Elder Taylor Davies

December 28, 2009

2010-06-13T21:58:00.001-07:00

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

December 21, 2009

2010-06-13T21:53:00.001-07:00

This week has been full of holiday-grams and anti-biotics for me (I think I'm over my sinus infection now) We've delivered about half of the holiday grams, which is good. We're hoping to see some fruits of those labors.

Also, we sang in church yesterday. We sang a duet of 'O Holy Night' with the choir and the organ coming in at the 3rd verse. It was super super cool. I really love this ward, they treat us too good.

Okay, last and coolest part of this week. On Monday we went to deliver a food order to a family who's house burned down the day after Christmas. They aren't members, but they were renting their furniture from Rent-A-Center where a recent convert works and he called us and we put the food order together for them. It was huge! There were like 6 gallons of milk, and about 10-12 other boxes full of cans and pasta and some more boxes with meat and eggs and stuff. Well, R*** and J**, who are the ones who's house burnt down, are living with J**'s father which just happens to be the house next door, until they can fix up the trailer they're going to live in, which is behind the house. Well, they were so grateful. I really love these people. They are the most Southern people I have run into in this area thus far. They've lived here for 38 years, so back when it was just open land and dirt roads, and they are pretty "red" (if you don't know what I mean ask Greg for interpretation) I'm pretty sure all of J**'s teeth are about to fall out and as for the rest of the family I think only half of them have teeth. But we went over later in the week and taught them about the Book of Mormon and they said they would read a few verses that we picked out for them. We'll go over again this week and just check up with them and try to continue to teach. They said we're always welcome in their home after what we did to help in their time of need. Service is really one of the best tools here in the South.

Love,

Elder Davies

December 14, 2009

2010-06-13T21:50:00.001-07:00

Well, this week has been full of creative finding ideas. As you know President King was a/the creative director for his company. And with studies from the MTC that show how tracting in the southeast closely associates us with Jehovah's Witnesses we try to perform service in the area and be creative in ways that we find people before we start tracting. However, we still tract if we don't have any other finding activity planned. That is something that kinda surprised me when I first started serving. But, we, in this area try very hard to use the ward members. We've started creating Family Mission Plans with families as we have dinner with them. We commit them to set a goal date and have 3 people in mind that they can invite to some sort of church function by that date. Those fruits will probably be after I leave this area but it is important to get the members involved (see PMG Ch. 9- quote by Pres. Hinckley that starts "So many of us look..." pg. 160). However with it being the Christmas season we have started to do some holiday oriented finding.

First is Holiday-Grams, which I described last week. Most of our afternoon time this week was organizing rather than delivering but we did deliver one. We started singing before she got to the door and her baby sitter kept passing by us so it was super awkward already. Then she opened the door, cut us off mid singing and told us she was giving her baby a bath! We quickly gave her the gift and left on our way. That was the only one we were able to deliver this week, so I figure it can only go up from there.

Next, and this was is a VERY creative way to find people. We were getting a ride with Sis. C*** to her house so we could pick up our bikes that we left there. (Side-note: Sis. C*** is an older lady in the ward who absolutely LOVES her dogs. She bears her testimony about them every fast Sunday and treats them better than some people treat kids: she's the ideal dog lady!) We were talking about her upcoming concert with the Sugar Hill LDS Choir and she was talking about how she gets pedicures before them and her eyes lit up and she proclaimed: "Do you want to go get pedicures?" I was shocked! I didn't know what to say so I deferred the question to Elder Mortenson and he said "Uhm, I guess so" So we went with her to deliver the Korean Book of Mormon she asked us to get for her pedicure ladies. We got there and the little Korean ladies come out and give Sis. C*** a hug and then she tells them that she needs to 2 pedicures and points to us! Needless to say they let out a little chuckle, realized she was serious and then started to give us our pedicures. I was just hoping that no one would come in the store, but I'll be man enough to say it: It felt SO good! And, we taught them about the restoration, invited them to church, gave them Alma 32 in the Korean Book of Mormon to read to them. They came to the Choir Concert on Saturday so, the pedicures paid off... in many ways! It was also fun because the lady doing my pedicure kept telling me how cute I was and then asked me if I had a girlfriend. I told her, "not until I go back" then she slyly told me about her 14 year old daughter. So I've got Sis. A******* (the 80 year old choir director) in Hamilton Mill and now a prearranged girlfriend for when I get back. Boy, sometimes missionary work is much different than you expect.

Well, from there the rest of the week is kinda boring, but T*** has moved his baptismal date up to Jan. 9th and asked A*** (a priest in our ward... Sis. S*****'s son and our main team-up) to baptize him.

Yesterday at church I was talking to people and saying hello before the meeting started and I looked out and say B**** (my friend from the Spanish Branch) with her kids come in. I went up to them and I****, her 4 year old ran up to me and threw his arms around me... we're really good pals. They stayed for sacrament meeting and then afterwards gave me a present. In it was a scarf (very stylish I might add) and a key-chain digital picture frame with pictures of all of you on it. It was the best present ever! She got all the pictures from Facebook, since I guess she's friends with Matt and Jordan. But she's so great, I love her and her little family. They are struggling financially right now, but that they would drive an hour to me and give me such a thoughtful gift I was deeply moved. I love the Spanish people in this area. I would love to serve them one day, I try whenever I can.

The last thing I want to mention, just briefly is Bishop Hilton. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to work with him. Like I've said before, I feel a special bond with Bishop and feel like I'm able to learn from his leadership and apply it into my life. Yesterday, I talked to him about how Elder Mortenson and I have been sick and we set up a time after church that we could receive a blessing from him. I will not go into detail about the blessing but he said some things to me that re-testified of the power of the priesthood. He is like my father away from home, something I miss so much this holiday season. Sis. S***** is my surrogate mother and this ward is my surrogate family. I love serving here and while, during the Christmas season, there are additional trials in missionrry work (as well as additional opportunities) I know I'm where I need and want to be for this time in my life.

Love,

Elder Davies

December 7, 2009

2010-06-13T21:45:00.001-07:00

We are doing very well here in Sharon Springs. We're trying to get our feet underneath us since we've both been battling illnesses for about a month now. As soon as I get over something Elder Mortenson gets it and as soon as he gets over something, I get it. Kinda the tricky part of companionships. But amidst all of this, we're still able to get the work to progress.

This week we were able to start teaching T*** outside of church. T*** has been coming to church for about 2 months straight now. We've been teaching the lessons to the Priests quorum mainly so that we have been able to teach him too. He's 18, he comes from a very rough background, he's never really had a solid father and his mother, from what I gather, has not been too helpful and may have some problem of her own. Well, T*** is really great, he really wants to learn and I've met few people who are as interested as him. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Monday and committed him to pray and think about baptism. On Friday we went out to breakfast with him and while were on our way home he said "So, I think I want to be baptized." We told him we know he's ready and asked him to pick a date. Usually we'll pick the date right there but, we felt like we should just let him choose and get back to us. Sunday, I was sitting by him and Brother B***, his main fellow-shipper, and we decided on January 23rd, so that Sister B*** can be home in time for it. Well, afterwards Bro. B*** was teasing T*** about going up and bearing his testimony and towards the end T*** leaned over to him and was dead serious and asked: "What do I say?" Well, he got up and bore his testimony and thanked the ward for helping him. The coolest part is that in the last two months T*** has gone from wondering if God even existed to saying on Sunday "I know this Church is true" It was one of those "this is all worth it" moments on my mission.

We had a Zone Conference on Thursday and it was good, as they always are. We talked about how the youth in this stake are going to be key, something that our Bishop emphasized and something that we were already aware of. It's amazing how the Lord will confirm his message through the different vehicles to verify its truthfulness. I'm glad to because I love working with the young men in the ward so I'm excited to let that be more of a focus.

