelings and emotions.

I leave you guys with my testimony. This has been the greatest 2 years of my life. I think all the time about the road I took to get out here. Ya I might of had a few detours here and there, but the lord was only preparing me. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I know this for it has changed my life forever. I have felt its healing powers in my life. The Book of Mormon is true. Ive read it, I've studied it, ive prayed about it and I've taught about it. I always think about a quote from Elder Holland in conference a while back ....concerning The Book of Mormon he said " A wicked man couldn't write such a book as this and a good man wouldn't, except it were true!" Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and ushered in the restoration in these days. I have had countless spiritual experiences and impressions while teaching about this that it can't be denied. My mission has brought so much happiness into my life. Now I must come back and continue immersing myself in these things. I know its easier said than done, but I know if I want to live a good life it can only be through living the gospel. I love you guys! Thanks for never giving up on me and giving me this opportunity to find who I am. I will never forget these moments I've had. I love you!!

Elder Davie

2 More Weeks!

2011-10-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

How are you all doing? How was the week? How is the weather in Utah/Texas/Oregon? How are all the kids doing? When are you guys flying into Utah? Can you believe 13 days? What??!! Crazy. I will be so happy to see you all again.

It was a good week for us. This past week we met a guy named Lawrence. He is from Nigeria. He writes books. He is awesome. We tracted into him and taught him for about 45 minutes then he said "Is there anyway to schedule a time to have you come teach more?" Ofcourse were like yes! We went back this past thursday and had a pretty good lesson with him. We showed him the restoration movie. He agrees with most things but were trying to help him with a couple concerns. Keep him in your prayers! We also met a Ghanain guy yesterday named Kwabina. He was so funny. He was dying laughing when I started speaking Twi to him. He agreed to let us come back and teach him a little and he will teach me some Twi. It will be fun. Wednesday was an awesome day. We had our departing Temple Trip. Basically all the missionaries going home meet at the mission office in the morning and we all drive up to the temple to do a session. Before the session we are able to meet with the Temple President and he talks to us for a little bit then opens it up to any questions. Something he said struck me. Regarding our mission calls he said " Its not as important where you get called as to who you get called to serve under. " I have felt like that. Yes I know I was called to Dc South for a reason and ive met people that have changed my life. But I know even more that I was supposed to serve under President Albright. He is amazing and has helped me so much. The temple trip was awesome. I was able to do a session in one of the most beautifull temples in the world with some of my closest friends who ive spent the last 2 years with. Afterwards we all went to fuddruckers and enjoyed some lunch :) Last night I had the chance to go on exchange with Elder Peterson. He is the kid I trained a little over a year ago. He is awesome! We have become good friends. We were tracting last night and we ended on this one apartment complex. It was about 8:15. The second door we knocked on we met these amazing people. They are from the assemblies of god church. They are actually planning on serving a mission to India in the next little bit. It was amazing to meet such good people. They let us in and we spent about an hour in their home talking about life in general. It humbled me to meet a family who is so close to Heavenly Father and who strive every day to make life better for people around them. Wether memebrs of the church or not there are some good people out there! They aren't interested in our church but we were still able to have a great conversation and share feelings of what has brought us happiness in life. It was fun!

Well I am going to try and send a couple pictures. I hope to hear back from you soon! Love you guys!

Elder Davie

Cowboy BBQ

2011-10-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

How have you guys been? Hopefully its been a good week. I have had a really good week. Its been busy as usual. On Thursday we had our Return and Report meeting. This is where all the new missionaries come back together and we have a testimony meeting with them and do a little bit of training. I had the opportunity to talk about obedience for a few minutes. It was an awesome spirit filled meeting. Its fun to see how much the missionaries grow in such a short time. Then today we had so much fun! Me and 4 other missionaries went up to Elder Marriott's ranch in Hume, VA. Every year he has this bbq event. Ambassadors and diplomats from all around the world come and have a good time. Its a western theme. We had a station set up where we were teaching people how to rope. My companion is pretty good at it so for the past week during the day we get out and practice roping some fire hydrants haha. I'm no good at it but it was fun. This was such a fun experience for me to meet all these people from every where around the world and talk to them. We got there at about 10 and left at 3. They had a catered lunch which was awesome. I saw a few people from some of my previous wards so that was fun. And it was great to see the mccoys! They are the sweetest family. I wasn't expecting them to be there and then all the sudden I turned around and was like hey! I know them! My companion let me borrow his boots and then I had to go buy a pair of pants and a shirt. Then president had an extra cowboy hat I borrowed. It was interesting to get all dressed up like that haha! I think that was definitely a first for me. I had an awesome time though!! Definitely something I will always remember. I got to meet Elder Nash of the 70. Elder Carlson was also there. Well I love you guys so much!! I hope you're all doing well!!!

Busy Week!

2011-10-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

It's been a busy day! Conference was great as usual. I really loved the Priesthood session. It has been a good week for us. We had zone conferences all week so its nice to have it over with. They all went pretty well. Next week will be a little slower so it will be nice to get out in our area and knock on some doors! We have a return and report meeting on Thursday.....that's where all the new missionaries that came in come to the mission home and we do some training and then have a testimony meeting. Its fun. Then on Saturday me and my comp and a couple missionaries and President and Sister Albright are going to the Marriott ranch. Bill Marriott is the guy who owns all the Marriott hotels. He was an area seventy but recently got released. Every year he has this huge thing at his ranch where all these ambassadors and their family's from all around the world come for a bbq and stuff. We have to dress up in cowboy gear haha. I gotta go buy some wranglers and a plaid shirt! i found some boots in our apartment so i can wear those haha. It will be interesting! Well its late so I better go...I will try to write more tomorrow if we have time. Love you all!

Traffic Court

2011-09-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-09-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-11T14:56:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

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

Earthquakes and Hurricanes!

2011-08-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

Wow it has indeed been an eventfull week haha. I will start out by telling you about the earthquake on Tuesday :

So we were at district meetings over in Mt Vernon. Afterwards we went to lunch with one of the guys in the office. Then we headed to our apartment to change out of our suits. I was in the bedroom and had just finished putting on my tie. I went into the bathroom to start brushing my teeth. Everything started shaking! I thought it was someone upstairs running around so I just kept brushing my teeth. Then it kept shaking and started getting worse! I walked out of the bathroom and both my companions were standing there like what is going on....then we realized it was an earthquake and we all ran outside hahaha. It was crazy though! Everyone in all the apartments ran outside....everyone was crying and scared out of their mind. It was the biggest earthquake I think ive felt. It was scary! There wasn't any damage done really though. I guess the temple had a couple things break. One of the apartments had their water heater pipes all burst and it flooded their apartment. It was nuts! Now I guess were waiting for a hurricane to come our way! I don't think its going to be to bad honestly. I think its supposed to just barely skim DC. President is getting everyone prepped just in case and having everyone get 72 hour kits and all that good stuff. The biggest concern is power outages. Since their are trees EVERYWHERE they like to fall on the power lines. Im sitting here in the mission office looking out the window and its pooring like crazy! And the wind is picking up. We will see what happens! And someone tried to rob the bank right next door haha. Their are FBI cars and cops everywhere. We dropped off a missionary at the airport this morning and were going to pick one up later this evening. Besides that we are just getting a few things done here. Not to much going on today.

On sunday there is a girl named Matenah getting baptized in Mt Vernon. Me and one of my last couple comps Elder Morrill found her while knocking doors and taught her for a while. Im excited to go back hopefully and see it! I love Mt vernon as you know so it will be good to go back if I can. We had a leadership meeting this past Thursday. All the zone leaders and district leaders meet together and have like a mini zone conference type thing. It went really well. We gave an assignment on how to become shepherds of our areas and our missionaries. It went well. Then we had a couple other missionaries talk on motivation and different things to help each other out. Then later on my and my comp led a council with everyone on different ways we can better the mission. Its always kind of stressfull planning the meetings but once they come and go and they are a success it makes it all worth it.

Well I love you guys! I hope you all had a great week. Be safe!!

Elder Davie

Staying Busy!

2011-08-22T07:27:00.001-07:00

How are ya'll?

Its been a busy busy week! We had zone conferences on Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday and Friday. Very busy days. We wake up, get ready and drive to wherever the conference is at. The meeting starts at 9 and we go until about 3. We had a couple assignments each day. In the morning we talked about companionship study and how to make it effective. We showed a movie that the trainers see when they get their new assignments. Then in the afternoon we talked about the power of the spirit in conversion. It was fun! All 4 meetings went well and I learned a lot each time. This morning we went golfing! One of the senior couples in the office took us out. It was a blast! I didn't do so well but I still had a fun time. Right after that we took some investigators up to the temple visitors center. It went really well! Things have just been crazy busy here. Were always working on something. I haven't written in my journal for a week!! Ahhh...I hadn't missed a day until now haha. I did pretty good!

So whats new with you guys? How are you liking oregon ashley? It probably looks similar to Virginia with all the trees everywhere? hows the weather there? Things have cooled down a ton here. Its been in the 80s which is beautifull! Did you hear about the new Joseph Smith movie that came out? Its called Joseph Smith and the Gold Plates or something like that. I can't remember if I already told you but we got to go a couple weeks ago! President took us. It was such a blast. The guy who played joseph smith was doing a tour out here. The dvd doesn't come out until next year but they had some there so I got a copy! We will have to watch it when I get back home. How are all the kids doing? Addison? Taylor Joe? Austy and Dal? Man I miss them! They are probably so big by now!!! Well im going to try and email some pictures...Love ya guys!!!

Elder Davie

Sad News

2011-08-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hows everyone doing?

It has been a good week for us. We had zone leader council on Tuesday. This is a meeting where us, all the zone leaders and President and Sister Albright come and we counsel about things that can help the mission grow and reach our goals that we set. Its fun! Next week we have zone conferences so we've been busy getting everything ready for that....making agendas, handing out assignments and all that good stuff. We have also been able to find some good investigators this week. We found one named Naana. She is from Ghana! I was so excited. She loved having us over and she loved everything we taught. We've seen her a couple times now. She will hopefully be at church in the next couple weeks. I am lucky because this area has some ghanains so its been fun.

