"TRUST NO ONE TO BE YOUR TEACHER, NOR YOUR MASTER...EXCEPT HE BE A MAN OF GOD, WALKING IN HIS WAYS AND KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS" (Alma 23:14)

HAPPY CELEBRATIONS! Family, Family, Family! I love each one of you. 

Quick Run Through of the Week: 

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? 

- Couple of exchanges! One with the Head Sister Training Leaders and another with the sisters we live with! Incredible Sisters! 

- Bridget and Chrissy are still set for Baptism after some shakes. 

- Heavenly Father placed NENA in our path, the mother of Angelina and Sabien

- Chrissy is one of the strongest youth I know

- We received some wonderful dating, marriage and family advice this week! 

- Michelle is set for Baptism on May 24th

- Robert was asking direct questions about Joseph Smith

- Heavenly Father provided a way for us to teach Troy (Liza's husband) 

- Debbie is craving baptism!

- Ward members have stopped by and introduced themselves to our investigators on their own. 

- We had a 7 HOUR zone conference with President Slaughter and the wonderful leaders of the mission! 

- Heavenly Father placed another part-member family in our path! 

- Debbie, Chrissy and BRIDGET (and her 2 kiddos) all came to church! 

- AND all the meetings at church were phenomenal! 

- A family referred us to their neighbor and we have a lesson set up for this week. 

- The Thornal family invited one of our investigators over to have a lesson in their home! 

- Sister Davis is teaching me so much everyday (how to better walk in the light or follow the spirit, how to be positive and upbeat at all times, how to live and apply what we teach every day, and much more) 

- A member made invites for our baptism! Adorable. 

- And we have a great week ahead of us! 

I pray every day that I can prepare myself for what Heavenly Father is about to do next. He has incredible things in store. I am not sure what it will be....but I can see tremendous events occurring, testimonies growing, families making covenants together, hearts overflowing.  

I would like to share a portion of another missionaries email if I may. 

"A spiritual experience I had this week was listening to fast and testimony meeting. One sister got up and bore a short but inspiring testimony about the cultural celebration that took place in Gilbert Arizona following the dedication of the temple there. It began to POUR rain and twelve thousand youth prayed fervently for the rain to stop. It didn't. But neither did they. They sang and danced without a word of complaint. The following Sunday, they could only talk about the rain and how it had strengthened their testimonies that Heavenly Father doesn't always take the trials away. And that's exactly how I feel about my life right now. It's pouring! But I know that sometimes Heavenly Father doesn't calm the storm; instead, He calms the child. I also know that rain will make the flowers grow. So I wait. I keep going. I watch for the flowers."

President Slaughter shared some wonderful stories with us this past week. On one occasion his wife and he planned to buy a house. They signed contract after contract after contract. When Sister Slaughter went to go make the final payment and sign the last signature the offer was gone. She immediately called President Slaughter in concern, unsure of what to do, Why were we lead in this direction if we weren't supposed to buy this home? President Slaughter responds, "Did you feel that? Heavenly Father just steered us in the right direction?" We were able to see that we don’t ask WHY, we don’t need to know WHY, we just simply walk in the light and he is guiding us and will continue to guide us. We don’t need to question the Lord. We show our gratitude for him steering us in the right direction. 

I love each one of you. Thank you for your sincere love and support for all you have done. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your joy in the gospel and your testimonies that you share. 

Sincerely, Sister Davis 

BECAUSE OF HIM!

BECAUSE OF HIM....this week we get to celebrate the wonderful days that MOM and TUCKER impacted our lives. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to both of you! I just imagine that when we are living with Heavenly Father we will have even more reasons for celebrations. So we will celebrate the day we chose to come to this earth, our baptism day, marriage day, and the day we go to the spirit world to teach more people about the gospel! The day we accepted our call to teach even more people! 

We had some wonderful exchanges this past week! I again got to go to an area called Fair Oaks. It is up north, similar to Sedalia. On Friday I was able to go to a neighboring ward...the San Antonio 8th Ward. Both days helped me to better realize and understand that the work everywhere is the same and different all all once. We are ALL a part of God's army….fighting for truth and righteousness. 

