Monday we went shopping to the Mall of Georgia, the 4th largest mall in the states, we went caroling with the Bishop and his family that night.
Tuesday, we delivered holiday-grams and visited some people with the Bishop. The first was Sis. C******** who is the cutest little widow in our ward. She has snow white hair and is about 4ft. 6in. tall... litearly, you could put her in your pocket! Well, as we were leaving she asked "Can I give you a hug?" I figured that if there's any harm from hugging Sis. C******** I might as well just throw my hands up in the air. So, I gave her big old hug. Then we visited R***** G******, he's a homeless guy (by choice) and he lives in the woods out behind the hospital. He's a recent convert and a super nice guy, he takes care of his neighbors like their his own children and tries to keep the neighborhood kids out of trouble by helping them make a fresh water stream through the woods.
Wednesday we had a gingerbread house making activity for the youth of the ward. We asked them to bring their friends and stuff and it was super cool. As we were waiting for everyone else to come this random guy walked into the church and asked if he could talk to someone. So, I went and into another room started talking with him. He smelled super heavily of smoke and he began to unfold to me the story of his tragic past year. At the beginning of January last year his stone business went under and as a result he lost his house (which he had allowed several of his workers to stay as well as several other people who didn't have a place to stay) and as a result of loosing the house the were all sent to the streets. He found a place to stay (an extended stay hotel) and has been there since May. He's been doing odd jobs here and there just to eek by. He hit a deer with his car sometime in between and it no longer works, so he has to get rides or walk from place to place. Well, on Wednesday he was eating and Cici's (after he had done some work for them) and say the steeple of our church and felt really prompted to come in. As I sat there and talked with him I realized what he needed was some help paying for rent for the week and perhaps some food or something. Well, I called the Bishop and he called the Elders Quorum President and he came over and we discussed what we could do for him. We got him set with another week's worth of rent and some money for groceries, in return there were a few things that they needed done and so he was asked to take care of those. We gave him a Priesthood Blessing and taught him about authority. It was a miracle that we would be at the church on that day and that it would be open. The Lord truly prompted him to come over.
Thursday we went to Wal-Mart so I could get Elder Mortensen a last minute Christmas gift and it was crazy there! We went to the H****'s home for dinner and then caroling with them afterwards. They are a really fun family. Bro. H**** is the stake high councilor over youth and he's really just a 40 something old teenager. We started singing Joy to the World at one of the houses and we ALL started on different notes, it was incredibly funny! We visited the P*******’s lastly and Sis. P******* has made us a dinner calendar to pass around to the ward for our meal sign-ups and it has pictures of us all over it.
Friday we spent at the S*****’s and the B******’s. It was a great Christmas and I felt just like I was at home... as much as was possible. They even gave us stockings with presents and we each got a Snuggie! Lucky us! The B******’s gave us Pop-Tarts and a Subway gift card... they're so thoughtful. Anyway, the day was wonderful.
Saturday, we went to go see R*** and J** (the people's who's house burnt down) but we ended up talking to R***** and C******. who are J**'s parents, instead. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and committed them to read it. They said they'll come to church when C****** gets work off (she works at Wal-mart on Sundays). They are super southern and I just loved them. R***** has no or very few teeth and a great thick accent and he tells us that his door is always open. He wished that more young people were doing what we're doing. We agreed. We sure love him and he told us on the way out "I sure do love ya guys"
Sunday- T*** came to church (he's progressing like a stud!) and A**** came as well. He was saying some Praise God's and Hallelujah's during sacrament and had a good experience. He came to Gospel Principles and Priesthood and participated in the lesson and he made a ton of friends. The ward really grasped their arms around him. He even volunteered to help with a service project this morning, he didn't have a ride and they had enough people but it was super cool of him! Well, here's the catch: He lives out of our ward boundaries. So we introduced him to the Elders who are ACTUALLY his Elders and we set up and appointment to go over with them on Tuesday so we'll actually be handing him off. But the truth is that all the baptisms are the Lord's and I trust that they will do a good job.
Love,
Elder Davies
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