So I received some bad news at the beginning of the week. Opal passed away. She was a lady we taught and recently baptized in the Mt Vernon ward. She was awesome! She was one of my favorite people I taught while being out here. She was about 80 years old. Her son and daughter in law are both members which is how she heard of the church. She was so sweet and funny. She has had some health problems the past 6 months or so. She wasn't able to talk very well because of a stroke she had a while back but she still understood everything and loved what we taught her. It wasn't more than a week after we baptized her that she passed away. She hung on long enough to make these special covenants. I have a testimony that this is what the lord wanted for her. She is now in a better place and she is teaching the gospel to her husband and her family. It humbled me to be able to be apart of her life for a short moment. She loved having the missionaries come teach her. We went to her funeral service yesterday. It was sad but happy to know shes at peace and shes healthy! Her son who is in the Mt Vernon ward told us after the service "I have never seen my mom so happy and seen her laugh so much when you guys would come over. Thank you so much for making her last few weeks so good! " That meant so much to me. To know you have been an instrument in the lords hands is a feeling that can't be described. These are the types of experiences I will miss dearly when I return home.

Im gratefull for everything you guys do for me ! You have helped to make these past 2 years the best. I almost didn't make it out here. I was scared to death! I still am haha but the Lord has been with me. I love you guys!!

Elder Davie

More Baptisms!

2011-07-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy as ever. I can't remember if I told you about the baptism we had last week or not so I will just tell you again. We were teaching this lady for a couple months. Her son is a convert of a few years. She is about 75 and she wanted to be baptized! She was the coolest lady and I had a blast teaching her in Mt Vernon. She was baptized last Sunday. Also we received a member referral about a month or so ago in Mt Vernon. She is from Eretria in Africa. We were able to teach her and baptize her last week as well! The funny thing is the font was broken so we baptized them in the neighbors pool next door....it was crazy but one of the most spiritual things I have ever seen. I know this stinks but I gotta run...I wish I had more time to write but I will try to write more in a couple of days.....things are so busy and crazy here with transfers coming up. I am doing good though and I'm having a blast. I love my mission mom. I hope you guys all have a wonderful day! I will try to send more pics soon. Love you guys!!

Elder Davie

First Week as AP

2011-07-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!!!

How are you all doing?! I was so excited when I heard that little Addison was born on Thursday!! I was on exchange in Ashburn and I was able to see the Mccoys so they let me know that night. Things are going well here....they are busy as you can imagine. Ive been on 3 exchanges in the last 4 days. I went down to Fredericksburg first. Then the next day we headed up to Ashburn which was fun. Then yesterday we went over to Centerville which was a blast because I was with Elder Peterson...I trained him about a year ago. Things are going great and im learning a ton. Its still pretty overwhelming and it will take some time to get my feet underneath me but it will come. Remember when I lost my book of mormon a couple months ago? I can't remember if I ever told you but I found it a few weeks ago!! It was under of the seats in the van we drove. So I have it back which is awesome. I had already bought that brand new one so I gave that one to Gabriel so he can study out of it. Thank you so much for the birthday package!!! It was awesome!!!!! I am going to go and see if I can find a new suit today.You guys are the best! I had a great birthday. I went to lunch to none other than CAFE RIO!!! They just built one here in Centerville which is awesome! They only have 2 on the east coast...centerville and maryland. Ive actually been the last two days in a row haha. Its funny because every time you go in there there are a ton of members. It must be a utah thing. I love that place though and it was fun to eat there again. Well im gonna send a bunch of pictures so I hope to hear back from you!! Love you guys!!

Picture Time!

2011-07-20T23:11:00.001-07:00

Leaving Mt. Vernon

2011-07-18T11:43:00.001-07:00

Hows everyone doing? Its been quite a couple days as you can imagine. We were going to have a baptism last night but it got moved to next Sunday. We will have two in my ward back in Mt Vernon next Sunday so hopefully I can make it back for that! It was a pretty good week. I was sad to leave Mt Vernon and to leave Elder Kotyk. I had an awesome time serving with him for the few weeks that I did. I LOVE Mt Vernon. The place is amazing and I hope we will have a chance to go back and visit someday. The people are great and I made memories that will last a lifetime. I am so gratefull right now that I even came on a mission. I remember there were times that I was considering just starting school and skipping out on the mission....wow what a horrible decision that would have been. Ive learned so much and have had so many different experiences that will help me forever. I love you guys!!

Assistant to the President

2011-07-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

We received an email from Brendan on Saturday moring saying he got a call from his mission president asking him to be the new assistant to the president (AP). He's a little nervous and will be extremely busy and is sad to be leaving Mt. Vernon, but is excited for the new adventure!

I love Mt. Vernon!

2011-07-11T09:57:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone!
How are you guys doing? Its been another great week for us here in Mt Vernon. I love this place, I really do! Its been very busy the last few days trying to find people and get people ready for their baptisms. If all goes well we will have 3 on Sunday night! We are very excited!! I got a letter from the mission office a few days ago asking what airport I want to fly into when I go home....man that was a weird letter to get. It can't possibly be time to start thinking about that already can it??! It hasnt' been 2 years yet?! Man it has flown by to fast. I love it here. Ive met some amazing people and have had some incredible experiences that have changed my life and have helped me to learn and grow.

Baseball and Baptisms!

2011-07-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

How are you guys?! How was your 4th of July?! Ours was great. We went to the Washington Nationals game!! It was a blast. They were playing the cubs. The game started at 1 and its a pday so they let us head up there. The tickets were $30 so I just payed for both and my comp will pay me back today. It was 94% humidity and like 95 degrees...so I was dying at the game. It was funny cuz everyone was just sweating!! We were right in the sun the whole time. I got toasted. It was so fun though!! It was the first pro baseball game ive been to in a long time. In the evening we just did work as usual. Yesterday morning a recent convert from Garrisonville, Pat Reid, took me and elder kotyk out to breakfast! We went to ihop. He is so awesome. I was pretty close to their family when I was down there...I started teaching him and he got baptized a month after I left. It was great to see him and his family again!! Right after I left Garrisonville my comp Elder Kotyk went down there for 9 months...so we reminiss alot about it. This past week Gabriel was able to pass the sacrament for the first time! It was awesome to see him. Hes doing great!!!! We have a lot of good stuff going on right now. It's amazing to see the hand of the Lord in this work. We've seen many miracles happen and it's been an amazing experience! Love you guys!

Pictures!

2011-06-27T09:28:00.000-07:00

I traded in my bike for this one!

Zone conference. Can you spot me?

Bapisms Galore!

2011-06-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

How has your week been? Everything has been fine here. So we had transfers last Thursday. I ended up staying here in Mt Vernon and my new companion is Elder Kotyk (koh tick) from Tooele. Hes good. We have had a really good week. We got a member referral who is going to be baptized on July 16th! Were also teaching another lady who will hopefully be baptized on that same day! Then we just set our other investigator on date for July 30th! So things are definatly looking good. We have been teaching this new family from Ghana but it looks like their going to be moving to Atlanta this week. We have been trying to do everything we can to help them stay but its not looking like its gonna be able to happen. Last Saturday they had us over for lunch....I had the BIGGEST bowl of fufu with goat meat and tilapia. Mmmmmm!!!! I was so full afterwards. The weather has been good here...its been in the low 80's so that is nice for a change. Well I hope your all doing good! I hope to hear from you!!!! I will send some pictures now!! I love you!!!!

2011-06-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hey !

How are you guys doing?! Sounds like its been a pretty good week. That is crazy that Ashley is about to move!!! I still can't believe everyone is going to be gone when I get home...who woulda though?! Did you go visit Dennis & Kim mom? Maybe thats not till later in the month. Well its been a good week for us! We have transfers on Thursday so thats always a busy time. Im pretty sure that im staying in this area but who knows. I will find out tomorrow night. So there was a guy I found and taught in Annandale named JC. I don't know if you remember me talking about him but he was sweet! He had just come from afghanistan a couple years back. It was kind of hard to teach him because his english wasn't great. Also he was of the Muslim faith. The first time we taught him though he kept saying " I believe the Christ, I believe the christ!" This was unusual because he grew up muslim but at the same time he came to know that Christ is the Son of God. We kept teaching him and he started coming to church every week. I just found out yesterday that he was baptized last night!! I was going to go but we had to much stuff going on in our area. Its sweet though. We also found a couple really sweet people! We were tracting on Monday and this Lady named Sharol Boateng let us in. She was from Ghana ofcourse. We started teaching her and she said " Come back around 1, I want you to teach my kids! " So we went back, went to the wrong building on accident and never heard from them. The next day we went back and realized we went to the wrong building so we found their door again and she let us right in and her kids were there! She was like " I was waiting for you all day yesterday! " They are so eager to learn. They are moving in a few weeks because she hasn't been able to find a job here. She said for the past few months she has been praying that God would send her some help. SHe said " If you guys would have started teaching me a while ago I would have become a member!! but Im moving... " It made me think like man....why didn't we find her earlier? Its frusterating. We had some great lessons with them and they all came to church on Sunday!! All the ghanains in our ward fellowshipped them and their trying to find a way to help her stay here!!! She loved church!!! It was great. Then we also got a sweet referral from a guy living in our mission. Hes good friends with Orrin Hatch. Anyways hope you all have a great week!! Im gonna send some pictures. Love ya!!

Last Week of the Transfer!

2011-06-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hows everyone doing?

