MTC 6

Sorry that this post is late, we were experiencing some technical difficulties!

Here's our weekly letter from Elder Davis :)

 

Hello Family and Friends!

So ends another week here in the MTC. This is officially week 7. 20 more days and I'll be on a plane to Paris. I'm really excited to leave the MTC and start working in Paris, but at the same time I want to work as hard as possible and get the most out of these next 20 days here at the MTC. I have a lot to learn still.

So let's see... I'll talk about my week like I did in my email last week... day by day.

Last Tuesday 1-22: I went to the Provo temple this day and met someone there named Brother Timmons. Apparently he knows the Davis' (Mom and Dad: I think he was talking about Noreen and Gordon Davis that live in the Maltby ward by us). The Timmons’s family was Catholic, but the Davis family taught them the Gospel in Florida and now they are members of the Church. I just thought it was cool to run into him and find out that he knows the Davis's in the Maltby ward. Small world! We also had a fireside by David Evans who is the executive director of the Missionary Department. He gave an awesome message and even said that there are so many missionaries coming in that we might have to start having MTC firesides in the Marriot Center (BYU's big basketball stadium). There are about 3000 missionaries here in the MTC right now.

On Wed. 1-23: We got 5 new French missionaries. We also did a PVL day as a district which means (Parle votre langue) which means speak your language. Basically we just go a whole day just speaking French. I was also told by my teacher that my French is really good, but my accent sucks! So that was kind of humbling. But it gives me something to work on. We had a bunch of lessons today. We teach about 8-10 lessons a week.

On Thurs 1-24: I saw Elder Ragsdale from WA! It was cool to see him. He's going to Nevada on his mission and he's doing well. It also rained today which was cool because it reminded me of home. I hadn't seen rain for a while.

On Fri 1-25: I got an awesome surprise in the mail! A case of bottled water! haha I really hate the water here in Utah, so my family and Marco Mummy did me a huge favor and got me some water. Thank you!! I know it doesn't seem like a big deal but I was pretty excited.

On Sat 1-26: Elder Williams celebrated his 20th Birthday. He got lots of packages from his family so the whole district got lots of donuts and what not.

On Sun 1-27: It started snowing again. People are saying that this is more snow that Utah normally gets. There is a ton of snow! We had a lot of good district meetings and stuff today.

Monday 1-29: was a cool day because we got another companion! Me and Elder Williams are now in a trio with Elder Jambon. He is 22 from Montana. He’s a convert to the church and is a rancher on a big farm. He also got shot in the arm. These are all the cool random things I know about him so far. He is going to Tahiti on his mission and is learning French and Tahitian here in the MTC. His district left for Tahiti on Monday, but he needed/decided to stay here at the MTC for 3 more weeks because he's been having a hard time picking up the languages. Elder Williams and I are going to do our best to help him pick up French. I'll send some pictures. We also taught a lesson about the Word of Wisdom (Which is a commandment given by God, through a prophet which helps us take better care of our bodies and blesses our lives immensely). It was tough teaching this lesson because the person we were teaching is French and loves to drink wine.

Overall...I'm doing really well. Time is flying by. I'm learning a lot of French and a lot about the gospel. I'm staying healthy and working hard. There are lots of hard things about a mission, but I know I'm doing the right thing by serving a mission. I have already grown so much. I love this work.

Some other random things/answers to questions about the MTC

- Missionaries have to prepare talks for every Sunday. Nobody is assigned to give talks, we are just randomly called up from the congregation to give our talks in French so you have to prepare one every week in case you get called up.

- Mom, in my district: Elder Davis, Elder Williams, Elder Jambon, Elder Ruby, Elder Cowling, elder Platt, Elder Stoker, Sister Hall, Sister Busiere, Sister Verdin-Delgado, and Sister Pacheco. 11 total.

 

Love,

Elder Davis
 

Pictures! :)

 

 

#1 Elder Ruby and Elder Cowling doing laundry

 

 

#2 Me with my bottled water!

