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Téo's baptism!!!!! Smartest french kid that ever lived.

France - Week 73 (Versailles)

7/21/14

So... sorry in advance... this email is kind of long

Bonjour les amis!

Donc, voilà ça fait une autre semaine! I got to go back to Rennes this week! 

 

We did an exchange with Elder Brockbank and Elder Ireland and it was legitttt. I haven't been to Rennes since I left St. Brieuc (the first city I served in during my mission) so its been over a year. It was so good to be back. Brought back lots of memories.

During our exchange we saw some cool things. I was working with Elder Ireland who is a HUGE Canadian. We did a lot of door knocking together. We knocked doors for about an hour or two and didn't see much success. 

On the way home that evening, we saw a family of 5 not far from our bus stop and so we decided to go talk to them while waiting for our bus. They were super legit! They were way open to talk about the Plan of Salvation and how families can be together forever. We taught them, invited them to act, prayed with the 5 of them all together and then set up a follow up appointment for Sunday. #Familymiracles

Interestingly enough... the conversation we had with the family made us miss our bus so we had to walk home. On the way home some crazy French guy rode up to us on his bike and tried to explain to us how he was WAYYY more Christian than us. Haha it was super funny. He was pretty drunk and using some pretty colorful language to get his "Christian" message across. Crazy people in the world n'est-ce pas? 

I think it's funny how whenever something cool happens in the mission, Satan either precedes it or follows it up with a less cool experience. Always trying to get in the way with the work we're doing. Just kind of makes me realize that the work we're doing is true. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be so much opposition. 

ANOTHER COOL MIRACLE

So recently Elder Everett and I gave a training to the mission leaders about working with recent converts and less actives. We invited the entire mission to commit to teaching a certain number of recent convert less active lessons each week. We then decided that in order to be good leaders... we better practice what we preach!

So last night Elder Everett and I were 1 lesson away from the Standard of Excellence that we invited our missionaries to attain. 

It was the end of the night... and we were trying to find the house of a recent convert to visit. Long story short... we couldn't find it and  the night was almost over. While we were waling we decided to stop by a house. We knew a less active person lived there.. but the last time she saw us she didn't want to talk to us so we were a little nervous to pass by.

Despite what we were thinking... we felt we needed to pass by. Imagine our surprise when she answered the door with a smile on her face saying "oh làlà ce n'est pas possible. Il n'y a même pas 5 minutes j'était en train de parler de vous avec mon neveu" (WHAT! NO WAY? MY NEPHEW AND I WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT YOU!)

Super legit. She was talking about us and then we knocked on her door 5 minutes later. We were able to share a good spiritual thought with her and everything went well.

Makes me think of one of my favorite scriptures:

 1 Nephi 4:6 And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

Geez... that was a super long email. Sorry about that. If you read all the way to the end you deserve a medal.

Have a great week!

Elder Davis

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So this week we went to President Babin's parents house because they live in our ward! We did a FHE with them and some of our investigators. This is the Book of Mormon that missioanries gave to President Babin's mother back in the day. Basically... if it weren't for this book the Babins wouldn't be members and I would have a different mission president

France - Week 72 (Versailles)

7/14/14

Hey Everyone!

So today is a pretty important day for all the Frenchies. Today is like the 4th of July for French people... meaning we're going to be seeing some cool fireworks tonight! I didn't see any on the 4th so I'm excited for tonight. 

I know I say this all the time... (but its such a cool fact that I can't help repeating myself) We can see the Eiffel Tower from the balcony of our apartment so we'll have a really nice view of the Eiffel Tower fireworks tonight. #ohlàlà

So lets see... what can I tell you about this past week... well it was a pretty relaxed week as far as "week ones" go. This was the first week of a new transfer so we got to pick up new missionaries at the airport. New missionaries fresh from the MTC are so much fun!

Everything went pretty smoothly, except one of the sister missionaries temporarily lost her passport in the plane when she landed in Paris so we were worried they weren't going to let her in the country haha. That wouldn't have been good! Luckily she found it.

We spent a lot of time with President and Soeur Babin this week to help them welcome in the new missionaries. Working with the Babins is so great!