Did you get a chance to look at the video from the link I sent you? Haha its pretty funny! Its been a pretty good week for us. We have had some ups and some downs. We had one person on date for baptism but she fell off date this week. Her husband is a leader in their Ghanain church and so she isn't able to come to ours. Its sad because she loves the missionaries and the church!! We have a few people who are really close to being baptized though so that is good! We have seen alot of good things happening here this transfer. Only one more week until the transfer is over...that is So crazy!!! It has flown by. I really enjoy my companion I have right now. His name is Elder Morrill. We have some good times and are always laughing. Hopefully we will stay together one more. Gabriel got confirmed yesterday in church. It was awesome!!! He is doing SO good. Theres another guy that I found and taught in Annandale that is getting baptized next Saturday so that is pretty sweet. We got asked yesterday if we would speak in church next Sunday...ahhhh!! You guys know how much I love speaking in church!!!! Ofcourse im freaking out but oh well. I have to speak for 10 minutes on faith. Thats a hard subject because its so broad!! I started writing it this morning though so we will see how it goes...I will let ya know! Besides that everything is going well here! I think today were either going to the Pentagon City Mall or were going to go down to Old Town Alexandria and walk around the shops and maybe go to the harbor...it will be fun!! The weather has been crazy hot!!! It was in the 100's a few days last week....with the humidity the heat index was at like 110!! Man I was just sweating all day long. Some of the africans we teach dont use their air conditioner either so that makes it hard. Sounds like you guys are having some beautifull spring weather though!! I am jelous you got to hang out with emily and the girls all week!!! Lucky!! Well I love you guys !!

Elder Davie

I'm in a Movie!

2011-06-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

Some people in the DC area made a short video about LDS missionaries, and I'm in it. Check it out!!

Zoo Day!

2011-06-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

How are you guys doing? Man its been a long pday so far....we actually headed up to the zoo today haha. It was free so that was awesome. It was fun, just a lot of walking. After that we walked over to the National Cathedral....that thing is huge!! It was fun. Now im here emailing!!

The week was really good for us. Last night at 5 we had the baptism for Gabriel!!!! It was awesome!!!! Such a good service. President Albright was able to come down for it which was cool. I will have to send you some pictures of it next week. Besides that we have just been working to build up our teaching pool and get some more baptisms!!

I can't believe I am under 5 months now...it is to crazy to think about it. The time has gone by so fast and keeps speeding up it seems like!! I can't believe transfers are in 2 weeks already!!! Crazy. I was never able to find my scriptures....my only guess now is that I left them on the car or something and drove off...im pretty sure I didn't do that though so who knows...hopefully I will find them sometime. Well I love you guys !!!! Hope you all had a great time with emily!! IM glad the weather is getting nicer for you and not raining every day!! Thats funny that you had dinner with the randalls haha. THey are sweet. ANd thats sweet you got to meet Elder Petersons mom. He is a good friend of mine. Well I love you guys !!

Elder Davie

Pictures!

2011-06-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

Maxwell, Elder Bates, Nanah, & Esther. Nanah & Esther were getting baptized! Maxwell has been a member for a while now and keeps giving the missionaries referrals all the time! He's awesome!

Me and Jonathan Samlar. Elder Bell and I baptized him. He's doing awesome!

FuFu for dinner

Frog Intestines for dinner!! Kidding, it's more FuFu! Yum!

Praying for Gabriel!

2011-06-01T10:57:00.001-07:00

Hows everyone doing?!

Sorry that its Wednseday and im just now emailing. The libraries were closed on Monday because of Memorial Day and we were going to email yesterday but we got to busy, so here I am now!

Its been a pretty good week for the most part, but it didn't end so well. We were supposed to baptize Gabriel Saturday at 12:00. Well on Friday night we got a text message from him that said this : "Hey brother Morrill and brother Dave. I know it will be a surprise to you but I think it is the right decision to take. I really believe I am not ready for this baptism. I don't have the peace I needed for the baptism so I am suspsending the baptism. I love you all. Your all great. Thank you all. " It broke my heart!!! It was exactly 4 weeks before that when Freddy had to cancel his baptism the night before because of his mom. I was just like man what the heck am I doing wrong???!! We had been teaching Gabriel for so long. That was a tough on to swallow. Well we ended up going to his house the next day and sitting down with him. He explained that him and his wfie were having some problems and it just put a lot of stress on him and he didn't wanna be baptized with all these things going on in his mind. Of course its understandable. He said " I just want to feel more peace in my life, I want my mind to be eased!" We offered to give him a blessing and he accepted. We also invited him to come to a different baptism for the other ward right next to us. He came and loved it! Two ghanains got baptized so we were happy he came and saw. The next day, Sunday, he came to church. Hes been like 15 times. He told us ever since we gave him the blessing he felt a lot better! We went to his house after church with our ward mission leader and talked to him for a while. He agreed to be baptized on Sunday at 5:00! Please, please keep him in your prayers. He is awesome, he is one of the best people ive met out here. I just hope satan doesn't try and mess things up again.

On Monday we went up to the temple and did a session. It was awesome! It was my second time going through that temple so it was fun to be there again. Afterwards we went over to the bookstore which is just a couple miles down the road. I had to buy a new book of mormon. I lost mine last week. I have NO idea where it is!! I am so bummed because I had like 4 years worth of notes and studying in it thats all gone!! And I didn't know Book of Mormons cost $50!!! Thats a lot....but I had to do it. Hopefully I will find my old one somewhere.

Well I love you guys!!! I hope to hear from you today if your'e around.....Love you !!!!!

Elder Davie

It's Heating Up!

2011-05-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hows everyone doing ? Things are going well here in Mt Vernon ! We had a pretty good week. When I was here 4 months ago with Elder Larochelle we found this guy from Ghana named Gabriel ! He was awesome ! We taught him for a few weeks and then I got transferred and they continued to teach him. Well now that im back I was able to go back over and teach him again ! We had a really good lesson with him on Saturday and we set him on date for baptism ! He is going to be baptized on Saturday the 28th ! We are very excited. He loves the church ! He has been coming every week and reading the book of mormon. Right now were trying to find more people who are prepared and ready for the gospel ! This area is a lot different now that the ward boundaries have changed. We are going to rely upon the members a lot more to help us find people to teach. That is really the only update here in Virginia ! We are just working hard and hoping to see success !! Its getting hot here ! Its been in the 80's all week...ughh...I would rather have the snow come back!! Love you guys!!

More Pictures!

2011-05-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

If you look closely you can see a roach hanging out inside of our oven clock. We moved into the apartment last weekend and it was infested with roaches, so they quickly moved us out that same day and now we live in a roach-free apartment!

Me with CJ Sidener, a recent convert. He was on a mini-mission with us. He's one of the most dedicated people I've ever met when it comes to living the gospel.

Elder Bell and I with Russel. I love that guy. He's one of the funnest people I've taught.

Me with Elder Bell. He came back for a visit!

Pictures!

2011-05-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Me with Elder Edgington

Shaheed and Sidu with Elder Church, me, and CJ Sidener.

Elder Church and I with Konnie, Shaheed, and Sidu. They're from Sierra Leone. Awesome family!

Elder Church and I with Jose and Yesseniah. They are the sweetest family!

Me and Bill Smith. He's one of the coolest people I've met out here!

I've Been Transfered!!

2011-05-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone !

Wow what an eventfull week it has been !! So as you found out from Sister Randall, I did get transferred. It was hard because we had a lot of good people we were working with in Annandale and the ward was awesome. Remember a when I left Mt Vernon how upset I was and how much I didn't like Annandale at first....that all changed very quick. Annandale was one of my favorite areas by far. I LOVED it !!! It was difficult to leave and to say goodbyes. I was able to meet some awesome people there and to make more friends. As you know I did get transferred right back to Mt Vernon !! I am in the same exact ward I just came from 3 months ago. It is called the Bellehaven ward. The only difference is that the stake made 3 new wards and all the boundaries changed . The bellehaven ward got removed and so now im really in the Mt Vernon ward. It is completely different than the ward I was in before cuz of the boundary switches. We went from having like 15 ghanains in the ward to having 1 which is an investigator that me and elder larochelle found when I was here before. Because of the boundary changes our area is alot tougher now. Alot of apartments we spent our time in are now gone and we have mainly houses to tract so its going to be interesting. I am very excited to be back here in this part of the city. I LOVE Alexandria....it is a fun place to be !! I was talking to the assistants and they told me how I got back here. They were with President albright doing transfers and president said "Who of the zone leaders loves Ghanains the most ? " They both were like Elder Davie !!! So president was like awesome hes going back to mt vernon then !!! I was so excited. I have been able to see alot of people I taught before and some of those who were baptized so its been amazing. We had bible study last thursday at the church which was a blast. Do you remember Elder Bell ? He was my companion a few transfers ago...he was back in town and brought his family to the bible study...I have pics im gonna send. He is amazing...one of the best friends ive met out here so it was so good to see him ! It was like seeing an old friend from back home...it was awesome. After bible study me and elder bell went and visited this ghanain guy we found and taught when we were comps....this guy was freaking out when he saw us haha it was hilarious !! I got a pic I will send you. So I got transferred and we came to our area. We got a new apartment on friday so we spent all day moving in. When we moved in though we noticed a few cockroaches running around. We didn't think it was a huge deal at first so we delt with it. Well Saturday came around and there were hundreds of roaches everywhere !!!! There were big ones, small ones, baby ones, giant ones...they were everywhere !!!!!!!! Me and my comp were like no way we can't do this. We went and talked to the apartment office and they got us a new apartment that same day.....so we spent all day friday and saturday moving ! Now were in a different apartment and its much better !!!! It has been a stressfull weekend though thats for sure. I am definitely excited to be back here though. I am still a zone leader. My companion is Elder Morrill from Idaho. Hes pretty cool. I woke up this morning not feeling well again...I don't know if I have allergies or what but i have a bad cough again so who knows.... Well I can't think of what else I was gonna write....I love you guys !!!

Elder Davie

Pictures!

2011-05-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday Surprise!