 

 

 

#3 Me with my 2 companions. Elder Jambon on the left, Elder Williams in the middle, me on the right.

 

 

#4 Elder Williams and Elder Jambon

 

 

#5 My ministerial certificate. I'm officially authorised to teach the gospel. Notice it's in French!

 

 

#6 Just me studying on p-day in the residence

 

 

 

MTC 5 - Only 28 Days Left In the MTC!

Here's our weekly letter and pictures from Elder Davis :)

 

Salut Family and Friends,

I hope you are all healthy and doing well. I had another great week here at the MTC. Now I'll do my best to talk about it in the 30 minutes I have on the computer.

So last Tuesday, Jeffrey R. Holland of the quorum of the twelve apostles (A living apostle and whiteness of Jesus Christ) came to the MTC and gave a fireside. It was probably the most amazing spiritual experience of my life. He gave an amazing message on the importance of our calling as missionaries. He has such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and he knows the potential we have as missionaries to change lives. The coolest part about the fireside was what happened at the end. The MTC had two buildings on the campus redone and, for that reason, they needed to be rededicated. At the end of the Fireside Jeffrey R Holland dedicated those two buildings. I have never been present for a dedicatory prayer, or even heard an apostle pray before. It was so amazing. I have never felt the spirit so strongly. The things he said were amazing too. He blessed the entire MTC with many things and even asked Heavenly Father that the MTC to be "protected by angels" so that no harm of any kind may befall the missionaries and delay this powerful work. Angels walk the halls in this place.

On Wednesday 1-16: My good friend Sister CaryLynn Jensen reported to the MTC! It was so good to run into her and talk to her throughout the week. We took a picture together that I'll send. We also picked up another investigator to teach. We are now teaching 3 of our teachers. Basically how it works is our teachers play the role of a person they taught during their missions. Even though it is just a role-play, it is great practice and we are really able to feel the spirit as we teach. Our French is getting better and better every day because of how often we teach. We also teach another companionship in our district so we teach 5 different investigators and 10 lessons a week.

On Friday 1-18: We taught one of our teachers and the lesson went well. The person he played is named Edward who lives in Tahiti and he is very humble. Because of his humility and desire to live a good live and follow Jesus Christ. He accepted our invitation to be baptized. Our goal is to commit 2 more of our investigators to baptism this week. Oh, we also had pizza for dinner on Friday night. We have Papa John’s Pizza every Friday night. I can only imagine how much money the Church pays to feed thousands of missionaries all that pizza. Whatever the number, I'm sure the people of Papa Johns are very busy making enough pizzas to feed us all.

On Saturday 1-19: We celebrated our 1 month "anniversary" here at the MTC. Crazy how time flies. We do service every Saturday morning so we got to clean a bunch of toilets and bathrooms at 6:00 am. That was a great way to celebrate. Ok I'm being a little sarcastic; waking up early to clean bathrooms isn't very fun. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve and I know I will be blessed for it. I was able to watch another fireside by Jeffrey R Holland on the computer called "Lessons learned in Liberty Jail." It is a great message on the trials Joseph Smith had to endure while he was unjustly imprisoned. If any of you are going through hard trials at this time in your life, I would recommend you watch this fireside. It isn't too long, but it will remind you that God loves you, and will help you through whatever you are going through. Oh also, my companion and I decided on the 19th that we are going to start doing 100 push-ups every night for the rest of our companionship. That may or may not sound like a lot, but let me tell you I'm feeling the burn as I just sit here and type haha. Hopefully I'll come back from my mission in decent shape.