The coolest thing that we're doing this Christmas is called: Holiday-Grams! We've allowed the people in the ward to sign up their friends, neighbors, etc. and we will deliver a present ('Joy to the World' or 'Mr. Krugers Christmas' with either a Family Proclomation or a '3 Simple Ways to a Happier Family' booklet) a short 1-2 min. message about Christ all with a carol and a smile. We're not going to ask if we can teach more or anything, we're going to let the members follow up on that for us. That's their part of the deal. We're hoping that we can find some families that we can teach this way. We should be getting started on Tuesday so wish us luck!

The other fun thing we did this week was help S** and M** and H****** M******* put up their lights. S** and M** are hilarious, they are both from Long Island and are classic New Yorkers. They moved here to Georgia about 15 years ago. Anyway, S** wants to be baptized and H****** (who's 24) wants to learn more. But M**, for some reason that is unknown to us (well not really I think he's holding on to his Coffee and Tea and doesn't want to find out the church is true because he doesn't want to give it up... he used to be a 4-Pack a day smoker till he quit for health reasons) is holding back. He was pushed really hard back in New York. The Elders there told them they had felt very strongly that he will someday be a Bishop. I think that that scared him a lot. We're trying to gain trust with him, because things can't really progress too much until he'll listen.

Love,

Elder Davies

November 30, 2009

2010-06-13T21:40:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, we got new Elders in the district, two of which are greenies and another who's a former Zone Leader but is spending his last 4 weeks training. Most of the day was spent going to say hello to them and welcoming them to Georgia. Needless to say they were a bit overwhelmed, like all of us have felt. But they're great, and I'm going to love this district... I just know it!

Wednesday we decided to try and spend the morning doing service, before we had any real appointments. We went and moved a hot water heater for an investigator who has 9 dogs in her house. In fact, while we were there she stepped in some dog poop and rather than pick it up, she just changed shoes and went on her way. Then we went over to offer another investigator some service and his friend, who's a Messianic Jew (a Jew who believes that Jesus was/is the Messiah). Anyway, she started asking questions about the Book of Mormon and so I sat down and started to talk to her. Well, as I sat down I heard this 'RIP'. I kinda wrinkled my eyebrows but just continued to casually answer her questions. Well, I knew my pants had just ripped and I was devising a way that we could get out of there and them not notice. So, I finished helping her understand what we believe the Book of Mormon is, I invited her to read it and she wants "imperical evidence" first. Well, as much as I'd like to show her that, faith will be more necessary. When we got out to the car I examined it, and this was no small rip by any means. This rip came from the top of my pants, to where the belt loop was and extended all the way towards the bottom of my pocket. Well, we quickly made a stop at our apartment so I could change. Needless to say, our team-up who was with us got a real good laugh. To top off the embarrassing day, that night we had a dinner appointment and at the end we knelt down to pray and I realized... my fly was down the ENTIRE appointment. I just hope that no one noticed!

Don't worry this rough start didn't ruin my Thanksgiving though. It was a great meal at the S*****'s. We had everything that you could need/want and then some. We even had Frog-eye salad (Acini Salad)... and it was ALL good! The game was full of fun, laughs and expressing gratitude. We played Ping-Pong, Phase 10 and Catch Phrase. I felt like I was just at home which was a good thing... and made me a little homesick, but don't worry, all is well! I really loved Thanksgiving, it was a great day. I wrote down as many of my blessings that came to my mind in 5 minutes and filled up my journal page.

Well, Sunday was a great day! Some of my friends from the Spanish Branch came to our ward and afterwards we went to a park and had a little Spanish fiesta. It was so so nice to see them, and they said they're going to come and visit me in Utah when I get home, so one day, you will ALL be able to meet them. The other really cool experience we had was on Sunday night. We went over to visit Sister P*******, W********'s wife. She's been sick on and off and we started talking to her. Usually we don't turn off the TV because we don't want to be rude but, this time I asked her if we could turn it off, because it's always distracting me. So we did, and it was amazing how the spirit was able to be in the room. Sometimes I think I worry to much about offending people and don't think about whether or not I'm offending the spirit. Well, she really opened up to us and told us about some of the worries she's been having that she hasn't told anyone. We shared some scriptures with her that we've both found comforting and left her with a prayer.

Love,

Elder Davies

November 23, 2009

2010-06-13T21:36:00.001-07:00

We had transfer calls last night and I'm very pleased to say that finally I will be staying with a companion for longer than a transfer! Elder Mortenson and I will both stay here in Sharon Springs. Which means that we'll spend Thanksgiving AND Christmas AND New Years AND his birthday together... I'm gonna have to be a nice companion for the next 6 weeks.

I'm happy to say that things are going well here in Cumming Georgia. This week we had one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission. We went on a team-up with our Elder's Quorum President Brother Ray to teach J** M*****, a friend of a recent convert who I have never met but has come to church about 4 times before I ever got here. Well, as we pulled up to his house there was a note on the door for us. I thought "Great, he's ditched out on us again!" However the note explained that he had been up super late but that he left the door unlocked and is asleep on his couch, so if he doesn't answer he wants us to walk in a wake him up. So... we walked in, however, he was awake. We then proceeded to teach J** about the Atonement. Elder Mortenson shared a really cool experience he's had lately about how he feels very strongly that his Dad is teaching J**'s Dad (who just passed away during the summer) in the spirit world. I talked about the Atonement and how I've felt great gratitude for it in my life and particularly in J's life, and how that knowledge of the Atonement in the only comfort I have in knowing where my brother is and that I WILL see him. Then we committed J** for baptism on January 3rd. He was super hesitant because he hasn't received his answer yet. Then Bro. R** talked about road signs and how sometimes we miss the sign for the street we're looking to turn on because we aren't paying attention. Well, then J** prayed right there, aloud about the date. I felt the spirit flood into the room as he prayed and he said that he felt good. Now, Jan 3rd is a BIG Goal for J**, partly because he's a HUGE smoker and basically and Alchoholic. But we have resources to help him and we'll do what we can to make it all work.

We had one other teaching appointment this week that was... interesting. We went over to J***** M****'s house (he's the 77 year old who loved the BYU channel and could probably beat me up) his wife, C******, has been a challenge, but she's finally sat down with us the last time they ( I was on exchange) went over. This time we started to talk to her and asked her if she'd read any of the BOM yet. I don't remember what her answer was but she started to say that she was really concerned about Elder Mortenson and I. She obviously had a concern but she said she didn't want to share it because we're "young and impressionable." She proceeded to ask us what we study. I told her that I'm currently studying Job and Psalms in the Bible. She asked us if we read in secular stuff and I told her that while we're on our missions we don't read things not put out by the church. She was really concerned about that. Well, she's been reading this book about the FLDS church and it's origins and Joseph Smith who started the church. Well, she knowingly acknowledges that there's a difference between us and the FLDS but she has some really mixed ideas about Joseph Smith. She sees us as having split off from the church that Joseph established and even believes that he was killed because of the "things he was publishing."

Well, I'll tell you what, I set her straight. Without standing up from the couch were I say I told her that what she had been told and read were flat out lies. And with all the vigor of my heart testified to her that Joseph Smith died for the Book of Mormon. I held it in my hands and told her that I knew with NO doubt in my mind that that book cost the lives of Joseph and his brother Hyrum, that it cost the best blood of the 19th Century. With all the love I have for her (and it is enough to fill that room) I told her that if she desired to know for herself that that book was true and if she wished to know the truth about Joseph Smith she would read the Book of Mormon. I told her that her concerns were not going to "shake" me as she had feared. I have examined and continue to examine my religion and find in it the fullness of Christ's gospel. And I have not come here to Georgia to leave my family for 2 years based on a whimsical testimony and ideas "planted" into my mind by a false church. No, I would not that.