2011-05-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

How are you guys all doing ? Sounds like your still getting alot of rain and snow ?! What is up with that ? It has been like summer here....blue skies and like 90 degrees. There were some tornados down in Culpepper but thats the very bottom of our mission....no one was hurt or anything. I heard about the crazy tornados in alabama though...President showed us news clips from it at our last leadership meeting a couple days ago. Pretty crazy !!! We still weren't able to have the baptism for freddy on Saturday. He plays high school soccer and club soccer....between the both of them he is never home !!! Its so frusterating. We went and saw him last night and had a good visit with him. He wants to get baptized and everything its just hes to busy to get interviewed and stuff. So tonight at 8 he said he will be home that we can interview him...well our district leader will but keep him in your prayers today that everything will go through !! If so then he should get baptized on Saturday...I know ive said that the past 3 weeks but hopefully for real this time !! We also have a couple awesome people who were working with but man satan is doing his job and is doing it well !! He is throwing all kinds of trials and problems to those were teaching and its hard !!!! We have to always be working our hardest and doing our best or we could lose these people. I did have an awesome surprise yesterday at church !! I was at church talking to some people and waiting for investigators to show up...I walk into the chapel and I look ahead and Brad was there !!!!!!!! I was like holy crap !!!!!!!!! I wish I could have spent more time talking to him but things were crazy trying to get the investigators situated and what not. He was only able to stay for sacrament which was a bummer. It was SO good to see him....so good. Things have been so stressfull lately and were not seeing as much success as we could hope for. I don't know if he realizes how good it was to just see him for an hour and regroup. I definatly needed it. He is going to be at the Why I believe fireside which is at our stake center on may 15. Elder Hollands son is speaking so it should be good. Hopefully we will be able to go !!! Theres a family in my ward, the dutsons, who are moving to riverton this week. I am going to send a box home of junk with them....I will just have them call you mom and set up a time for them to drop it off or something....they are probably the sweetest people ever !! I love them. Thats pretty much all the new and exciting things going on here !!! Everything is going fine...I can't wait to call you guys next sunday ! I feel like I just called you on Christmas !! Crazy. Thanks for sending pics of the set mom...that looked awesome ! It would be so nice to be able to go and watch them film something. I wonder if they would let us? Well I love you guys !! I wish I had more news to say but I can't think of anything !! I love you guys !!! Congrats to Brandon for graduating !!!

Warm Weather and Baptisms!

2011-04-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone !

How are ya'll doing?! It was great to hear from you again ! Sounds like the weather is still being crazy over there ? The weather is beautifull here. Today its sunny and about 90 degrees. A little to warm if you ask me. This morning we went over to rolling valley to some turf fields with our zone and played ultimate football, baseball , and soccer. It was pretty fun but a little to warm. I got a good sunburn though so thats nice cuz im pretty white. The past week has been ok. Last Sunday I told you about that guy who randomly showed up at church. His name is Raj. We have taught him a few times and he came to church again yesterday. He is pretty sweet and will most likely be baptized in the next couple months. We were supposed to have a baptism for Freddy on Saturday but it didn't go through. We weren't able to contact him the entire week before and were wondering what was up?! Well it was spring break and he was in new jersey with his soccer team so it makes sense. We went on Saturday night and had a great lesson with him. Then on Sunday he came to church for the 3rd time and he loved it. He is being interviewed tonight for baptism and if all goes well will be baptized this coming saturday. Keep him in your prayers !! Its so difficult getting things ready for baptism. It seems like things always come in the way....very frustrating. There is a sweet couple in our ward who is moving to riverton in a couple weeks. They are moving to like 11800 and 2700 w. They told me if I have anything I want sent home they will take it for me. Im gonna get a box together and send it home with them and they said they would take it to you. I will keep you posted on that though !! I am sorry to hear about the radio in your car !! That stinks !! That is sweet that you bought a kenwood though haha. Even sweeter that you can just plug in your ipod ! Dallin cracks me up . I love all the quotes you email me of him. I am soooo anxious to see austy and taylor jo !!!!! They are both going to be so big when I see them again. You said your anxious for me to come home....So am I !! Haha. I love it out here don't get me wrong....but it will be nice to be back with you guys again. The mission is so hard.....harder than I ever imagined. Its worth it though. On Sunday we got to go and teach the priest quorum. We just talked about missionary work ofcourse and committed them all to come on exchanges with us !! It was good. Besides that I can't think of anything to crazy that has happened. Everything is pretty much the same !!! I love you guys !!!

6 More Months!!

2011-04-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone !!

It was AWESOME to hear from you guys !! I always look forward to your emails !!! Sounds like the weather there has been pretty crazy. Its been the oppossite here ! Its been sunny, about 70-75. Its definatly spring. We got a couple days of rain but not much. Its actually getting a little to warm :) I would rather have the cold. It has been a pretty good week for us, not to bad. I am glad to have the past couple weeks out of the way.....Its not not to stress and worry about zone conference and other meetings...now we can just buckle down on focus on our area. We have alot of good things happening right now. We have about 4 people on date with a few more ready to set a date so things are good. We are having a baptism on Saturday for Freddy Nsiah. He is the ghanain kid that me and Elder Buie knocked into a while back. He is awesome. Yesterday some random guy came to church. He said he was visiting the temple and they told him about the church and he wanted to come...he ended up staying all 3 hours and seemed to enjoy it so that was fun. It was depressing though because we had 9 people who had committed to come to church ! We had called them all on Saturday night/Sunday morning and they were all ready with rides and everything....only 2 ended up coming !!! So frusterating. We had our zone conference last Wednesday which was really good ! We did about a 30 min presentation but it went well so I was glad. You know how I get all nervous to do those things.....it was good though. I don't know what else is new here....were just teaching alot of people right now. Maybe a couple people that you guys could keep in your prayers every night.... Jason and Jose & Yessenia (pronounced Jesseniah). Jason is on date for baptism but still needs to start coming to church but hes hesitant. Jose & Yesseniah are married...and their both really close. Keep them in your prayers !!

So you have to call grandma hanks and tell her happy birthday !!! Im horrible...I knew it was coming but I forgot to buy a card and get it sent off.....tell her im sorry but i LOVE her so much and miss her like crazy !!! Well I love you guys so much !! Thanks for everything !!!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

2011-04-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been a busy day ! We went up to DC again with the Mclean zone leaders, elder stuart and elder parker. I love those guys. I came out with Elder stuart, he was my roomate in the mtc so we're good buds. They all make fun of me for being old and bald haha. It was 90 degrees here today, I think i got sunburned !! It was a good day though. Its already almost 5 and we still have to go to the cleaners and to the grocery store and to shower ...so this may be a short email, im sorry !

Last week was amazing. Elder Church is awesome. Hes only been out 9 months and he has that greenie fire to him. We have been working our butts off. Last week we had 5 investigators at sacrament and found 9 new investigators !!! We also set 4 people on date for baptism !!! It was crazy. On April 23rd Freddy is getting baptized. He is from Ghana !! He is 18 years old, a senior in high school. I tracted into him last transfer and we've been teaching him ever since. He has come to church a couple times and he LOVES it. Yesterday he had to introduce himself again and he stands up and says " My name is freddy, bruddah dave knocked on my door and now I come to church, and im here to stay !! " haha it was awesome. He is ready for baptism so it will be fun ! Also on the same day we will probably be baptising konnie. She is from sierra leone and is 18 also. She came to general conference and was kinda bored so were trying to get her to come to a normal church service !! We also found this guy named jose and his wife yesseniah. They are AWESOME ! He grew up in New York and is a huge baseball fan. He came to church yesterday and loved it ! I signed up to do service with the elders quorum on saturday haha. Him and his wife will definatly get baptized shortly. There are a ton of great things happening in this area. I can't believe I hit 18 months next week, the time is flying by. I am having a blast, but man it is tough work. I look forward to seeing you guys again !! Also I get to call you for mothers day this transfer so that will be fun !!!

I love you guys !! It was great to get all of your emails !! Hope you're all doing well !!!

It Just Keeps Getting Better!

2011-03-23T11:15:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone ! How are you all doing? I will give you a run down of the past week or so...its been a good one !!!

Friday : We had zone leader counsel. It was really good. Starting next transfer pdays are going to be on Monday . Also transfers will be different. Now we will just show up to the transfer meeting and find out who our new comp is there....kind of like you did it in your mission I think nate? That will be good though. After the counsel we had an awesome day ! We taught 4 investigator lessons. They were all from sierra leone haha. I love those people. Their very similar to ghanains. We went to this one guys house named Ambrose. He is awesome ! We had dinner with him and his wife....what did they feed us ? Casava leaf fufu with pepper soup!!!! I thought fufu was in the past...boy was I wrong. This soup was SPICY !! It was already way hot outside...then I started eating the soup and bam !! I was sweatin haha. I couldn't finish the soup...it was just to spicy for me ! I tried. I did finish the fufu though.

Saturday : It was another good day for us ! We had this potential investigator from Ghana that we found a few weeks ago. His name is maxwell. We have tried visiting him quite a few times and had no luck. Well we were in the area so we stopped in. What a surprise we had !! Maxwell was there, his friend was there, and his roomate was there ! All ghanains. We taught them all haha. It was a blast. Then before we left maxwell says " My bruddas , have some fufu with us !! I was like sweet ! Then I was like, Maxwell can I have some amooney abamoon instead ? He was like ofcourse my bruddah haha. Amooney abamoon is rice and stew. Its not to bad. You eat it with your hands. You pick up a pile and swirl it in the soup they gave us, which was palm nut soup haha. There was some meat in there to and I ate a little then I heard maxwell from the kitchen say " I hope you like the meat ! Its cow intestine ! " you should have seen my face...i thought i was going to die !!!!! Also that night we had a solid lesson with our investigator named Freddy...hes 18 and from Ghana as well. He is awesome !!

Sunday : Freddy came to church !!! I was sooo excited !! All his family is pretty hardcore baptist so I was surprised to see him there. At the end we were talkin to him and he was like " wow this was really good, it all made sense. I am bringing my friends with me next week !!! " It was a miracle.