It was a busy week. As an assistant to the mission president I spend a ton of time worrying about logistical issues and what not... kind of like the buisness end of the mission. But we do have time to do regular misionary work too and we're always super blessed with awesome miracles. 

The other day we werer able to see the Registre family again. That's Jeff and his family who I told you about last week. We taught their entire family of 5 people and they accepted the invitation to get baptized if they get an answer to their prayers. We're doing a follow up lesson this week so pray that they'll find what they're looking for... they're LEGIT!

Well I think that about covers it... Today Elder Everett and I are going into Paris to meet up with Elder Gutellius and Elder Ruttan. I don't know what were going to do, but I'm sure it'll be good! Paris never gets old <3

I love you guys! Vive la France!!!!

Elder Davis

France - Week 71 (Versailles)

7/7/14

Hey Family,

I think "crazy" is the best way to describe this past week. Shoot... we were running around all over the place, but we had a good time! So two weeks ago we had a bunch of conferences with the whole mission to say goodbye to the Poznanskis... well this past week we did the same thing. We had all of the same conferences, but this time it was to welcome the Babins. I'd say the conferences were a huge success. The Babins are LEGIT and all the missionaries were super excited to meet them. 

On top of all that, we had to prepare for the new transfer because that starts today. I'll be staying here in Versailles with Elder Everett for at least another 6 weeks. I'm super pumped to keep working with him and with President in the office. I feel so lucky!

So literally... this entire week we weren't in our area so missionary work in our area was a little slow... slow until the weekend that is!

I feel like the Lord consecrates the time that we DO HAVE... so we still see the same amount of miracles as normal... it's just condensed into a smaller time period. 

We had our baptism on Saturaday!!! Les jours du baptême sont les meilleures jours dans la vie missionnaire! It was sooooo cool. Téo got dunked and it was a super spiritual experience for everyone... especially his family though! I'm super grateful that I got to teach him and play a small role in preparing him for his baptism.

Sunday was legit too. We had a cool miracle. 

So get this.... 3 weeks ago, I'm on exchange with my man Elder Wood and we meet this young guy named Jeff. I talked to him in the RER (metro type train), and then we took him to the park in St. germain-en-Laye and taught him a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. He was interested, but he said he didn't really have a lot of time to continue meeting with us because he is a busy college student. 

He said that "If it is God's will" for us to talk again... He'll make it so we cross paths again. 

Well yesterday (about 3 weeks later) Elder Everett and I are knocking on doors in a place we don't go to that often. And we knock on this one door...

A haitian woman answers and lets us come in to share a spiritual message with her family.

We sit down and she goes to get the rest of her family from the other room. 

A couple minutes later... Jeff turns the corner and enters the room! My jaw about hit the floor!

How nuts is that??? Seriously there is no way that was an accident. It was toooo perfect.

He couldn't believe that I was standing in his living room haha! All he could say once he saw me was "oh làlà, ce n'est pas posible!!!" (best english translation: NOOOOOOO WAYYYYY, HOW DID YOU FIND ME!!!!)

Haha he was super happy to see us though because he was convinced God led us to him... 

We taught their family a short lesson on the restoration and we will be seeing them again this week. 

Miracles quoi!!

So, that was my week in a nut shell.  Life is too good. the Babins are sooo amazing, I love them to pieces already. The Poznanskis and the Babins are the coolest french people EVERRRR.

I love you all,

Elder Davis

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My favorite picture!! Me hugging Soeur Poznanski right before she left! This was in the airport parking garage. Man I love that woman!

Me with the man himself!! He gave me that tie too as a parting gift

France Paris Mission was in great hands with the Poznanskis, and continues to be now with the Babins. I'm so grateful my son has had such amazing leaders.

As a mother, I will always be grateful to these two wonderful people for loving and caring for my son and being such a great example to him! 

This is me when I dropped off my trainer at the airport.  I love that guy! Elder Adams = Best trainer ever!

France - Week 70 (Versailles)

6/30/14

Hello friends and loved ones!

WHAT A WEEK!

We officially have a new mission president... how crazy is that? Man it was so hard to see the Poznanski's leave. They are SOOOO AWESOME and they've blessed my life so much. I'll always be grateful to them for their wonderful examples. I'm super thankful for these last few weeks in particular that I got to work along side them. 