C****** still has some major concerns and she's said she'll read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, but, one thing is without a doubt. She knows I know and that is all I can do. The Spirit put the words I spoke into my mouth at the time I needed them, I bear witness of that. I know with the fervor of my heart that gospel of Jesus Christ has come forth that the "fullness of times" or "refreshing" has come to pass. It's going to take a lot more than some false priestcraft book about Joseph Smith to change what I've fought to gain.

Love,

Elder Taylor B. Davies

November 9, 2009

2010-06-13T21:30:00.001-07:00

The reason why I am writing you all so late is that this morning rather than e-mail like we usually do, Elder Mortenson and I went on a tour of the Hubert Humphrey mansion. Everything that I told you previously is true, I saw it in all it's splendor this very morning. He however was not available to show it, so his brother gave us the tour. Word on the street is that he has finally sold it, so that was probably our last chance. I wish that I had pictures to show but I was too afraid to ask if I could take any.

Rather than linger too long on the fun but trivial things I will let you know how my week went. This week was a very good week for us. We made some hard goals and we achieved in succeeding most of them, actually almost all. We did not get to meet much with our investigators that we've been working with the past weeks, other than W******** who will be baptized on Thursday. So we spent a good amount of time doing service and contacting some potential Investigators, some of which we will continue to teach. In fact, our board is just about full... we'll see how solid they are and if they keep their commitments this week.

Tuesday- Elder Mortenson got a flat tire, luckily it was right by a members house. Unfortunately, a gated community. Fortunately a car had just passed through so I was able to ride through. Unfortunately Elder Mortenson was not able to ride, due to flatness of tire and was running with his bike to try to make it. Fortunately he barely made it, I got a good laugh and we were back to work in no time.

Wednesday- We did service for some older ladies in the ward. One of them lives with her daughters and we've been told they are not very fond of the church, they've been baptized, but not very big fans. Anyway, they were super happy that we stopped by to rake their leaves and they were very nice, we'll be having dinner with them on Friday. The other lady has MS, and we set up her trampoline net (which she doesn't use... don't worry, it's for her grandson) and then looked through her church library. Then we taught a mission prep class to the Priests and Laurels, who are incredibly missionary minded, I'm thinking we'll get more investigators from them than anywhere else. Cool story, we challenged and committed them all to pray for missionary opportunities and as far as I know by Saturday, they had ALL had one. One girl was even going to bring a friend to church, but his dad told him if he went he'd be grounded and all sorts of other terrible things. Opposition in ALL things I told her. Actually it should really be said, Opposition in All things good!

Thursday- Zone Conference. Elder Bednar taught 18 of the mission presidents surrounding down in Florida and President King was really just relaying what he was taught about. There were two main themes: 1) "Jump out of the boat" meaning that we need to just do the things that are hard for us and exercise the faith. 2) "Get out of the way" we are trying too hard to sell people rather than allow the spirit to touch them, another very valuable thing. That night we had dinner with O***, her mom is a member and lives with her, her husband and her two children however her mom only speaks Spanish, so we can't really communicate. O*** told us she knows the BOM is true and so I bluntly asked her why she hadn't joined the church. She said because she's not dissatisfied with the Catholic church. I told her we aren't here to make people dissatisfied with their church with bashing it but rather to help them understand the fullness that resides in our church. We'll see how it goes with her.

Friday- We helped a member family move in right across from us. They'll be here till there house is done, so it's a great thing to have them close! That really took most of our day.

Saturday- We did some more service and then we got a call from S** and M** M*******, not sure if I've told you, anyway they're investigators and they invited us to 'The Barn' it's where the Coal Mtn. Elders spend a lot of time providing service and teaching a lot of people. There've already been like 4 baptisms from it in about 6 months I think. We'll we dug some holes from some horse shelters that'll be put up. I asked S** why she hasn't joined the church, she knows its true and openly admits it. She told us she wants to do it as a family and that for some reason M** is "not ready" and "doesn't want to be pushed". So really if we can help M** we will be able to baptize Sue. Kinda like the whole J***** M**** case. Who we weren't able to see this week.

Sunday- Primary program, we were able to teach T*** (he's been coming to church but still doesn't want to be taught be missionaries so we taught the 1st lesson in Priest quorum and he 'just happened to be there') he has some real potential to be baptized soon. He's 18 and could actually serve a mission soon as well. Things are starting to fall in place. We also had a YSA bring her boyfriend who's interested in learning more. So we set up a time and will teach C**** this week. That night we had a 'low country boil' one of my FAVORITE dinners! You'll have to look it up or ask Greg. It's where you just boil corn, potatoes and shrimp and put it all out on the table and you just eat it with your hands. However this time it was a bit more sophisticated and we actually had utensils. Then we had a team-up to go and teach W******** the last of the commandments. After we taught him we were talking about Thursday's baptism and the started to have concerns that he had never raised before. I was thinking, I've been waiting for this, things have been too smooth. Anyway, Bro. B******** our team-up bore a powerful testimony and we talked some more and kneeled right there and prayed to know if Thursday was the right day. It was a miracle. W******** prayed in front of us for the first time. He's been too nervous too and the last time he did his wife had to tell him what to say.

Love,

Elder Davies

November 2, 2009

2010-06-13T21:23:00.001-07:00

Well, family,

It sounds like y'all's holiday was great! Mine was as well, we had a ward trunk or treat and I was able to meet a few more people from the ward that I hadn't yet. We also entered in the Chili contest and won the prize of: Chili that puts hair on your chest! I think it was meant to be a compliment, but everyone actually really liked it and Sis. S***** (who is like our mom out here... she's incredible) even asked me for the recipe. Me and her were having a show-down to see who would win and we both ended up getting different prizes. We spent the rest of the night at the S*****'s playing Phase 10 and passing out candy. I almost taught a lesson to some trick or treaters but decided that I'd let them off easy.

I am absolutely loving this ward. They really trust us and really want to be involved in helping us find people to teach. We've been used and scheduled by them a lot this week. We spoke and sang in combined young men's meeting and seminary this morning and have been asked to speak on Wednesday night at their new PMG/Mission Prep classes. It's a super great youth group and we're going to get them involved in inviting. One of my favorite members that I've met this week is Sister L****. I'm not sure if I mentioned but she's from Centerville and is the older sister of Jessica Miller. Anyway, she lives super close to us and is incredibly missionary minded and gave us two referrals, she's great! Also is Bro. B********, he's one of our 2 ward mission leaders and he's one of the kindest most loving men in the ward.