Monday: Oh man this was such a good day !!! We had a really good lesson with one of our investigators who is struggling alot. We taught her about the atonement and the spirit was strong. She said her husband is interested in learning more about baptism, so were going back to teach him later this week. Then we saw a former investigator in the area book from about a year ago. Its a ghanain family so I was like man we gotta check this out. We went over and had an awesome visit !! The parents aren't as interested but the three kids are. They are 14, 16, and 9. They are legit !! They had a book of mormon sitting on there table and I was like " have you guys been reading it ?! " They were like ya we read it as a family a couple times a week !!! I was like oh man that is awesome !! Were going back on thursday to start teaching them.

Yesterday : I was on exchanges with a greenie. We had another awesome day. We taught a few investigators and visited some less actives. We were tracting and ran into these sweet kids ! They are from sierra leone. They are 23, 18, 16. One is muslim but the other two are christian. We sat down and taught them the restoration and showed them the movie and they loved it !!! Were going back tonight to teach them and invite them to church !!

It has truly been a week of miracles. We are being so blessed right now. I am so gratefull for these experiences. I think alot about what I would be doing right now had I not come out here, its scary to think about. I am so gratefull for the things Ive learned and the struggles I continue to have that let me continue to grow every day ! I love this work !!!

Love you guys !!

Elder Davie

The Week of Miracles!

2011-03-16T08:11:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone !!

How is everyone doing ? We had a pretty good week. We had a miracle happen to us on Saturday night. So we had an appointment scheduled with Freddy at 8:00 pm. Freddy is this 18 year old Ghanain kid we found while tracting about a week ago. So we pull up to the apartments and its like 7:55....we knock on the door and Freddy isn't there !!! We were both kinda bummed and were just like what the heck. Well we decided we would tract the building right next door and then try Freddy again. God works in mysterious ways. He always has a plan in mind. We knock on this one door and this girl named Ume (oomay) answered. She is from Sierra Leonne. She is 18 year old and is a senior in high school. We were talking to her on the doorstep for a second then she was like " You guys wanna come in? " Those are the golden words ! So we went in and taught her and her family for a while. They said they have actually been looking for a new church to start going to. It was awesome. So ofcourse we committed them all to come to church the next day ! Ume ended up coming and loved it. Her family didn't make it so hopefully this week they will be there. I was thinking though, had freddy been home when we tried going there we would have never found ume and her family ! Then we ended up going to freddys after and he was home ! Not only him, but his entire family !! We taught his two sisters and his mom and his aunt. It was awesome. We taught them the restoration and showed them the restoration dvd. They loved it. We had another miracle happen to us. We were tracting the other day and we knocked on this door and this lady answered. She was on the phone so she was just like ya ya not interested and whatever. Then she was like hang on. She was talking to her husband on the phone..then she was like " My husband said he wants to meet with you guys so come back. " We ended up going back on Sunday and wow, this guy was awesome ! His mother just passed away last month and he is looking for a source of strength right now. We had an awesome lesson with him and he told us to come back and keep teaching him ! Had his wife not been on the phone when we knocked we would have never found him. It was so awesome. These are 2 experiences I had this past week that let me know, this is the lords work. He will make things happen if we have the faith ! Its been a good week.

Well I hope everyone is doing well. I got the st patricks day package you sent me !! Thank you SO much !! I loved it !!!! Love you guys !!

Elder Davie

Looking for More Ghanians!

2011-03-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys !

How are all you doing? Its a little earlier than usual I know, I will be back later today to check my email again and write some more. We are going to DC today with the Ashburn zone leaders. Brother Mccoy is taking us on a tour of the capitol building ! It should be fun, I am excited !

Last Saturday I went back to Mt Vernon again for a baptism ! It was for Rachell Oku....They are a recent convert family and their daughter rachell just turned 8. She asked me if I would baptize her so I did ofcourse. It was awesome !!! It was great to be back there again and see everyone. I forgot my camera but President Albright got a couple pictures and so did my last companion so they are going to email them to me ! It was awesome though.

Besides that there really isn't a whole lot going on here. This area is tough. We tract alot and it seems like we only meet spanish people and middle eastern people. Obviously we can't talk to the spanish because of the language barrier and middle easterns are mostly hardcore muslim so we don't really get anywhere there. Its hard, but its not impossible. Last Saturday night we found some Ghanains ! I was sooo happy ! We taught this guy named Freddy. He is 18. Hes sweet ! He told us to come back this week and teach him some more. Then on Sunday we were tracting and we found another house full of Ghanains !!! It was awesome !! We are going to hopefully start teaching them as well !!

On Sunday we had to teach the gospel principles class....we taught the lesson on the word of wisdom. It went pretty good. Then that night we went to a mission home fireside which are always fun !! Overall its been a pretty good week ! I am excited for today, it will be fun. Well I look forward to hearing from all you guys !!! I hope everything is going well !!! I love you !!

Elder Davie

More Baptisms!

2011-03-02T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone !

How are you all doing? Sounds like its been a good week for everyone, minues your camera getting stolen em !! That totally stinks !! I lost like 200 pictures of my mission when mine got stolen. Well I definatly had an eventfull week. Elder Richards of the 70 was out here for a mission tour. We had meetings on Wed, Thursday, and Friday, then again on Sunday for Stake Conference. Wednesday was a meeting with all the bishops, ward mission leaders, and stake presidents in our mission, it was really good !! Thursday was zone conference, which I had to conduct. It wasn't as bad or scary as I thought it would have been. It went well. Friday was a leadership meeting for all zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers. It was pretty good ! After that we had a zone leader counsel which was fun. Overall it was really good ! Oh ya so Elder Richards interviewed 5 people from every zone conference. Ours had like 50-60 people there and who got picked....I did ! Ofcourse haha, I had a feeling I was gonna get picked. I was pretty scared, Elder Richards is intimidating, but I tell you what I had one of the best interviews ive ever had. It was so good. He gave me alot of awesome advice and we had a good talk. It was like 20 min long so it was really fun. There is alot of stress gone now that the week is over. Then yesterday we had interviews with President. It was such a good interview, I loved it. He is so sweet, I love him so much !

Then on Saturday I had to privilege of going back to Mt Vernon !!!! Esther Boatang was baptized !! She is the one Elder Larochelle and I found, shes the jazz fan haha !! It was amazing to not only be back in mt vernon but to see her get baptized ! She was so excited !!!!! I was so happy to be there, you have no idea. In my interview with president the first thing he said is " So do you miss mt vernon? " I was like " You have no idea ! " haha. He said well at least your being honest :) Things are going pretty good here. Im starting to get used to it a little more each day. I was just thinking, next transfer is when we do our mothers day call.....crazy !!!! time is going by way to fast.

Oh ya guess what?! The zone leaders in ashburn are 2 of my best friends out here....as a zone leader you can call other zones ( hope that makes sense) usually you cant call anybody who isn't in your district....anyways so they called me and said " Hey we had dinner with the mccoys !! They are sweet !!! There is another baptism this saturday for this girl named rachell oku. They want me to baptize her so im trying to find a ride down there !!! It would be sweet !!!

Sunday night was one of the best nights ever !! So Alex Boye did a fireside/concert at the temple visitors center. Oh man it was SO good. If you EVER have the chance to see him perform live, go to it !! He is an amazing entertainer...hes hilarious !! You would love him !! I got some videos I will send home !!!

Anyways thats all the exciting news that I have for this week !!! I love you guys !! I will send some pics

Elder Davie

New Area!

2011-02-23T08:07:00.001-08:00

Hey guys,

I'm officially in the Annadale Zone serving in the Annadale Ward. What a crazy week we have ahead of us. Elder Kent Richards of the Seventy is touring our mission right now. Tonight we have a meeting with all bishops, stake presidents, and zone leaders at the mclean stake center. It should be interesting. Tomorrow we have a zone conference for our zone, fredericksburg, woodbridge, and spanish north. Guess who got called on to conduct....me ofcourse. Out of 8 zone leaders they just had to choose me !!! Im freaking out. It will definatly be the biggest meeting ive ever had to conduct....its scary. Then on Friday we have leadership meeting with elder richards from 9-3 then we have zone leader counsel from 3-5. Wow. Long days. Then on Saturday we are doing something AWESOME !! Remember when I told you about Esther? She was the Ghanain lady me and elder larochelle found a couple weeks ago...shes the jazz fan ! Well she is getting baptized on Saturday !!! Luckily I was able to find a ride so we are going to head down there and see it ! I can't wait !!! I will make sure to take plenty of pictures. !!!!

We had an awesome experience on Tuesday. We took one of our investigators up to the temple visitor center. He loved it. We had the sisters there take him on a tour and teach him the plan of salvation. Afterwards we were seating in front of the christus statue. We were talking about the gospel and then he just stopped for a second said " Wow I really needed this today. Thank you guys so much" It was awesome. He was able to feel and recognize the light of christ and the power of the holy ghost. Also I have some GREAT news !!! I heard from the elders in mt vernon about some news on Ohenabuh...the ghanain prince we baptized. Apparantly he has already baptized 13 members of his family....that is incredible ! The power of one !! Remember how I told you Elder Allen was gonna be my roomate...man this kid is hilarious !!!! haha. Hes sweet. He is the funniest person!

I hope you guys have an awesome week !!! I am excited to hear from all of you !!! I love you !!

Transfer Time!

2011-02-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone !

Well lets just say it hasn't been the best couple days ive ever had....... Transfer calls came in last night...Im leaving Belle Haven. Aghh man I did not want to leave....I really really didn't. I am going to be serving in the Annandal Zone. I am a Senior companion again. My companion is going to be Elder Buie from Cottonwood Heights Utah. Well I think he actually lives in the avenues. I was his Zone Leader in Ashburn a couple transfers back. Hes a good kid, it will be fun.