Sunday 1-20 was awesome. Sunday and Tuesdays are the best days of the week here. We have sacrament (A special church meeting where we renew our baptismal covenants and remember the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ) meeting which starts at 7:30 am. That was awesome because I was able to participate in the passing of the sacrament. Oh, and I was also called as the district leader on Sunday. A district leader is an elder who has an extra responsibility/opportunity to serve and help his district be the best missionaries they can be. I'm glad I have the opportunity to help the other 9 members of my district become better missionaries. Oh, on Sunday we also got a brand new MTC presidency! President Brown and his councilors were awesome, and I will miss them, but I our new MTC presidency seem great too. We had a fireside Sunday night and were able to hear them all speak. The coolest part of the fireside was the opening and closing hymn because the MTC president’s wife played the piano and 4 of her daughters and 3 of her granddaughters played the violins. They are a very talented family! One of the granddaughters only looked about 8 years old, yet they all played beautifully. 7 violins and 1 piano total, all playing hymns arranged by the mission president's wife.

The new mission presidency is:

President and Sister Nally

1st Councilor President and Sister Rosch

2nd Councilor President and Sister Hacking (Same President Hacking as the last MTC presidency)

Monday 1-21 was my first full day as district leader. Elder Williams and I also gave two more good lessons. Elder Williams and I are really able to teach well together. I'm grateful to have him as my companion. Basketball for gym every day is always a treat. At first I was pretty out of shape because of the insane elevation here in Utah, but I'm starting to have pretty good endurance. When we aren't playing basketball in gym we are working out or running on the indoor track.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up my week. I can't believe I was able to talk about all that in 25 minutes. Oh, if you've sent me a letter recently, the mail room here in the MTC has been closed since Saturday morning and just opened again today (Tuesday) morning. They are really behind and are sorting through a bunch of mail so I haven't received anything since Saturday morning. I will most likely have to respond to everything else next week.

Oh, also, some of the elders in my district don't get any/ or very much mail. If any of you have some free time and want to make a missionary's day, feel free to send them a little note or letter of encouragement. It’s OK if you don't know them; just a little note of encouragement and/or testimony of Jesus Christ would be awesome.

All of the missionaries I'm talking about have the same address as me. If you want to write them, just address the letter like you’re sending it to me, but put Elder Cowling, Elder Ruby or Elder Platt on the letter/ Dear Elder and they will get it.

Thanks! I love you all. Thank you all so much for your love and support. I know our Heavenly father loves each one of us, I know Jesus Christ is our Savior; I know the Book of Mormon is true and will strengthen your testimony of Jesus Christ.

Talk to you all next week,
Elder Davis

P.S. Can someone please dear elder me Adam and Kenny's addresses??? I want to send them cards for their engagements.

 

Pictures!!

 

 

1. Elder cowling. He is a comedian. He likes to wear this ripped suit coat on P-Days. He claims he ripped it because his muscles are too big.

 

 

2. Elder Williams caught me studying Lehi's dream during personal study this morning in our residence ;)

 

 

3. Me with some statues here at the MTC of missionaries on bikes.

 

 

4. Me with Sister Jensen

 

 

5. Me with elder Johnson (New Zone Leader) in front of the Provo temple

 

 

6. Me with Elder Gutelius

 

 

7. Me with Elder Stoker and Elder Platt. Stoker on my right, Platt on my left

 

MTC 4

Here's our weekly letter! :)


Bonjour Family and Friends,
 
I hope you all are doing well. This past week has flown by. I guess time flies when you’re having fun and learning a lot! To be honest, not a lot happened this week out of the ordinary. Most of my week has consisted of teaching lessons, and studying scriptures/French. That’s the life of a missionary in the MTC, 16 hours a day! Two of my roommates (Elder Anderson and Elder Salmon) left for France earlier this week. Elder Williams and I were able to give them a priesthood blessing before they left (Just to encourage and bless them with health and safety before they left) which was really cool. Now Elder Williams and I have the room to ourselves for another week or two until the next group of French Missionaries come in. I'm just glad I don't have to sleep on the top bunk anymore.

We've done a lot of teaching this week. We have lessons everyday which is great practice. I can really see my teaching skills and French get better and better every day. It’s hard to believe that I have already been here for about a month! Only one more month to go and I will be in France.