Things with investigators are going great, we found three new investigators this week (well kinda found, they were really given to us) one of which has a baptismal date for two weeks. His name is W******** P******* and he is a Part-Member situation. He was taught in Florida and went to church there and just barely moved up here so we've started teaching him. He was really already planning on being baptized so it really hasn't been as rewarding as finding your own. But still a great experience teaching him. Another investigator is J***** M****. He's 77 years old and very familiar with the church, mostly because he has family that are members, attended BYU and gone on missions but also because he LOVES the BYU channel (which he unfortunately just lost when he switched to Comcast). He's been sick this week and his wife has been dodging the missionaries so we went over with Sis. S***** and delivered some Homemade chicken noodle soup and finally met her. She was nice, but I think she's heard too much from her Baptist church, J***** said she'd been asking him questions, so hopefully she'll allow us to teach her. He pretty much knows it's true and is ready to make the change, he just wants to make sure that it's true, because he doesn't want to switch religions anymore. However, he doesn't want to switch without his wife so either we have to 1) convince her to listen 2) get him to be an example to her OR 3) have her pass away and do work for the dead (just kidding... we don't pray for those things, even though J. Golden Kimball mentioned that that's the only way he thinks we'll convert the South). Then there's L*****, he's from Ghana and he lives just downstairs. We're teaching him about the BOM and hoping to help him gain a testimony of it. He is an incredibly spiritual man and he's felt that God has saved him from some things in his life for a great purpose. He currently goes to an African Church in Atlanta, he fasts every Saturday because it was the day he was born, and just finished what he told us was a 2 week fast.... so he definitely won't have a problem with obeying the law of the fast ;) We're trying to get him to church and help him gain a testimony of the BOM, because once that falls into place, everything is SO much easier. Last of the investigators that I'll talk about is Steve C*****. He's a very nice man he has two high school aged kids and lost his wife back in June. He lives next to two members and was super impressed at how members of the church were the first ones to reach out to him. So this Sunday, we went to church with him so he would come to church with us. Boy, was it an experience. He goes to a huge mega-church called Browns Bridge. It is an auditorium church that has 3 different campuses. It's a whole production too. It really was like a mini amusement park. There's a place for the kids that's like a Sesame Street thing and then teenagers have a hang out crib. And then the main sermon (3 different packed sessions probably making thousands of dollars a session) which was started out by a comedian guy who was kinda dorky singing songs like Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 and 'Working at the Car Wash' Then we had a Coldplay/5 for Fighting/Counting Crows type band who lead us in 3 spiritual rock songs complete with full band, an impressive array of lights (basically a light show) and some actually really nice lyrics. Then was collection and I can only imagine how much they make to run a place like that, all though, they actually have a lot of volunteers who help out too. Then was the main sermon. The series they're on is" @ work. Where they talked about the purpose of work, how it was instituted be God, and the message was really really nice. The think I thought was weird is that the pastor was broadcast from another campus and they broadcast it so it looked like he was on the stage as a creepy 3-D holograph, cool technology but kind freaky too. Well, everyone there was in real casual clothes and we were in our suits. It was kinda funny and super interesting to be able to smile and wave at people.

Well, that's only ONE of the other churches we went to this week. We also had the opportunity on Tuesday to go to a Holliness church's Bible Study. Have Greg fill you in on what a Holliness church believes but basically their big things are: Speaking in tongues, Grace of God, Praise God and Being filled with the Spirit. It's an all African American church and we were referred to as their "white friends" (even Elder Mensah who's from Ghana). Well, as we walked in the Lord's Prayer was being recited, which then turned into shouts of Hallelujah's and Glory to God, just a side note, if you ever attend a church like this, it is improper to stop and gather your thoughts or to even have moment when you're not speaking. If there is going to be a pause fill it with a Hallalujah, Glory to God, Amen. Okay, back to the story. After the Lord's Prayer/Praise fest we sang 'I've got a friend is Jesus' a classic negro spiritual. And then Elder Mortenson and I were invited to sing 'I Know That My Redeemer Lives' it was a very spiritual experience and as we walked down to our seats were clapped for, our hands were shook... we were basically celebrities. Well, the part of the Bible we talked about was Ephesians 4... lucky us. Well, we all went around and talked about promises of the Lord. Most everyone just said why they loved Jesus that week but it came time for our turn and the Zone Leaders talked about 'One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism. Then, we were running out of time, but I was able to stand up and share with them the promise that Moroni makes to us at the end of the Book of Mormon. I bore them my testimony that our churches are coming together (something the pastor had said earlier because we were there) and extended an invitation for a free Book of Mormon to anyone who desired to know if what we were saying is true. Well, we left and didn't get to talk to people after but I found out a few days later that Pastor Earl requested a Book of Mormon and one other person from the congregation. Pastor Earl's brother is a deacon in their church and he may have a baptismal date soon, we'll see. Anyway, all of this is in the Sugar Hill area so I'll let you know how that goes.

Love,

Elder Davies

October 26, 2009

2010-06-13T21:07:00.001-07:00

Family,

Happy Halloween, have an extra doughnut for me! And take pictures of the kids in their costumes, I'd love to have some of those!

Well, it's been a good week, learning the area and all of that. We also had Zone Conference and President King really stressed obedience and informed us that the church is beginning to move towards a 4 week transfer cycle and if they decide on it, it will be implemented in June. So we will be preparing for that and will begin to have interviews and Zone Conferences on a monthly basis. It's all very exciting and not certain yet, but it puts a lot of stress on the Mission President's, however the church feels it will increase productivity and so if that's it, then we'll go forward with it.

We had a baptism of a 10 year old Part Member boy on Saturday, they've been working with him for about a year and he's finally decided to be baptized along with his 8 year old little sister.

This week, as we were biking to go and make some visits, we stopped on the side of the road because there was a turtle! That's right, a live turtle just chillin on the sidewalk! Well, being the good missionaries we are, we took a little break and had a photo shoot (pictures to follow). It was great and Elder Mortenson was upset that I wouldn't let him take it home! Later on we saw a flattened road kill turtle on the side of the road, and even though it was a different road Elder Mortenson tried to give me a hard time and said that I killed our little turtle friend!

Well, this ward is absolutely great! We've really gained their trust and they're ready to start praying to find and invite! After all, PMG Ch. 9, Pres. Hinckley's quote reminds us that "everyone who is familiar with the work know that there is a better way" (than knocking doors). So as soon as that program is alive and well, things will start to move a little smoother here. My most spiritual experience this week was with our Bishop. He's a great man, reminds me a lot of Elder Bednar. He's extremely loving and caring and so ready to move this work along. We had a meeting with him yesterday morning with one of our ward mission leaders and he gave us a commission to have 2 more people baptized by the end of 30 days. It can and will be done! He called us later that night, right before our lights went out and just spoke some incredible words of wisdom and told us that we have a spirit about us that has gained the trust of the ward so that they will invite they're friends to learn more about this work. We have their trust, now all we have to do is work to create the miracle and acknowledge that God is the actual author of it.

So, the ward is really super affluent, I mean, most people live in gated communities and nice houses. But one man in particular who lives in our ward trumps all of the rest. His name is Hubert Humphrey. You may be familiar with the name, since he's only the richest man in Georgia AND a member of the church. Well, he has a 60,000 square foot castle that has 2 bowling lanes, a movie theater built after Fox Theater, 15 bedrooms, 60 T.V.'s, a 9 hole golf course in the back yard that can be played different ways so that it make up an 18 hole course. And a virtual golf system in the house that has 250 different courses with cameras that analyze your shot (there is only one other in the world and it belongs to Tiger Woods). 2 elevators a cafe and who knows what more! Well, I haven't been in yet and he's selling it soon (either to a Saudi prince of some corporation to use as a vacation resort), but hopefully next P-Day he'll give us a tour, and maybe let us play some golf. He and his wife want to move to a smaller home in the area and once he's done with his next business adventure he wants to serve a mission with his wife.... that's a pretty good indicator of just how well these people do.

Well, I love you all, I will think of you often during this Holiday seasons that are coming up.

Love,

Elder Davies

October 19, 2009

2010-06-13T20:59:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm here in the Sharon Springs ward. It is in Cumming Georgia which... is on the other side of Lake Lanier AND in the same stake as my old ward Hamilton Mill. So, the Lord was kind in keeping my transfer fairly close. My new companion is Elder Mortenson, he's been out for a whopping 6 weeks! So together we make 6 months. He's a great guy and I'm excited to be able to work with him, hopefully for more than 1 transfer, unlike all my other companions. The new ward is great, the members are super missionary minded. We have a whole whiteboard in our apartment dedicated wholly to member referrals. Neither of us really know any thing about them, so we'll be asking around. And I've been told by President King that this is the best bishop in the mission and in his opinion, one of the best in the church.... those are pretty big expectations and unfortunately he was sick yesterday, so I've yet to meet him.