I am so sad that im leaving. I have gotten so close to alot of people here. I think one of my weaknesses is that I tend to really open up with people and connect to them, making it very difficult sometimes to leave. Its hard developing these friendships and then one day packing up and starting from ground zero again. Its no fun !!!! Its really, really hard for me to start at the beginning, knowing nobody in the ward, and going through that whole process again. I know nate probably knows exactly how I feel. I was really hoping to spend more time here....man it stinks. This is the best area in the mission...im convinced of that...I heard that it was before I came here but man it really is. I am going to miss the ghanains more than anything !!! They are like family away from home. They are amazing. I guess im leaving for a reason though right ? I hope so !!!

Another thing that is sad is we have a couple baptisms coming up in the next 2 weeks. Its frusterating because it seems like in every single area ive been in I will find someone and teach them but then I always get transfered right before their baptisms !!! Esther is getting baptized on February 26th. She is so funny i love her !! Shes like 60 something years old I think. I will hopefully be able to find a ride and come back to see it. She was way mad when I told her I was leaving. We have another investigator named Russel. Man this guy is something else....he is awesome !!!!!! Hes pretty ticked that im leaving....he hates change so he hates having missionaries come in and out and what not. He gave us $50 yesterday and said " Lunch is on me...go get yourselves a nice steak somewhere !!" This guy is so sweet. Im going to miss these people !! Sorry if it sounds like im venting...I kinda am :) Its just hard. Sometimes it would be nice if they would let us call home every now and again to vent haha.

So like I said im going to the Annandale zone. It should be alright. Kinda stressfull since thats where president lives and the assistants so you always have to be at your best ! Guess who my roomate is going to be ?? I will give you a hint....Emily dated his brother while we lived in temecula....yep ! Elder Allen haha. I talked to him this morning....hes a good kid it will be fun to get to know him a little better.

Well I love you guys. Keep me in your prayers...its going to be a very stressfull week. We have the MTC leaders here touring our mission and then Elder Kent. Richards of the 70 is coming to tour the mission next week.....scary. It will be nice to have that stress gone. Well I love you guys so much !!!! Thank you SOOOOO much for the valentines package !!! It was an AWESOME surprise !!!!!!!! You guys are so good to me !!!

Elder Davie

Another Miracle!

2011-02-09T22:39:00.000-08:00

Hello Family !!

How is everyone doing ?! I am great ! We had another great week here in Alexandria, VA. I love this place ...I really really love this place. I want to finish my mission here....not likely it could happen though. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I got transferred next week. I hope not !!!!

Here is another miracle that happened to us this week :

It was Saturday afternoon. We had just visited a recent convert and were leaving his place. We had some extra time before our next appointment so we decided we would just tract the area where we were. We knocked this building and on one door this lady opened named Janet. She is from Ghana ofcourse. She said " Come back in five minutes, im busy." This is a typical ghanain response while tracting. So we were like alright we'll just finish the next building and we'll go back and see what happens. We go back and Janet opens the door and lets us right now. We sat down and started talking for a bit. She informed us she is Methodist but has seen the missionaries before. Then she said " I want you to meet my sister . " Her sister came out and she saw our name tags and said " Latter day saints??!! " We were like yep !! She said she had been going to the mormon church in Ghana every week before she came to the United States 8 months ago. Apparantly she was living with a boyfriend in Ghana so she wasn't able to get baptized. She said she had been looking for the church here but couldn't find it !!! And even better, she is a Utah Jazz fan hahaha :) We had an awesome lesson with her that day. We came back the next day with Maxwell, our Ghanain member and she loved it. The next morning she was at church and made so many new friends !!! She will probably be baptized here in a couple weeks. Her sister Janet also said " I will come to church in a couple weeks and maybe I will become a member too ! " It was awesome. The lord led us to someone he had been preparing for years. The best feeling in the world truly is to know you have been an instrument in the hand of the lord.

I LOVE the Ghanains here....they are so amazing. I can't wait for you guys to meet some of them. One day im gonna go to Ghana ! haha. I can't believe that transfers are next week.....these past 6 weeks have gone by crazy fast....its weird. I wish we had another 6 weeks in this transfer. So many awesome things have happened and I have loved it !!!

Not much new is going on with me...same old missionary work ! I am excited to hear from you guys !!!I have alot of pics to email so I will go do that now....love you guys !!!

Elder Davie

Miracle on the Bus!

2011-02-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

Hello !

How is everyone doing ? I am doing good ! Last week we went up to dc for pday and had a good time. We started off at the Holocaust museum. It was crazy...kind of depressing. It was a really good museum though. Then we just kind of went to the air and space museum and hung out for a little bit then just headed back home because of the snow storm we got. We only had like 5-6 inches but ofcourse people were freaking out. That night we just headed out to route 1 which is like a 1 minute walk from our apartment. We just helped push cars up the hill all night. It was actually pretty fun. At 9:00 we stopped for some hot chocolate at Krispy Kreme. Thats when a former investigator walked in...it was someone me and elder bell found and taught....and he was like thank you guys so much for helping me get up the hill. Hes like I want you guys to come back and teach me and my family ! It was pretty awesome...the blessings of service.....it softened this guys heart.

Then on Friday we had a leadership meeting which was fun. I guess Jimmer Fredette shared a little bit of his testimony on ESPN....president showed us that clip...it was sweet. I heard BYU beat San Diego State then lost to unranked New Mexico?! Crazy.

On monday we had another little miracle. It was the end of the month and we were already past our miles allotment. We both had the idea to go and visit this recent convert and his non member sister. They actually live outside our ward boundaries and it would have taken to many miles. So Elder Larochelle said lets just go catch the bus down there ...I was like sweet lets go !! As we walked outside I got a feeling to grab a bom and my bible out of the car and hold it in my hands because someone was going to see it and ask questions. Well we get on the bus for the first time this transfer....and sure enough right when we get on elder larochelle sits next to this later and im puttin my wallet away and she says " Hey whats the difference between those two books ? " It was awesome. We were able to teach her for 15 minutes until her stop came. She gave us all her info and were going to go back and teach her this week !

Everything else has been going good ! I can't believe its already february !!! Elder Larochelle and I have seen alot of success here in this area. We are working hard and the time is flying by. I am enjoying my time here in Belle Haven. Oh ya, at leadership this missionary came up to me (Elder Gillihan) and said hey do you know the mccoys? I was like ya ! I guess he was at their house the night before or something...I don't really know. I hear that they live in Tall Cedars which is in the Ashburn Stake. Its a very nice area.

Well I love you guys !!!! I will email some pictures of the past week....this camera is awesome !! The videos are amazing !!!!!!

Elder Davie

Work until 9 PM!!!

2011-01-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

Hello !!!

How are you all doing ? It was great to hear from you guys this week !!! I am glad to hear the appointment with Austyn went well. She is always in my prayers !! Thank you so much nate for sending me that camera....I was hoping you would send me an old beat up one and not your nice one !! This camera is insane nice !!! Holy cow....It was jus time too because I picked it up from the post office this morning and there are a few of us heading into DC today for pday !!! I will take lots of pics !!! You guys are so good to me and spoil me. Members always ask where I fall in our family and when I say youngest they just laugh and say your probably spoiled !!! Im so lucky to have you guys.

So I got the dvd that you sent me in that package hahahahhahaahahaha holy cow that was hilarious !!!!! I was laughing way hard....It was well done !!!! What program did you use to make that nate ? It was seriiously dang good !!! I can't wait to make some movies when we get back...I will definatly have to do one for my mission...that would be legit !! Thanks for sending me that link for the article of ohenabuh....it was crazy to see that picture of the baptism because everyone in that picture is who I spend alot of my time with !!! I see all of them multiple times a week !!! They are my family away from home. I love these people so incredibly much , more than words can describe. They are SO strong in the gospel. This area has been a blast to serve in...its amazing here. Probably tied for my favorite area with Garrisonville. The people are so humble and loving. Ive had experiences here in Belle Haven that have changed my life.

Last week was one of the best weeks I have had as a missionary. We were truly blessed here. Elder Larochelle and I have been trying to work our hardest and have been really trying to increase all areas of the work here and we have seen alot of success. I am just so happy right now to be where I am and to be a missionary. Its amazing !!!!!

Here is a miracle that happened to us : So last Tuesday we had a really busy day...we taught like 6 lessons which is pretty good for us. It was about 8:45....one thing my last comp taught me (Elder Bell) is that you work till 9!!!! We pulled over on the side of the busy road and offered a simple prayer of where we might be best used. Shorty thereafter I saw some apartments close by that hadn't been tracted yet. We went and tracted the building and weren't sure exactly why we had been led there.Ya we found a couple potential investigators but I lacked the faith that things would work out. So now we move to Friday. It was about 5-6 oclock and we had run out of things to do. We weren't able to contact some of our investigators to teach and we had been tracting for a while so we were kind of lost as to what we should do. Then Elder Larochelle got this prompting to call one of the potentials that we had found on that tuesday night. He did and they told us we could come over. We went and had an AWESOME lesson with them. They are a family of 3 from Nicaragua but speak good english and want to attend the english ward. They LOVED the message we shared and are excited to come to church !!!!! Prayer is so powerfull. Sometimes I expect immediate results but most times im quickly reassured that god works according to his time...not our time. This was definatly the case in this sitaution.

I am so humbled as I have experiences every day that solitify my testimony. I know for a fact that the messages we share are truth and can be felt through the power of the holy ghost. I have learned so much over the past 15 months and I am excited to continue learning and growing closer to our father in heaven. I am gratefull for you nate , who have set that example for me in my life as a priesthood holder. I remember looking up to you as I was growing up and watching you closely and was always amazed at your desire to do whats right. I am so gratefull for sisters like emily and ashley who have shown more love to me than I ever could have imagined. I am gratefull for an amazing mother who put aside her own wants and desires to help her kids grow and mature into who we are today. Lastly im most gratefull for a Father in heaven who has unconditional love and who knows me better than I know myself and who is ALWAYS there even when I seem to forget Him. I am so gratefull for all you guys !!!! Your the best !!!!