Last week I mentioned the Davila Family! After coming home we truly felt that we were going to have a baptism on May 10th! (now of course it was still a ways away and a lot could happen in between. BUT we put in on our calendars in pen. We wrote it everywhere. We told our Ward Mission Leader, he in return told the Ward Council, and the Bishop. (at great risk). They scheduled it on their calendars. Well the very next day we receive a call from the Elders. They tell us that they have an investigator that lives in our ward boundaries who they have set for a date to get baptized on May 10th! SAY WHAT? (her name is Bridget!) AND THEN just this past weekend we took another one of our investigators to a baptism and on the way home she said that she wants to get baptized on May 10th with Bridget as well!!!!! My goodness. Can you see the faith that is in action! I wish I could just describe to you in a bit more detail all that occurred in between and the HUGE miracles that occurred for each one of these individuals to be baptized on this day. But please continue to pray for Bridget and Chrissy! 

Bridget is a mother of two children. She was invited to listen to the missionaries by her dear friend Sister Boster. She resisted at first and said no multiple times. BUT now that she is learning and has decided to be baptized she has a great wealth of knowledge and it is continuing to exponentially grow. Every time we see her we leave with our eyes filled with tears, our jaws dropped to the ground and just a heart overflowing with gratitude, joy and indescribable strength. 

Well I better be on my merry way. Sorry this is not long, but there is just so much to tell. AH!

I love you all so much, thank you for your great love and dedication to the great work of the Lord. It is so incredible. Don’t forget who you represent. 

Oh Easter...lol It was great. We had a few members not of our faith who were able to attend. We had a great dinner at a member’s home! It was a wonderful day! We had a ward Easter egg hunt in which quite a few families not of our faith were able to attend. It so great to share the gospel and to see and witness others learning. OH GOODNESS! 

I LOVE IT and yes of course I love YOU TOO! Have a splendid week of Joy and everything else. Always, Sister Davis

We had a lesson at the temple!

Attended a Baptism with Bridget and Chrissy!

Easter Sunday 2014!

A little fun with the Blue Bonnets!

"WITH GREAT RISK COMES GREAT REWARDS"

Dear Family! 

I am so impressed every week by how much YOUR faith is increasing……each one of you! Every word I read is just so powerful. Thank you. I often reflect on these things throughout the whole week. “Tomorrow my study will be even better than today” or ...”this lesson will be even greater than the last”...etc. because of the insights you share. A gentleman we met, when asked, “how has your day been?”, responded "It is the Best day yet!”  I hope every day is better than the previous one for me. 

I often have this fear that the "not so pleasing" experiences I have been through in my life or for instance, in the beginning of the mission, will come around again and I will have to go through them again. But that is impossible. Even if I were placed in the same situation, my outlook, my faith, my attitude will be much different and at a much greater level of faith. Therefore, all is well, all is great!

For that reason I think there has been some miscommunication...I have expressed how incredible and amazing and un-imaginable joy I have felt lately. IT IS ALL TRUE. I have heard from some,  "It sounds like all is going well, but I know that there are hard things occurring that you are just not sharing." THAT IS NOT TRUE. lol The work is really, truly, with all my heart, so exciting and sooooo full of happiness and soooo joyful at ALL times. I told you that you just weren't going to believe it. lol My hope for the future is bright, there are ONLY great things to come. Yes there are heartbreaks, sad moments, BUT never discouragement. This is the LORD's work! 

Now you really have to believe all that is happening here in 9th ward! 

With Easter coming up shortly, remember all that occurred this week……Christ riding into the city on a donkey, being annointed with oil etc. Studied it in its great depths, we can better understand how GLORIOUS the resurrection really is. 

I wish I could do more justice to this next experience……just remember there must be opposition in all things or this experience would mean nothing. Out of thousands of people we have talked to, and after explaining restored truths to them, many say “no, not for me…... I don’t believe in a living prophet…… We have our church……. We are devout Catholics…... No, thank you……... I have already been baptized etc.