In this ward there is a Sister L****... from Centerville. He maiden name: M*****. She is the older sister of Jessica Miller who most of us know as Fauntine. It was so cool! I met her my first night here and we made the connection immediately. She's a super nice lady. Also in our ward in the Mormon version of Michael Scott (from the office), he just happens to be Gospel Essentials teacher... he's great. His wife is pregnant with their 7th and their oldest is 17... kinda like us!

The apartment, it's super nice however, it is at the top and bottom of a hill... let me explain. The beginning of apartment complex is up an HUGE hill. But the apartment is down towards at the bottom of the hill. Kinda giving me a good workout.

Other than that it's been super cold here and I'm just trying to learn the new area. I'm sorry this e-mail hasn't been my best, but I want you to know I love you. I pray for you often.

Love,

Elder Davies

October 12, 2009

2009-10-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

It has been a Miracle Week here in the Hamilton Mill ward. We've certainly worked harder than ever, and the Lord has blessed us for our efforts. We have taught R***** a lot this week. Twice with all of his and his fiance's kids there. He's a good, good man. And he will be an incredible priesthood addition to this ward. We have set a date for his baptism and it is January 25th. A week after he and Lorri get married.

So, ready for some more miracles?

This week we had interviews and we had it at a beautiful waterfall called Amicola Falls. While there a recent convert from a ward next to us gave us 2 referrals. One, a less active seminary teacher friend of hers who now drinks and smokes. Second, her son who lives with her ex-husband who says he wants to be baptized. We visited them and the boy wasn't home but the dad was and he's willing to allow us to come over and teach he and his son.

Another miracle: I survived our 50+ mile week of hilly terrain. I've been so so tired, we really have worked our tails off.

Back to spiritual matters. Saturday we met with an past investigator who was never really dropped, but we just didn't get to him when the ward split. His name is R****, he's retired and lives by himself, but he knows his Bible. He actually teaches Bible study classes on various topics and is super nice. He's kinda open minded; he really likes to just talk about our common beliefs and he actually explained to me a lot of what Baptist churches believe, where they come from and he even offered to take us with him to his Bible study classes. He's a Church of God member, but I think we have a good fellowshipper for him. His name is Brother Smith.

A little background on Brother Smith, he was raised in the RLDS religion, he wasn't super active but eventually he started exploring the church and for a long time really really knew more about our church than most members. Well, guess who his great, great grandfather is? That's right Joseph Smith Jr. Anyway, we're excited to take him over there and to hopefully get Ralph to sincerely read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

Well, we got a referral this week from headquarters and the referral said this: M*** - requested: Missionary visits.... he wants to be baptized. Well, we got in contact with him asap and were able to go over there yesterday. It was truly the most remarkable experience of my mission. M*** has been in the army since he was 18, he's 26 now, and he's grown up around members his entire life. He's grown up a 7th day Adventist and his drunk father came in half-way threw the lesson and tried to get me to "convince" him about why we worship on Sunday and not Saturday. Well, not only was he totally drunk, he was actually proving my point of: by their fruits ye shall know them. Anyway, once he left us alone we continued discussing and come to find out that M*** has his own leather bound quad! I mean this is truly the Lord's elect. Well, needless to say the spirit was strong and he has a baptismal date for October 31st. I know, that's incredible quick, but this man has been searching for truth and is so dedicated to living the religion already that we could not deny that the spirit had us set such an early date.

So a week of miracles and beautiful Georgian pictures. Probably the most incredible week of my mission thus far. Well, last night we got calls about transfers. They were going through all of the other districts in our Zone and then they came to us: Gainsville Distirct: Elder Johnson, Elder Campbell and Elder Davies, you're leaving. What!!! I absolutely love this ward. We have just got the ball rolling, just like we had in Lilburn (3 baptisms, maybe 4 there have either happened or are planned from people we had contacted) and now I'm being ripped from the people who I would bike to the ends of the earth for! Well, I don't know where I'm serving, President has asked me to serve as a District Leader and to be honest family, I'm pretty scared.

My knowledge that the Lord lives today, just as he did in Jerusalem is at the up most assurance that it has ever been. It is him in whom I trust, he is my Savior, our Savior and the Savior of all the spirits who dwelt with God. No doubt in my mind there have been angels pushing my pedals over these mountains. The Lord has blessed me with one angel whom I have missed dearly and thought of often in the short four and half months I've been gone. I can stand still and say with the strings of my heart and conscience that He Lives.

I'm sorry to change up the pace on you from my more humorous weeks, but I wished to share that with you. For all of your love and support, I thank you. You are my most prized posses ions,

I love you,

Elder Davies

October 5, 2009

2009-10-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

What a joy it is to write you in light of the recent General Conference. It was a very interesting few days as I spent much of it at members homes eating their food, relaxing on their couch and treasuring the words of the Lord through his prophets and apostles. A little missionary heaven break. Before I get to conference let me give you a little recap of this week:

On Wednesday, we had an incredible lesson with R***** about the Plan of Salvation. We went up to the Atonement and didn't talk about death or anything after that. But it was a very spirit filled lesson. He's really starting to feel comfortable with us and ask us questions.... always a good thing. We hope he had a good experience at conference this weekend and that he felt the spirit strongly.

We then biked about 15 miles to our dinner appointment with a less-active/ part-member home. The husband is an incredible chef and we had some good shrimp scampi. We played UNO with the 11 year old and gained his trust. For some reason he has a bad misconception at what Mormons are all about, he's obviously watched WAY too much t.v. Well, we'll try to clear that up and get him and his mom back to church.

The next day we contacted some former investigators and such. We contacted a lady named M*****, she came to the open house that we had a few weeks ago and we finally got in and talked to her. She's an active Baptist, but funnily enough she has defended our church as not being a cult in her former church. She's great, open-minded and long winded... she talked to us for 2 hours! Even when after an hour we told her we needed to go. Well, she doesn't think she can change but she has said she'll read and pray about the Book of Mormon (little does she know the change that that can make!). We also met a man who had formerly investigated the church, and on the records there was no indication to why he had stopped being visited. So we stopped by, and he came outside and I could just tell that he was miserable. He's going through a divorce right now, has 4 kids under the age of 10... I think and is just so sad. We quickly bore him our testimony about the Book of Mormon. The way it can help change your life and told him we'd come back a different day. Our hope is that we can get the ward in there and have them just wrap their arms around him and help him out! That will be a project we'll be shooting to make happen this week.

As for conference. I was in heaven. I loved every minute of it! Favorite talks include: Elder Scott, Elder Oaks, Elder Ballard and of course: Elder Holland! I loved it all a lot!

Well, family I love you. I'm trying to help a man fill out a job application for a trucking company. Hopefully the Book of Mormon in my hand will be his... wish me luck!

Love,

Elder T. Davies

September 28, 2009

2009-10-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

First off, I apologize for my understatement last week. I guess we've been having record rains and parts of Atlanta (the interstate on the west side being one of them) are flooding like crazy. Rest assured, we're safe here in Hall/Northern Gwinett county. It's kinda funny, the flooding seems to be mostly just outside our mission boundaries. Which is unfortunate, because we haven't been able to help with the clean-up. However I know that there were several hundred members from some of the surrounding stakes (Sugar Hill, which is mine, included). From what I hear the clean-up was not very well organized and our ward members only ran into one man who would absolutely not let 'Mormons' on his property...even to help him clean out his flooded house. The other interesting report is that there were a fair amount of Jehovah's Witnesses there too! I think that's great, in fact, the other day Elder Christensen and I shared a bathroom with a Jehovah's Witness, he was very nice and very friendly to us.