Elder Davie

Jazz game!

2011-01-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

D-Will in the house!

A view from our seats!

Riding the Metro to the game

Stolen Camera

2011-01-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

Hey !

How is everyone doing ? I am doing good ! We had an pretty good week last week ! We reached the DC Standard : 20 lessons 80 % Member Present 80% Baptismal invites and at least 3 new investigators. We were blessed !! Our area is doing pretty good right now and were seeing a lot of good things happening. There hasnt been anything to exciting or crazy happening in the work, just alot of good stuff !! We had stake correlation meeting on Sunday with the bishops and ward mission leaders and stake presidency....thats kind of a relief to have over...alot of pressure.

Last Thursday we had kind of a bummer thing happen to us. We parked in these apartments, the cherry arms apartments right off route 1 in alexandria. It was 10:00 in the morning !! It was right by a main busy road !! We had an appointment so we went and knocked on the door, no one answered so we headed back to the car...all this happened within like 5-10 min. We got back to the car to find that my camera was stolen and my comps gps was stolen. Man that ticked me off. I guess I forgot to lock the door. That camera had tons of pictures on it that are lost now !!! ugghhh....frustrating.

So President Albright gave everyone a little incentive this transfer.....All companionships who can reach the DC Standard 3 out of 5 weeks get to go to the Wizards vs Spurs game !!!!! Its an 8:00 saturday game so it would be a blast ! We already got it once and we are on our way to getting it again so we are looking forward to that...it will be a lot of fun !!!!!

I would love to hear how everyone is doing !!!! How is Taylor ? Austyn ? Dallin ? Hows work going for David ? Any new status on Brandon and where he might go be a pharmacist at ? Anything exciting happening in South Jordan ? I love you guys !!!!

Elder Davie

Baptism Pictures!!

2011-01-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

At the visitors center with Ohenabuh

Ohenabuh listening to Christ's Message

Baptism of Ohenabuh!

Baptism of Craig!

Us with Ohenabuh outside the temple

The Prince of Ghana

2011-01-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone !

How has everyones week been? Mine has been pretty good I have to say. We had transfers last week which were good as usual. Now I am with Elder Larochelle, still in Mt Vernon in the Belle Haven ward. I really enjoy this area and am starting to get to know the ward more and more which is good. Here is a run down of some of the awesome things that happened this week :

* Wednesday night we went up to the temple visitors center with Ohenabuh (oh-hen-uh-buh) He is the guy who showed up randomly to church last Sunday. His nephew is a member . He is from Ghana. Here is some background on him. He grew up in the muslim faith as a kid. Then he got involved with Idol worshipping and voo doo and what not. He is a prince in Ghana. He is the kings right hand man. This guy was the caretaker of over 130 idols that people worshipped ! Each idol had about 5,000 followers so this guy was the head of hundreds of thousands of people. He has a huge influence on people in ghana. So he went to New York last week on assignment for one of these idol worshipping things. When he was in New York he felt the holy ghost tell him this " Ohenabuh this is not going to give you eternal life ! " He said it was such a strong feeling and impression that he left new york and came to his nephews house here in Mt Vernon. He asked his nephew why he was so happy ? He told ohenabuh about the church and so he came. That sunday he said he wanted to get baptized ! We went over every single day to teach him. This guys heart had been softened. He had been prepared by the lord. President Albright came to a lesson with us on Tuesday. He also could feel the change in this mans heart. He was one of the most humble and willing people I have ever met. Wednesday night like I said we headed up to the temple visitors center. He loved it !!!!!!!! We sat by the christ statue and he listened to the words that they played. As the words stopped ohenabuh had tears running down his face. In his broken english he uttered this " I feel the guilt and remorse for the things I have done in my life. I know christ died for me. I know he will forgive me and I am ready to follow him !! " It was one of the most spiritual and powerfull experiences I have had. Sunday night came around and President Albright baptized Ohenabuh Osei Kwame. What an amazing baptismal service it was. So many people came and supported him. Ahh I wish you guys could have been there because words can't describe the whole experience I had this past week while teaching this man. It was amazing. He goes back to ghana tonight. Hes already called the missino president in ghana and the bishop in his ward and has plans to " go and spread the gospel ! " as he says it. He has to go back and tell the king that he is no longer following him anymore. He is giving up hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of acres of land and many things....just so he can be a follower of christ. Incredible.

*Thursday - I got a call from the missinoaries in Brambleton...My previous area. They said he what are you doing on Saturday ? I was like uh I don't know why....then they told me the great news. Craig Bass had planned to get baptized !! Our prayers payed off. He was ready to take the next step. I was able to go to the baptism on Saturday....It was awesome. That was the first time I had found someone knocking doors, taught them, and saw them get baptized. It was awesome.

That was a couple of the amazing things that happened this week. Things are going well here. Elder Richards of the 70 is coming to do a mission tour next month. Nate he is the mission president off of the district movie that the church made. I don't know if you remember that guy or not. I hope to hear from you all soon ! I Love you !!

Elder Davie

More Pictures!

2011-01-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

Mt Vernon Zone

The Oku Family - I love them!

Us with Maxwell - Awesome member missionary!

Jazzing up my room!!

Trying on a new hat!

Transfer Time!

2011-01-05T12:52:00.000-08:00

Good Afternoon Everyone !

I feel like I haven't emailed forever !!! Its been a long week I guess. Man this transfer has just flown by I can't believe it !! So Ive had a great week. We spent thursday friday and most of saturday just teaching lessons and saying goodbye to a couple families that elder bell wanted to see. It was really good. Then on Saturday night we drove down to the mission home and President and Sister Albright took me and Elder Bell out to dinner. We went to Macoroni Grill...it was delicious !! Then Sunday morning we woke up at 4:30 and got ready to head to the airport. President and Sister albright drove us to the airport where we dropped off Elder Bell. It was sad !!! He taught me so many different things and helped me in so many ways. I was blessed to be able to serve with him before he left. Hes a legend in the mission. After that the office elders dropped me back off at home. Since then I have been serving with Elders Ta'ufo'ou and harper. They serve in the mt vernon ward so we have been sharing areas. It has been a blast. Ta'ufo'ou is amazing. Hes got a heart of gold and its been fun serving with him. We also had a miracle happen to us :

Sunday we showed up to church in their ward. There is this ghanain guy named patrick that is a recent convert. He brought his uncle to church who had just flown in from Ghana the day before. Apparantly his uncle is a prince or a king in Ghana and is a leader of like 50 million people from hundreds of different tribes. He wants to get baptized. I took a guy in our ward over there on exchange who is also from ghana. When he saw patricks unlce he couldn't believe it. He kept telling us in his broken english " You guys don't realize how powerfull this man is ! You don't realize how big he is in our culture !! " This guy was muslim and was doing alot of voo doo and idol worshipping stuff but the spirit touched him in a way that he couldn't deny and he wanted to "find christ." Its amazing. He is so ready to hear the gospel. Were going up to the visitors center with him today so I will send pics of that after.

We got our transfer calls last night. I am way pumped. I am staying here in Belle Haven. I am getting Elder Larochelle. He was my roomate in the MTC. We have been best friends on the mission so it should be good. Im kind of frusterated that im still junior companion though. There have been like 6 other zone leaders who have gone up after me and they are senior comps and training....I talked to elder bell yesterday on the phone and was just like man what am I doing wrong? Who knows...just gotta go with the flow I guess. Well that is the news of the week !!! I look forward to hearing from you guys !! I love you !!

Elder Davie

More Pictures!

2010-12-31T22:18:00.000-08:00

Potomac River

Future Missionary

Pictures!

2010-12-31T22:06:00.000-08:00

Lewis & Clark on the banks of the Potomac

2010-12-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-15T15:03:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-08T08:56:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

Monday Miracle

2010-11-17T16:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-11T15:55:00.000-08:00

2010-11-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-10-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

Exterminator!

2010-10-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

After.....

More Pictures!

2010-10-08T21:24:00.001-07:00

Halloween Time!

2010-10-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

Miracle in the Making

2010-10-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

Zone Leader

2010-07-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-09T14:14:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

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 !

2010-06-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-05T21:26:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

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"

And a Few More!

2010-04-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

And More!

2010-04-08T00:28:00.000-07:00

More Pictures!

2010-04-08T00:21:00.000-07:00

Zone Conference

2010-04-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures I got from the mission blog. They had zone conference - 3 zones combined. Can you spot Brendan in this picture??

(Hint: He's in the second row back, right side)

Great Work

2010-04-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 pictures I got off the mission blog ... Brendans district was invited to the mission home for family night for doing such great work in the field!! way to go Elder Davie!!