For those of you getting ready to go on a mission or are thinking about serving. My first piece of advice is go on a mission! It’s an amazing experience unlike any other and I have already seen it bless my life in many ways. My second piece of advice would be to prepare now. Study the scriptures, study Preach my Gospel, develop a strong testimony of what you will be teaching, and commit now to be the best missionary you can be. The Lord needs more missionaries to spread his Gospel to the world. There are many people in the world looking for a peace and happiness in this life that can only come from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

To end my email today, I want to share my testimony with you in French. (I can't figure out how to switch this keyboard to French so most of it will be misspelled, but you'll get the idea).

Je sais que Dieu est notre Père Céleste et nous sommes ses enfants. Il nous aime. Je sais que Jésus-Christ est notre Frère est que il est le fils de Dieu. L'expiation de Jésus-Christ nous permet a repentir pour notre pèches et de retourner vers Dieu après cet vie. Je sais absolument que le Livre de Mormon est le Parole de Dieu. Cet Livre pouvait renforcer notre foi en Jésus-Christ, aider nous avec épreuves dans notre vie et que Le Livre de Mormon vraiment avez réponses pour le questions de la âne.

 

Je sais que Joseph Smith est un vrais prophète. Il vraiment parler avec Dieu et Jésus-Christ. L'Eglise de Jésus-Christ de Saints des Dernier Jours est le même église Jésus-Christ organiser lorsque il était sur la terre. Joseph Smith ne fait pas crée un église, il rétablissement l’Eglise de Jésus-Christ.
 
Je sais cette chose pasque j'ai étudier et prie, et le Saint-Esprit avez touche mon cœur.

In English, I testify to you all that Jesus is the Christ, He lived and died for us and lives again today. He has always spoken to his children through prophets (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc.) and he continues to do so today (Amos 3:7), for he is the same yesterday, today and forever. Joseph Smith was chosen by God, not to create another Christian church, but to organize the SAME church that Jesus Christ organized himself while he was on the earth. I know that if we follow the teachings of Christ, we can live happier lives, have stronger relationships with our friends and family and experience peace in this life. 
 
I promise you can know that these things are true if you read the Book of Mormon, pray to our Heavenly Father with a sincere heart, and ask Him if it is true. You can know the truth of all things by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Moroni 10:5)

I miss you all! Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Davis

Pictures!

 

#1 Me with my new France shirt and a French hat...beret

 

 

#2 Me and Elder Williams

 

#3 My room at the MTC, my bed was the top bunk closest to the camera, now that elder Salmon has left its the one on the bottom.

 

#4 You're probably all sick of seeing my laundry pictures, but since you can only do laundry one day a week having clean clothes is a big deal haha

 

#5 This is on the MTC grounds, a statue of Samuel H, Smith, the Brother of Joseph Smith and the first missionary ever!

 

#6 Me and Elder Salmon in front of the Provo Temple

 

 

#7 I don't know if anyone cares to see this, but for those of you who have never been inside the MTC, this is the MTC cafeteria on an average day. Lots of missionaries!

MTC 3 (Pictures)

Here are all the pictures that Elder Davis sent with his letter in the previous post:

 

 

 

 

#1 Me in the car with the other Paris missionaries on the way to the consulate 

 

 

#2 I found an Elder in the MTC named Elder Elder!!

 

 

#3 I gave all my pass along cards away at the airport!!

 

 

#4 Me and my companion pointing out where we are serving

 

 

#5 Me with the island next to the Golden Gate Bridge

 

 

#6 Golden Gate Bridge

 

 

 

#7 Golden Gate Bridge with all the Paris Elders

 

 

 

#8  Me and the Golden Gate Bridge 

 

#9 Me and Elder Johnson

MTC 3

Here's our letter from Elder Davis this week! :)

Salut! (Salut is kind of like aloha; it means hello and goodbye in French)

I hope you all had an awesome week! This past week in Provo has been FREEZING! A couple of my teachers said that it was -2 degrees Fahrenheit at 8:00 am on 1-4-2013. That's the coldest weather I've ever been in. I could feel my semi wet hair freezing when I went outside.