AND THEN we met the Davila family!

.......A mother and father and 3 kids, all members NOT of our faith. We walked into their beautiful home, clean and well-kept, toys throughout and family pictures all around. Let me just share some quotes from the lesson. "We haven't taken our kids to church lately, because they are just so antsy, getting up and down, all over the place, and we never understand or can hear the message." Said we, “Sister Davila, you would love our church, because they have this class where all the children go and the adults are able to learn on their own”.  Sister Davila: "Oh really? I am going to have to get the name and address of that place. Where is that at?" ~ And after we explained the apostasy and the restoration…. "That makes complete sense that it would be taken from the earth and now it is brought back, yes….:" So we invited them to be baptized, the mothers response…. "We have been thinking about it, it has been in our plans for the future and we need to set the example for our kids." And the Father added,  "Although we don’t believe that they should be baptized as a baby, we are letting them decide for themselves." So, after giving the little 7yr old, Mya, a pamphlet, she says "This has been so fun!" Throughout the whole lesson her eyes were GLUED on SIster Davis and I. OUR JAWS DROPPED !

Amanda: She works at Krispy Kreme and wants to be baptized. This past week she left us with a prayer and said,  "Please bless the families of these sisters!" So, to all of you out there…..They LOVE YOU.

OH MY GOODNESS I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO SHARE> 

-3 families at church! Michelle and her 3 girls...Andrea, Liza and Ezra....Chrissy and Sara! 

-Edgar is already preparing to serve a mission and studying Preach my Gospel

-Chrissy came to mutual this past week as well! 

-I had dinner with Justin and Kassidy! 

-We did a Krispy Kreme run (Amanda helped us out) for our investigators Sunday morning! (well, really it was sat night)

-We counciled together this past week to brainstorm how we can build ZION in the mission! How we can increase faith in everyone. (particularly us missionaries)

-All those that were released as assistants, zone leaders and sister training leaders, went out into the field to be trainers and district leaders etc. and came back to reported what we can do better to unite the mission. ONE OF THE COOLEST THINGS TO SEE.

Just wait for this coming week, it will be even better. I love you all so much! Thank you, thank you for all you have done to allow me and help to be and to get where I am right now. WOW. I just look at how blessed I was in the pre-earth life to go first when I was picking my mother and father and siblings. I got to pick the best ones. Thank you! 

Always so much love in the air for you! Just imagine every snowflake that is still falling in Colorado is a hug from me! Love, Sister Davis

Krispy Kreme Run for our investigators!

Dinner with Kassidy and Justin!

"NOW BEHOLD, A MARVELOUS WORK IS ABOUT TO COME FORTH AMONG THE CHILDREN OF MEN." D&C 4:1

FAMILY, (apologies for the length - promise you won’t regret reading the whole thing though)

@ the subject….If this marvelous work isn't already occurring then I am not sure what this prophecy is speaking of. I can't even imagine a greater happiness than I feel at this time. The work is like Hershey Chocolate Kisses...you can’t just eat one. You can't just speak to one person or teach just one lesson. It’s addicting, it’s gets in your blood! Last night it was 8:45 and we had just stopped to see a family. We left them with a prayer and had to be home by 9pm but I would have rather stayed our much later and talked to more and more people.  Why? ….because we’ve had a week that’s been UNBELIEVABLE.....

(This one’s for you mother) The week started off with a family night with the Vasquez family. They invited their neighbors over to discuss gospel principles and have to some fun together. The Vasquez family is a power house. Six kids, with confident parents in all they do. Inviting friends over for family night just seemed to be a regular occurrence for them…” this is just what we do in the church!” We were just amazed by them and we could feel that the spirit had touched  their hearts. 

Quote of the Week from someone we talked to: "Might as well do 'em here ‘cause I can't take them with me to Heaven." (referring to drinking and smoking.) Can you say 2 Nephi 28? 