2010-03-04T11:29:00.001-08:00

Email sent March 3, 2010:

Buenos Dias ! How are you ?! I am doing ok, a little startled about the whole situation with Austyn. I love how dallin says " When im four I get to see Brendan ! " haha that is great !! It was be a special day to see him and austyn again. Everything is good out here. The weather has been nice.... 40's but no snow. The work has been going good, were teaching alot of people which makes it nice. I can't believe transfers are already in two weeks. I have a strong feeling I will be staying here with my comp. I got your letter yesterday !!! Thank you sooooooo much !!!!!!!!!!!!!! $20 goes a lonnnnggg ways ! I was dead broke, pay day was today....well if you call $140 pay day. its not as easy when the ward doesn't buy our groceries like they did in Ashburn. I didn't get a chance to write letters last week but I will for sure be mailing some off today. And I will be sending pics to you all. I have like 10 so i will send a few to all you guys. So share them when you get them :) Well I hope you are having a great week ! Tell dallin that when I get home we need to go to disneyland ok !! Give him a hug for me !! And a kiss !! Tell him i loved my picture he colored and the buzz and woody pen he gave me for valentines...I mean dallin tines. haha. I love you !!
Elder Davie

2010-03-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

Email from March 3, 2010:

Hello Mom ! How are you?! It was great to get your email ! Wow what a last couple days it has been !! I was very startled when I received the call from President. My companion and roomates all fasted yesterday and it was a wonderfull experience. I know Austyn is going to be ok, I know it. I love her so much and its hard to see her go through any sort of pain, its even harder when you can't be there to give her a hug ! You guys are always in my praryers though ! The baptism last Saturday went really well. I gave a talk on the holy ghost. Then on Sunday I was able to confirm her which was an awesome experience. President showed up unexpectedly and stood in the circle with us. When I started the confirmation and I said " We confirm you a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" it hit me ya know. Like this is for real, this is not just something we do, this is real. To have President there was so good. I have come to love him so much the past month or so, he is awesome and has such a strong testimony and spirit about him. We are continuing to teach people here in this area and help them progress. We baptized Christina, she is engaged to chris who is a recent convert. Chris' family are not members. His mom , brother, and little sister live in the house. Well over the last month or so we've caught their interest. At first they wouldn't have anything to do with us, now everytime we go there which is at least every other day, they all come down stairs and listen to our message. Chris's little brother Brian is 14. Hes lived a rough life. Hes on house arrest right now. He got permission from his parole officer to come to the baptism with his mom. The next day we met with them and Brian said " When I saw christina get baptized I felt something, it was weird. I have never felt so much peace in my life. I felt like I wanted to cry. " Now if you knew this kid your jaw would have dropped like mine did. He is the last person you would expect to say something like that. The same goes for the mom, she is a very hostile , loud person. She was in tears at the baptism. She is letting us teach her. I cannot believe the change of heart in them that I have seen over the past month. It is like night and day. Their family is very very poor. Keep them in your prayers ! SHe is a single mom , is on disability, her mom just died, and she is on the verge of losing her home. She has a townhome but through the government and disability her rent is only like $300 but she is struggling to make ends meet. Keep the Morris family in your prayers !! I love you guys ! I really do !! I hope you all have an awesome week ! I think about you guys every day. I am sending a few pictures home today !! Love you !! Elder Davie

Tim Tam Slams!

2010-02-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

And More!!

2010-02-20T17:15:00.001-08:00

More Pictures!

2010-02-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Call It What You Want ...

2010-02-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

February 8, 2010

So I am now living in Stafford, VA. I am in the Fredericksburg Zone. I am serving in the Garrisonville and Aquia (Uh-Kwy-Uh) ward. My comp is Elder Knowles (nulls) from Farmington. It has been a pretty good week, I am still trying to get used to the change. Elder Larochelle, my MTC roommate, is in my district so that is sweet! There are a lot of people, well a lot of missionaries, who are doubting us because we are young. Last week we scheduled one investigator for baptism for February 27th. Then we found a new investigator, taught her all three lessons, and she is going to be baptized on February 27th. We have a ton of people we're teaching and a ton of potentials. The last few days have been slow, it's snowed about 4 1/2 feet. I live with another companionship Elder Thompson and Elder Barnes. They are sweet. Elder Pomeray, my MTC comp, was living here but got transferred when I came down. We live in a townhouse. It's pretty big, 2 stories. It's old, but not too bad. Here is a crazy story for ya: Last night me and my comp and our roommates decided to go out and shovel snow around the neighborhood. It was snowing pretty bad outside. We walked about 2 miles and shoveled some less active homes. it was about 8:00 so we decided to head home. There was probably about a foot of snow on the roads. So we're walking and me and Elder Thompson were like 10 feet ahead of Elder Knowles & Barnes. All of a sudden I hear Elder Knowles yell "Oh S***. Barnes get out of the way!!!" I look back and see this truck going about 40 mph and fishtailing. Me and Elder Thompson got out of the way, but Elder Barnes got hit. The truck hit him, knocked him down, and ran over his leg. The driver stops obviously, jumps out and is panicing. He was an older guy from Peru. Call this what you want, but after a couple of minutes Elder Barnes stood up. They gave him a ride home. He woke up in the morning and is just fine, no pain at all! That is insane, huh? It was crazy! We called President Albright to let him know. It was pretty intense to see it happen. It's snowing really bad today which is why I wasn't able to email. That's pretty much what's going on down here. Church has been cancelled the last three weeks because of snow. I live close to the Quantico Marine base, there are a ton of military people in this area. Well tell me what's going on with you guys! I haven't gotten any letters in the last couple of weeks. Well, I got one from Nate I think. How are the kids? Split the ward yet? Is it snowing a ton there? Anything exciting going on? I miss Ashburn, but it's all good. Well, I gotta get going. I love you guys!

Love,
Elder Davie

2010-02-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hey!

What's up? I feel like I haven't talked to you guys in forever! How is babysitting? How's the car? How is Dal? I bet he is growing like crazy! I hope his surgery goes good. I always keep you guys in my prayers! I am in Stafford, VA. It's like 20 miles north of Fredericksburg and like 70 miles north of Richmond. It's got a different feel than Ashburn. It's more country-ish ... some hicks, a lot of marine/military people. My roommate got hit by a car, I wrote mom about it. He's ok though. We have 2 people scheduled for baptism and many more to come. We have a lot of stuff going on in this area. I live in a townhouse with another companionship. My comp is Elder Knowles from Farmington. He's cool. I actually have to buy my groceries here which sucks, but we have a walmart right down the road! We taught this girl about the word of wisdom last night. She is 21 and trying to quit smoking. She will be baptized, she just doesn't know it yet! We have two appointments tonight and some former investigators we are going to try and track down. I have a picture of Austyn & Dallin on my planner. Well, we are going to the library to email now (today is Friday, I started writing this letter on Thursday). I will talk to ya soon! Love ya! I love you Dallin!! And Brandon!! ha ha

Love,
Elder Davie

2010-02-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

January 26, 2010

Ashley & Dallin-
How are you guys? I am good! Are you being a good boy Dallin? I hope so! So what's new in Utah? More construction? I'm sure there is. How is Darla? I forgot about her ha ha. Things are slow here. We had a few investigators we had to drop because they either won't contact us back or answer their door or they are just not progressing and not real interested. So we're on the hunt to find some more people and teach them about Jesus. Transfers are next week, but most likely I'll be staying here. I can't believe I have been in Ashburn for 12 weeks! Crazy! This place feels like home now, the ward feels like home. How is pharmacy school going for Brandon? Well, P-Day is just about over. I love you guys though. Thanks for all your letter and all of the pictures you send. Have a fabulous week!

Love,
Elder Davie

Dear Dallin,
How are you? I miss you Buzz! Have you seen any good movies? We will have to go to Disneyland when I get home! Well, I hope you're being a good boy for your mom & dad. I love you buddy!

Love,
Uncle Brendan

2010-01-28T21:12:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2010

Family!
It was wonderful to email you all today! I got back to my apartment and had letters from everyone! I loved the pics! That news story of our mission conference is neat mom, thanks for sending that. Also, thanks for the $20, you're amazing! So I thought I would write of some experiences I've had the last couple weeks. I gave a lesson on humility in district meeting and how we should always recognize our dependance upon the Lord. It went ok. We taught an investigator for the first time in like 5 weeks. It went well. We taught him to never give up. We used Alma 8 how Alma is rejected by the people in Amonihah, but is commanded to go back and preach again.

So now it's Thursday and I am going to try and finish this letter. So we got a call from that investigator and he asked us to come over. He was wasted again. He looked at me and said, "You guys are always so happy and always smiling. I want that and you guys have taught me how to get that, but I don't have the dedication". It was heartbreaking. We found a new investigator on Monday while tracting. We have been eating with members a lot lately which is nice. It's nice to have something other than PB & J and frozen burritos for dinner. Transfers are in two weeks. I am getting nervous because I hate change, but I better get used to it though. I will most likely stay in Ashburn since my comp has been here 8 months. Besides that we have just been doing a lot of tracting which is hard because I suck at it. It's hard to try and connect with someone and transition to a Gospel conversation. I was on exchanges with the zone leader today and he makes it look so easy, then I take a door and I'm like, "Uh, Book of Mormon, I mean Hello, wait uh...". Sometimes it is akward, but oh well, I'm trying! We are going to a BBQ tomorrow at a members house and they invited their non-member friend. He knows we are coming and so we are going to share a message about the Book of Mormon with him. It should be fun! Next Wednesday we may be going to the temple so I might not be able to email. I hope I can though. There's this old guy in our ward who was Mitt Romney's stake president. Sweet, huh? Just curious, what size shirts do Austyn & Dallin wear? Well, I hope you guys are doing good, because I am. I understand now what people mean when they say a mission is the hardest thing ever, but it's worth it. Thanks for all you guys do! Love you!

Love,
Elder Davie

Zone Conference

2010-01-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

I stole these pictures from the mission website - Zone Coference Jan 12th.

Good Times

2010-01-25T17:32:00.000-08:00

Brendan showing off the tie Dallin made him for Christmas - it has pictures of Brendan & Dal all over it:

Brendan in front of the white house:

Hey!

What's up? Not much here! It was great to talk to ya yesterday! I am glad to hear you're all doing ok. Things are good here. We have dinner tonight with the Gooblers. They are a part member / inactive family we found while tracting. Then we have a visit with the Moran family who are new move ins. Then come home, plan, write in my journal, eat some cereal, and catch some zzzs. Good times! I hope you liked the 2 pictures I sent. I sent some to mom too so you'll have to check it out! I tracted on Humboldt Street yesterday in memory of you! So Dallin's surgery is on the 14th? Is that Valentine's Day? Hmm. Well I'm sorry this is short, but I have very limited time. I love you guys! Love you Dallin!

Love,

Brendan AKA Elder Davie

Pictures from Capitol Trip

2010-01-07T18:21:00.000-08:00

Snow Picture from the huge storm they got:

Pictures from their trip to the Nation's Capitol:

"I need more letters!"