Good news, the flu (AKA black plague) has officially passed the MTC. Everyone is back to being healthy again. I never got the flu which I am very grateful for! But I have had a pretty bad head cold this week. But that's OK, I'd take a head cold over the flue any day.

I can't remember if I've already said this, but just so everyone knows, I receive mail every day, but I am only allowed to email and hand write letters on Tuesdays. I still read all of you mail during the week though so thank you!

This past Wednesday we got 300 new missionaries. That's pretty cool, but what’s cooler is we are getting 850 new missionaries this Wednesday. The MTC is packed! It’s awesome.

We found a mouse in our apartment this week. That was kind of gross. On Friday we had TRC which is basically where we practice teaching people who are already member of the Church that speak French. It's kind of like home teaching. Its great practice for us and our French.

Today (P-Day) we went to the Provo temple for the first time which was pretty cool. We did endowments and I've never seen an endowment session so full!

OK so the big news is I WENT TO SAN FRANCISCO YESTERDAY! Because my mission is in France, me and 7 other missionaries had to go to San Francisco to do some things at the French Consulate to get our Visas. We woke up at 2:30 am yesterday (1-6-2013), left the MTC around 3:30 am and then did some proselyting in the Salt Lake City airport while we waited for our plane. I talked to a couple of women from Milwaukee. They turned out to be sisters who were in Utah visiting their brother. We just small talked for a while and I got to know a lot about them! They told me they are Christians and one of the sisters has ever served a 2 week mission for her church in Thailand which is really cool! After talking to them for about 30 minutes, they asked me why I was all dressed up and wearing a badge which allowed me to talk about the church and my calling as a missionary. They were very kind, and I was able to give them a Book of Mormon and share a short testimony with them before I had to leave and catch my flight. On the plane, I was hoping to sit next to a non member, but unfortunately the guy I sat next to was already a member. What’s cool though is his son is serving a mission in Paris right now!! What are the chances of that! His son is serving in the same mission as me until august.

Once we got to San Francisco we went right to the Consulate and took care of our visa stuff. Then we went to Pier 39 and ate at Boudin's on the pier. After that we went to China town and saw a Ferrari there! Then we went and saw the most "crooked street in the world" (Google it). We saw AT&T park, home of the San Francisco Giants, and we saw the Church building Marilyn Monroe got married in. After that we went and saw the Golden Gate Bridge which was sweet! The bridge is amazing. I'll send some pictures. Me and the 7 missionaries that were with me walked to one of the tall portions of the bridge so about 1/4 of the length.

On the way home, me and Elder Johnson met an awesome college student named Emily. She attends Montana State University and just recently became Christian. She was so nice and so receptive of our message. We jumped right into teaching her the first lesson (the message of Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel). She loved everything we had to say. We gave her my last Book of Mormon with my testimony written in it then we boarded the plane. Unfortunately we weren't able to sit by her during the flight, but we were able to talk to her when we landed. Turns out she read my testimony, the introduction and the first 3 chapters of the Book of Mormon during the flight! After that we got her contact information so we could send missionaries to her in Montana.

Being a missionary is so amazing. It was so cool being able to leave the MTC for 24 hours and actually talk to people about the gospel. I know that God lives. I know Jesus Christ is His son and our older brother. I know God loves us. I know that Christ lived and died for us so that we can someday live with God again. I know that Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and the Son. He really was and is a prophet. The proof that Joseph Smith is a prophet is the Book of Mormon. I invite everyone who hasn't to read the Book of Mormon. It really is the word of God; another testament of Jesus Christ.

I can't wait to get to Paris!!
Talk to you all next week, please write!