We have an amazing ward mission leader and his great companion! They’ve had several trials hit them these past couple of weeks BUT, they still called our investigators to remind them about church, picked them up for church, made baptismal programs, made a HUGE dinner for our investigators, watched conference with them and so on and so forth. WOW !We were just blown away by the service that has been given here in the San Antonio 9th Ward. 

CONFERENCE....are you ready for this? We were able to watch every session of conference with families that are not of our faith!!!

Saturday Morning: Michelle (the mother) and her 3 girls (Michelle, Mariana, Miranda (See pictures!)

We show up to their home a bit before conference and Michelle accidentally forgot. lol So she hurried and rushed to get this and that ready, rushing  back and forth, up and down the stairs. BUT after the 2 hrs of conference, she said, "I feel so peaceful and calm!" 

Saturday Afternoon: Chrissy (the girl who is currently living with her friend-a member family, the Thomas's) 

Her experience was a little different but I guarantee she still felt the spirit. An hour into conference she says "So how many men get up there to speak?" lol BUT we had an incredible lesson with her this past week. (Let’s take a step back...the first time we met Chrissy, she didn't even come to the door, and hid around the corner, and when we invited her to church she said "Church isn't for me." Now, two weeks later, before we can even knock on the door, she sees us coming and opens the door to give us a huge hug and thanks us for the ‘heart attack’ we gave her. As we sit down to begin the lesson she comes over to sit next to us and show us where she’s been reading in the Book of Mormon. She highlighted verses, understood them, and explained how she had already applied them! 

Sunday Morning: Liza and Andrea. We just met them this past week and invited them to listen to conference and asked if we could watch it with them. She let us come over and even fed us lunch afterwards! We are in shock right now. Every minute this past week we kept thinking.....”What is happening? This is unreal? We must be in a dream.” After our lesson with them this past week she researched "Why we need earthly apostles?" And there, popped up on google, were all of the apostles and their biographies. Our tithing money is being used towards a great causes...have no fear! 

Saturday Afternoon: Debbie and Randy (the couple whose daughter and sister are members, and BTW,Randy had just quit smoking on his own) It was a challenge but they LOVED it. This was with our WML and his wife that I mentioned earlier. We re-watched M. Russell Ballard’s talk and every time Elder Ballard said “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Randy would say it with Elder Ballard. Oh man, it killed us every time. We just love this family dearly. 

One particular part of conference that stuck out is that we must "Stand up for What is True." It was spoken of multiple times with great power. I have learned that tradition can be a wonderful thing, yet a detrimental thing if we are not careful. Often times we get caught in a certain tradition, or thinking that “this is the way we do something”. I have often caught myself doing the same thing. It shows the great importance and critical nature of daily scripture study to remind us of our covenants and how must be strictly obedient and to always be making correction in ourselves as we seek to become more like the Savior. 

With that in mind, we often get reminded by President Slaughter, "How Gentle God's Command." D&C 121:34-36. Here is an excerpt from his latest email. 

"A word of caution. Please remember that church cell phones are to be used only for missionary purposes. Calling (or texting) friends, family, and even other missionaries from other missions are not approved (unless you are authorized by the mission president). Facebook and chatting are not yet authorized in our mission either, this includes using back and forth emails as a form of chatting."

I love each one of you. Thank you for your prayers, your sincere concern for me….your love and happiness. You bring so much joy to the individuals here. Thank you for your thoughts as well. I appreciate all that you have done for me. 

These experiences that occurred this week are just a taste of all that occurred in my heart and mind. I am learning of my Savior, Jesus Christ right and left. Every day everything I see or hear or do, either strengthens my testimony that this is His kingdom. I can share with you that His kingdom is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I love the power that is in the Book of Mormon and most importantly I love my Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ. 

Best Wishes to each one of you with all your endeavors this week. I am praying for finals to go well Tuck and Tyler!  

Always, much love, Sister Davis

Michelle (the mother), Michelle(10) Mariana,(7)  Miranda (3) and I watching conference with Conference Bingo!

Michelle and Sister Davis - both amazing individuals whom I love so much!

Chrissy (who we are currently teaching) Sister Davis, Me, Sara