So.... on to this week's events. We had a very good week. We've identified several part-member families who we'll be trying to get in, serve and gain the trust of in the following week. We're hoping to get them back to church, or at least find a friend in the ward for them. No new investigators this week, but we're finding a lot of Potential Investigators. For some reason all of the Potential Investigators seem to be younger kids. I'm talking that with Part-member families and such there's like 4 or 5 11 year olds that we may have as investigators, it's kinda cool, I'm really learning how to teach simply. (Ask Jordan about John Taylor quote in Ch. 10 of PMG... I'm striving for "true intelligence" as my name-sake has defined it). One such 11 year old is from a Less-Active/Part-Member family. He was super super cold to us when we first met him and wouldn't even really come out and say a prayer with us. So we brought it up in District Meeting and the idea was suggested that we go over and have like a family home evening/game night! We suggested the idea to him and he was super excited, I have to make sure to buy UNO today, he really wanted it. Now the trick is to: 1) Get his mom and his brothers and sisters and HIM to church. 2) Get her to stop smoking and 3) Get the dad to be home so we can teach him too!

R***** S***** is the man who showed up to church on Sunday last week. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel. He accepted everything (I'm not completely sure how much he understood) and has even accepted to be baptized as he comes to know that these things are true! We tried to set a date for the second or third weekend in October but we ran into a catch. The lady/member who we thought was his wife is actually is fiance. So, they have to get married before we can actually baptize him and they're not planning on that until January! So we're hoping that either he'll have a spiritual experience at Conference that will convince him to move it up sooner OR he'll move out and live with his mother who's just down the street. Either way, it is in the Lord's hands and that's how it should be!

I really love this ward, and we're starting to get them more PMG and more involved. One great man in our ward has brought this man and his girlfriend to church!

PAUSE! I just had an incredible experience. So while I've been sitting here typing the guy right across from me has been staring at me. I figured, we'll he doesn't like Mormons and nothing's new. Well, he just came over, asked me what church I was from and asked me if we attend other churches. I told him "Of course we do" Well, he invited me to his church which is a United Methodist Church and I, knowing beforehand that he was going to at least ask me something, had pulled out an Article of Faith pass along card and handed it to him, he said he'd look for me at church. I'm super excited if it doesn't conflict with our time at all and it's a great Building Bridges experience. Something that we're stressing in the ward is to 'Build Bridges' we're reminding people that it's not about converting people, it's about inviting people. It doesn't matter if they come as long as you sincerely and thoughtfully pray and think of people that you can invite to any church function. Anyway, his name was Reverend Scott, he's retired now, and they have a woman pastor. They aren't meeting until Oct. 25th so I'll let you know on the 26th how it went. I'm excited... and a bit nervous.

Back to the story. This couple who's been coming to church has been going through some really rough times. He lost his job and they lost their house and they've been living out of a tent in the woods. Some guys from the ward have been finding odd-jobs around the house that they can pay him for doing. We're hoping that maybe we can teach him sometime this week. We'll see.

I love you all, just as I love Joshua's council to the children of Israel right before he passes away... "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." By the way did you know his father was a Nun? (Okay, so not really, but that was his name... pretty cool huh!)

With greatest love that binds my heartstrings,

Elder Taylor Davies

September 21, 2009

2009-10-12T08:26:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been wet here in Georgia, very wet! But the Lord has continued to bless us with miracles. We haven't been almost hit by any cars or fallen into thorny bushes. But we've had some of the best authentic Southern food I've had thus far. I've had fried okra twice! Cornbread twice, Country fried steak, and chicken and dumplings. Along with a Giada Delorentes meal at a members house. It was like the pot roast pasta... so good! Work was good, I continue to love reading the scriptures and even the Old Testament is making a little bit of sense to me. We have a new investigator who came to church with his wife and he's a super nice guy! We're really connecting with this ward and they're starting to trust us with bringing people to church and the bishop really trusts us, which will just help the work progress like crazy! I know I shouldn't say this, because saying so will curse me but, I really hope I get to stay in this ward with this companion for at least one more transfer, I wouldn't even mind until Christmas to be honest! There's great work going on here.

Love,

Elder Davies

September 14, 2009

2009-10-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm loving my bike, kinda. Its fulfilling but also harder to get up in the morning. Wednesday night we rode to the church (about 5 miles away) and it was drizzling when we left, but we were moving pretty quick, just because I knew it would get worse... and it did! By the time we were a mile away from the church it was a complete Georgia downpour! I couldn't see anything and rode by faith for the next mile, just hoping to live to see our new church building. I was singing hymns whenever I wasn't out of breath. We arrived at the church completely soaked and lo and behold, they canceled the mutual activity of going out and passing out invitations to the Open House, so we taught a lesson about Christlike attributes, choosing NOW what kind of person you want to be and making NON-NEGOTIABLES that will help you get there... so maybe some of it I stole from mom, but it ended up being a good experience for all.

Well, Thursday night, we rode home from the church after a long day of giving our invitations and I was riding in back because I still didn't have a light for the front of my bike. Well, Elder Christensen was about 50 feet in front when we were coming to a T intersection. A car was coming to a stop sign about 30 feet in front of him, it seemed to be slowing down, but then I saw him swerving his handlebars so to shine his light in their eye and then he hit on his brakes as they pulled out feet in front of him. To my great enjoyment, he raised his fist and shouted 'You SON OF PERDITION"
They stopped and apologized, the lady driving said she didn't see him and I was trying to hard to contain my laughter that I didn't get much in. Well, needless to say I was joking around with him the rest of the way home, so proud that he actually said it (we'd been joking around about doing that if something like that ever happened... it's from a J. Golden Kimball talk... Oh by the way, I love talks on CD) when we were just about home. Now, I've been told that karma isn't necessarily a point of the gospel, but after that night, I've gained a testimony. We were cutting through some parking lots and going up this little dirt path about 8 feet long and at a 60 degree angle, so I was building up some speed to get up it quick and it style, just like I've always done. I let Elder Christensen go first and then took my ascent, well, like I said it was dark and I didn't have a light yet, as I was about halfway up I hit a tree root and immediately was stopped and as I was there, just hanging in mid-air I fell to my right into a thorny bush. I laid there for a few seconds and then realized my foot was caught under the bike so I calmly called to Elder Christensen "Hey, Elder, I would get myself out of here, but my bike's on my foot, could you lift if up for me?" He did so I brushed off the thorns and couldn't help but think that what goes around comes around.

Moral of the Story: Love your bike or it will find ways to love you!

Well, we had an Open House for our new ward building and it was great. I actually had to sing a Prelude of Nearer My God to Thee, and it was a good success. There were abut 30-40 non-members who showed up and we were able to talk to a few people who may become investigators of the church. One lady was a former baptist who stood up for us to her Sunday School teacher and said "Have you ever read the Book of Mormon? Then how can you judge it?" I'm pretty sure she falls under the elect category, but it is harder to get older people to change... so we'll see. That night we had a fireside with Dale and Nancy Murphy, it was sooooooo cool. He's a super nice guy and he reminds me of Uncle Dave Checketts in a ton of ways.

On Sunday, Sister Harlow, our ward organist and former member of MOTAB sang a solo and it was absolutely gorgeous. Then after church we had the baptism of Nathan Harris. It was a great experience and we hope to strengthen that family in the gospel.