Love,
Elder Davis

Pictures will be coming soon, this blog just doesn't want to work very well at the moment! Sorry about that! :P

MTC 2

Here's our letter from this week! :)

Hello Family and Friends!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope you all had an exciting, fun and safe New Year’s Eve. Here at the MTC we celebrated New Year’s at 10:00 pm since our bed time is at 10:30. I have some cool pictures that I'll post of that.

This past week has been quite a roller coaster. It has just been packed with studying and teaching. We have already begun teaching an investigator named Marion who lived in a little city close to Paris her whole life. She speaks English, but refused to speak a word of it to me and my companion Elder Williams so we were forced to teach her in French. Teaching in French is great. It’s hard to believe I've only been here for 13 days and I can already pray, and teach entire lessons in French. My companion and I have even tried going entire days without speaking a word of English which really helps. Teaching in French is also very humbling and frustrating though, especially when there is something I really want to say but I don't know how to say it in French. Sometimes I feel like a child who wants to communicate but doesn't know the words yet.

Church on Sundays is awesome. I may have already said this in my last email, but we have church pretty much entirely in French. Singing Hymns in French is my favorite part of church.

Oh, there has been a ton of snow here in Utah too! Way more than there was on Christmas.

Oh and just so everyone knows, the food here at the MTC sucks!!! Everything is so gross. Everyone who ever told me that the food at the MTC was good was lying to my face.

 Last night was quite an adventure. At about 12:00 am Utah time, one of my roommates elder Anderson woke all of us up by violently vomiting all over the place. It was pretty gross. He was in really bad shape, throwing up blood and everything. Me and my other roommates Elder Williams and Elder Salmon did our best to clean up after him but he was just throwing up a ton. After about 45 minutes of straight vomiting, he was so exhausted and frustrated that he asked me and my roommates for a priesthood blessing. I was so grateful for the opportunity to do that. Even after the blessing, he was still throwing up a ton so we had to take him to the front desk. From there he eventually went to the ER. At the front desk they told us that Elder Anderson was the 32nd missionary THAT NIGHT who had the exact same symptoms. Several missionaries were sent to the ER and some are even forced to stay in the MT for 2 additional weeks before they will let them report to their assigned mission. It’s crazy. In the words of Elder Anderson, the MTC has been hit by the plague overnight. I was feeling a little queasy myself last night but I'm better now.

Elder Anderson is 100% fine now which is amazing! All of the other missionaries are still in bad shape, but he must have had extra faith when we gave him that blessing. It may seem like a small thing, but to me and my companions, that was a small miracle.

Thank you all again for all the letters and cards and packages you've sent me. I have more candy and snacks than I could ever hope to eat by myself.

Congrats to my cousin Kenny for getting engaged!!!

Congrats to Digger and family for the job! That is exciting news!

It’s crazy that I've only been gone for 13 days and so many things have changed already! When I get back everything is going to be so different.

 Well, I'm just about out of my 30 minute time limit. Everyone stay healthy and safe during this nasty flu season. Pray for the missionaries here who are sick. I love you all, talk to you next week!

 

Elder Davis

 

P.S. In my last email I was wrong, there are 2031 missionaries here, not 1031

 

Pictures!

 

#1 Me and elder Williams at 10:00 pm celebrating new years!!

 

#2 This is a picture of a picture that hangs on the wall in one of the hallways of the MTC. Its amazing to me the devotion some people have to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Look how thick the ice is! It probably took a chainsaw to cut through all that ice. Also, notice that the person that was in the water first is the young woman being baptized. The elder (who will be performing the baptism) is having a hard time, but she is so excited and so faithful that she was in there first just begging him to hurry up. Such faith is inspiring. I hope to find some people like that in France.

 

#3 Elder Williams likes to wear suspenders. Once I saw they were only 6 bucks at the bookstore on the MTC campus I couldn't resist buying them haha. we are now the classiest looking elders in the MTC.

 

#4 Lots of snow!

 

 

#5 Mom, I know how much you enjoyed the picture of me doing laundry last time... Now here is one of me doing some ironing.

 

#6 MTC Cafeteria

 

#7 More snow