Love,

Elder Davies

September 8, 2009

2009-10-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

Elder Hunsaker is now over in Roswell and my new companion is Elder Christensen. He's been out 10 months, but graduated in 2006, and is from Cedar Hills, UT. He's a great missionary, very kind and in touch with the spirit. I love him AND like him, I think we'll have a productive transfer. Well, we got two new Spanish Elders in our apartment and they now have our car! That's right, I'm finally on bike, hence a sore bum. Because the Spanish have more room to cover they have our car and we are working up a sweat on the narrow Georgia shoulder. I actually do love my bike though, it's hard in the morning to get motivated to jump on, but it does feel good at night to come home and feel the burn of your legs knowing you've had a good days work. Thursday and Friday we didn't do too much biking, but Saturday, we biked a good 25 miler day... I was pooped. I know Georgia is pretty flat, but my legs would say otherwise.

We had some great dinners this week, and were fed twice on Sunday. But I am still always hungry, probably from all the biking. My new thing is grilled cheese sandwiches and Nesquick.

Well, I love you all so so much. I love this work and pray every day that the Lord will continue to do what he sees fit to refine me, smooth out the rough edges and help make me an even better servant. I just want to please my father.

With love,

Elder Georgia Davies

August 31, 2009

2009-08-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm staying in Hamilton Mill, but will be getting a new companion. Also, exciting news, we will have another companionship in our tiny apartment (so much for my personal bathroom). Probably Spanish missionaries, so I may be switched to bike, I cross my fingers (and pray) that that doesn't happen in this area, where everyone lives about 10-15 miles away.

I finally had my first run in with a good ole Southern Baptist. I won't go into to too much detail, but it was quite an experience. We tried to answer his question best we could and tried to transition to teaching and testifying, but he wouldn't allow us to read from the Book of Mormon and went off as soon as we were inviting the spirit in to touch his heart. What's even funnier is that his Methodist friend, who we were actually dropping by to see (he's a Less Active member who was baptized but doesn't really have a testimony, his father is active but his wife is Methodist... maybe someday) was defending us when the Baptist guy told us we weren't praying to his God and that we were "bearing false witness." Well, maybe someday we'll go back, we'll see.

C.S.S.O.T.W.

And the award for the Crazy Southerner of the Week goes to: My black friend who works at Subway. I was on Spanish exchange with my DL Elder Brewer (who I love!) and we were with a Less Active member, we went into Subway and bought a cookie, the lady working there told me that she had been Mormon once. I enquired where she was a member, she told me the Peachtree Corner Ward (that's where my trainer, Elder Amesimeku is right now) but she was like " Yeah, I quit that, I can't believe in no 'Book of Mormon' or Latter-Day Prophets" Well, I had a decision: should enquire why she ever became a Mormon if she doesn't believe in the most foundational and distinctive points of our doctrine? Or should I let her off easy, ask her which church she goes to now and take my cookie and say goodbye.... Because I'm a good boy and KNEW she was crazy I thanked her for my cookie, asked the most popular get to know you question and returned to our table.

Crazy subway lady is rivaled only by a Spanish branch member (in fact, the one who was with us at Subway) who called me the next day and said he needed to talk about some of his "issues" I told I was busy and that I would call him back later. I'm not sure which team he swings for, but he's a nice guy, he's actually a Spanish radio announcer... so if Real is ever looking, he's actually very good. He also speaks Italian and Japanese... maybe that's why he's so crazy, he's got like 4 schizophrenic voices all trying to speak in their own language.

Well, I'm really excited to stay in this ward, I'm starting to make some great bonds... not quite where I was in Lilburn, but with more families. This ward treats us great! I have a personal chiropractor, doctor and a dry cleaner (for half off), I also have a Opthomologist... who knows what kind of stuff I may be taken care off with.

I love you like I love the scriptures: I just can't get enough!
Love,

Elder Taylor Davies

August 24, 2009

2009-08-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I have done, but I seem to be attracting some Georgian Belles. This week doesn't have just one new girlfriend, but several. First there's a few little 3 year olds who keep trying to flirt with me from their pew but the real one is a little six year old, who follows Elder Hunsaker and I around after church, the only escape we had was into the Men's bathroom, and even then she waited outside for us... a little creepy. But we shake it all off and get back to missionary work.

This week we did a lot of service. Wednesday was our designated random acts of service for the members day. We went and washed a car, swept a garage and pulled some ivy ( my experience was invaluable). We even had two investigators at church, we didn't bring either of them, they came with their families. One of them a little 10 year old boy named N*****, we taught after church. His mom and brother and sister are all members but he is not. He's accepted to be baptized on September 5th or 12th, depending on whichever weekend he's not with his dad. I'm not sure how solid the family's commitment to the church is, and he's really only being baptized cuz his mom wants him to but she's giving him the choice and he says he wants to. I just hope he actually gains his own commitment and testimony. But you can't just deny someone being baptized because you don't think they'll stay in the church, if they want to be baptized and are worthy then you of course let them. Anyway, I hope it will all turn out for the best.

Well, I'm sorry I'm so short on time. I love you all and can't wait to hear from ya'll next week.

Love,

Elder Taylor Davies

P.S. I've yet to have any real good Georgian Peaches, did you know that South Carolina grows more peaches than Georgia... I feel jipped.

August 17, 2009

2009-08-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

To get over my great fear of bikes (which has been instilled in me ever since my many bad experiences as a young pup) we've been riding a mile and back to Wal-Mart, twice this week. Well, as we were cutting through back lots and such we can to, what for me, was a very large hill. Now, Elder Hunsaker being an extreme sports Motorcross racer easily whizzed down the hill, leaving me to start a top and conquer my fears. I said a prayer and an audible "Lord have mercy" and was on my way down. Luckily, I missed the rock. Exhilirating, yes; freightening: YES!

Thursday night we went to dinner and a members home with boys ranging from 16 to 3. Well, after a hearty dinner we had some entertainment, courtesy of the 3 and 7 year old. After batting practice there was a dance party that broke loose to the tune of 'Who Let the Dogs Out' during such dance party a highly coveted and patented move broke out much to my dismay: The Bumblebee. Where little 3 year old Manning Berrett learned such a move I know not. But it is my signature move and lucky for him I did not have the heart to show him up.

While visiting the members on our ward roster on Saturday we came to the Hales' house. She is from Centeral America and has two twin 3/4 year olds. The boy being a normal 3 year old, was pushing his sister and being a tease. But his sister, having braces on her legs could do very little about it. I appointed myself her protector and played with the little boy, while still protecting his sister from his vicious fists. Well, neither of them really spoke much but after this little girl saw me as her own personal Hercules she began to show me some of the little scrapes and bumps upon her arms, speaking is Spannish all I could pick out was Un pacito (if I'm not mistaken) which, according to my knowledge and her mother affirmed translation, means little kiss. So add her to the list, Girlfriends from 4 to 79, not exactly what I expected from a mission ;)

Well family, I wish I had more to report about the actual work. It's moving fairly slow and things are pretty tough. But the Lord is good, he loves his children and his "kindness shall not depart" from they who will humble themselves and turn to him. With all my heart I love and think of you all often.

Love,

Elder Taylor Davies

August 10, 2009

2009-08-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

Ican't believe that Summer is almost over... well for you. Things have been incredibly hot here in Georgia and it just so happened to be a week that Elder Hunsaker and I decided to do some walking to 1) save miles on our car and 2) be seen more by the public, People don't really see you when you're behind the windshield of a car... So we did a lot of waving and luckily no one really yelled or threw anything at us. So all in all a good week. We didn't really do much this week in the way of tracting or finding people, we're still trying to get to know the ward, so that is pretty time consuming.

Yesterday in church we started a new type of Prelude thing. This was Sister A*******'s (an older widow in the ward) idea. She saw it done in another ward and just loved it. Well, we had dinner with her a few weeks ago and then again on Saturday. She had already asked me to 'sing the prelude'. What this meant was that about 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started I was to stand about a foot away from the pulpit, not talking to anyone, just looking out into the crowd and then when I bowed my head and raised it Sister A******* would start playing the piano and I would begin singing. Imagining this was a pretty awkward situation to me. And so I asked I thought there should be an announcement or something so that people wouldn't think it was weird that this missionary took it upon himself to entertain the crowd. Well, since it was Sister A*******'s idea and I didn't have the heart to change her idea I just kinda went up there and was talking to the youth speaker and to the Bishopric and finally after standing there for a few minutes the organist asked me if I wanted her to stop and I kindly said that I would appreciate that. So I started singing 'I Need Thee Every Hour' and it all went well, I walked off the stand and the meeting started. Afterwards I had a few ladies come up and talk to me, some people still thought that I just decided to get up there and sing. I hope that they all get the idea next week when some other poor sucker is up there singing... and it better not be me. I even had a few ladies tell me that I shouldn't be a Psychology major and I should be a music major. I smiled and thought about trying to support a family as a music major and chuckled to myself. One lady even told me that I had a beautiful but untrained voice and that with some training I could really go somewhere, she asked me if I'd ever taken lessons and to be nice I said, "yeah, a little bit ;)" All in all the humiliaton was worth making one sweet Sister A*******'s day... and probably week.

It really was a rather uneventful week though, and I'm hoping we can get the ball rolling here soon.

Love you all, (even those that haven't written for a while ;)

Elder Taylor Davies

August 3, 2009

2009-08-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

We've spent a lot of time in the apartment creating a Map Book for the area since it's new and we're new and our miles are limited we decided that this would be the best use of our time. Other than that we've been trying to meet new members so not to much to really report. We did have a baptism on Saturday... so kinda my first but I'm not really counting it because I didn't ever teach her a lesson and such. But nonetheless, it was very exciting. Her name is T***** A*****, her husband is a member, they got married about a month ago. In fact it's a really weird situation, the husband and his ex-wife are both in our ward. And both active, but they're very civil, so I hear. I actually haven't met the ex-wife yet so I'm not sure for myself. Anyway, T*****'s step son who just returned home from his mission baptized her (using my pants because he left his, so I guess in a sense I was in the water with them ;) not really though, because that would have been weird). So that was pretty cool.

Wednesday night we had dinner with a sweet widow in our ward, she's 79 years old and she's our ward chorister. Her name is Sister A******* and she's very sweet. Anyway, after dinner she asked if we'd sit around the piano and sing for a bit. So for the next hour and a half we sang anything from Heigh-Ho to Jesus Was No Ordinary Man. Well, Elder Hunsaker's not really a singer so he was a good sport to go along with it. But because of this instance I've now been recruited to sing in church this upcoming Sunday, and not like the special musical number, I will be singing the Prelude music (another one of Sis. A*******'s ideas) so your prayers would be much appreciated. I nearly gave her a heart attack when I hit the high note in Danny Boy, afterwards she told us that our singing turns her on (take that from a sweet innocent old widowed lady perspective though) still, for us, it was a bit awkward and weird. Needless to say, Elder Hunsaker hasn't let me live any of this down and has relentlessly teased me about my new 79 year old girlfriend.... Don't worry, my eye is still single, and I don't think Sis. A******* would be the one to pick the lock I've already set on my heart.

Well, that's really our week, not very eventful but a good ride and good learning experience all round.

Love,

Elder Tay

July 27, 2009

2009-08-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

I am about an hour North of Lilburn, in Hall County. I'm in a ward called the Hamilton Mill ward. You probably can't find it on any maps since, they've only been around for about a month now. In fact, Sunday was only the second Sunday in a full block. They're still trying to get all the callings filled and it's a pretty hectic place right now. To add to all of this, we're whitewashing the area. Yes, I was whitewashed and now I'm whitewashing, this means that both Elder Hunsaker and I came from different areas. Elder Hunsaker is my new companion, this is his first transfer as a senior companion and he's been out 7 months. He's from Lehi, Utah and loves racing motorcycles and dirt bikes and such. He's got a funny sense of humor, kinda reminds me of a mix between Nate Larsen and Colton Cook.

As a result of being in a new area we've spent the first few days making a map and trying to figure out where in the heck we're going. We're starting from scratch so to say. As a result we've been in our apartment making the map rather than proselyting, so it's been the strangest 3 days or so of my mission so far. On the positive side, we're in car during the August heat. On the negative side, the missionaries before us left us the car with 1174 miles on it for the month (that was on the 22nd) However, we're only allotted 910 miles a month, so we're trying to work through that too. Elder Hunsaker is really chill and so we don't stress, I really love that about him.

So a little bit about the area, Hall County is home to the training center of both the Atlanta Falcons and I believe Braves (don't quote me on that because it could just be a Minor Leauge team and it could be Gwinett County... which has a relation to Hall County and the year 1776, a prize for whoever can figure it out!) Also in Hall county is the Mall of Georgia, which is the biggest mall in all of Georgia, so we'll probably go there of these P-Days... I'll see if I can find some great southern garb to send ya'll.

Marc Johnson is in my new district, he's a Centerville native who's in our stake. His little brother Chad is my age and both are really good guys. I do love this district though and see a lot of opportunity to grow.

Well, that' really it for me. I want you all to know that I'm doing extremely well, I've been so strengthened by the Lord during this transfer and I'm so excited to be in a fresh area where we can really get the work progressing and try some new things. We're calling every ward member on their birthday to try to BRT (Build Relationship of Trust) hopefully that leads to some success. I love you all and know that the Lord has and will continue to bless our family. It does seem as though the last year or so have been a little bit of a refiners fire for the family. But I've seen us pull closer and, as strange as it seems, I feel closer to Jaman right now than I have for a long time, no doubt in my mind he's piggybacked me up a few of the hills I've come across.

Overall message: I love you, sorry if my letter became a missionary sermon, I try to stay away from that. But I do love you and think of you all often and pray for you more often.

Much Love,

-Elder Tay

2009-07-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Dear blog readers,

I'm sure that you are few in number, but great in heart. Thank you for your support, love and prayers during these first few weeks of my mission. I want to let you know that I know with a surety that what I'm doing is the Lord's work. All of the success, is his success and it sure is a privilege to be out serving the people of 1150 Cole Drove SW Lilburn, GA 30047 (Oh come on, you didn't expect me to write without putting a little plug in for mail ;) I love all of your letters and if you send them to that address, they will ALWAYS get to me, the mission home will forward them if needed. It is super green out here in Georgia, but it comes with it's fair share of heat and humidity. Chances are I will be on a bike for the month of August so, prayers and water drinking on my behalf would be appreciated... kinda like a backwards fast! I love ya'll and can't wait for you to see pictures of some of the coolest people I've ever met... except for ya'll of course!

Love,

Elder Taylor Davies

Greetings from GEORGIA!

2009-07-13T13:44:00.001-07:00

Dearest Blog Readers,

I wanted to first thank all of you who have written me a letter or included me in your prayers. I have felt your love and support and relied upon it in some of my greatest hours of need. I sure do love each and every single one of you. So thank you thank you thank you. I appoligize about pictures, I have lost my battery charger and Walmart doesn't have the one I need and we're still looking for a place. I will fix that and have some pictures for Meg and Greg to put up next week. Till then, Ya'll have a great week, ya hear?!

-Much Love,
Elder Davies