BUT, now we have the Babins with us and they are super, super cool! Seriously, the very first day was legit. They got here Friday, we picked them up at the airport, took them back to the office/mission home, had a little staff meeting... then President Babin went porting with us! (Porting is France Paris Mission lingo for knocking on doors). Pretty legit huh? He's such a stud! Fresh out of the MTC and so full of energy and faith and new ideas!

 

I never would have thought that one day on my mission I'd go porting with my mission president! Definitely an experience I won't forget. While we were porting we saw a lot of cool miracles, met some families and taught some lessons. 

When you do finding by the spirit, you see miracles.

We spent a lot of time in the office this week getting ready for the change on Friday. There was so much to figure out and to organize. BUT, despite all the office work... we managed to have a pretty decent week. Téo is doing really well and he's ready to get DUNKED on Saturday. Jean Yves and Martine are awesome as ever. They're so sincere and are doing everything they can to prepare for their baptisms. 

I'm so blessed to be here. I'm literally surrounded by awesome people all the time!

Life is pretty darn good... 

We are going to La Defense (google it) to do some Soldes shopping so je m'en vais! I'll send some pictures real quick though:

Merci pour tous vos prières!

Elder Davis

Snails... it's what's for dinner. :)

France - Week 69 (Versailles)

6/23/14

Hey Everyone,

Wow, what a crazy week. 

I didn't do a lot of "normal" missionary work these past few days. Normal missionary work as in knocking on doors and teaching lessons... But that was because I was traveling all over the place with President Poznanski for a bunch of zone conferences. 

We got to go up to Brussels in Belgium and then Angers and of course Paris a couple times. This was a special week because it was Preident and Soeur Poznanski's last week of zone conferences and also their last time to see most of their missionaries. 

We tried to do a bunch of different things to make it special for them. We did a bunch of musical numbers and even made them a really cool, symbolic parting gift that all the missionaries helped make. 

You can probably check out the France Paris Mission Facebook page and see a lot of cool video's and pictures of all that. 

Alors, malgré tout... we still had the weekend to work in our area. Even though we didn't have a lot of time, the Lord blessed us and helped us find 2 cool families. One family is from South Africa and they speak english. They let us in while we were knocking on doors and they were pretty receptive to our message. They are relatively new to the area and they said they've been looking for somewhere to go to church. #quellechance

That same night there was this cool guy sitting on the side of the sidewalk, staring down at his feet... From a distance he seemed to be doing some thinking so we decided to go up and talk to him. He was a little closed at first... but we eventually broke through that unfriendly crust and had a great conversation with him. turns out he is the father of 4 and worries a lot about his children. we told him that our message is all about helping families and he seemed pretty excited about it.

Prety legit 'eh?

Man, I'm going to miss the Poznanski's! They're so great. I've loved working with them the past 18 months and this past month especially. I was so blessed to be called to this mission and learn from them and their examples. It's bitter/sweet though because I'm excited for President and Soeur Babin who will be here on friday!

Pray that the transition will go smoothly!

Elder Davis

France - Week 68 (Versailles)

6/16/14

Hey everyone!

I just need to start off by saying..... I CAN'T BELIEVE MY SISTER IS STARTING HER MISSION ON WEDNESDAY! Geez, that's so crazy to me. I'm so proud of her.

 I won't see her from December 2012 (when I left) until December 2015 (when she gets back)... But I know she's going to have an awesome experience and see lots of miracles in Russia. 

Plus, seeing her again in 2015 is going to be a pretty awesome reunion!

Ok, so let me see... what the heck did I do this week....

I did a ton of exchanges, gave a training to some other missionaries, met some cool people, met some crazy people, ate a lot of spicy food, had to fix a leaky sink, etc.

I feel like the days just kind of all run together. Looking back I know I had a good week and I know I did a lot of cool things, but I'm struggling to find specific stories. 

Maybe I can tell you about a cool couple I'm teaching... For fun, we'll change their names and call him Pierre (that's a nice french name, right?) and we'll call his wife Adèle (another nice french name, no?)

So, Pierre was a member of the chuch, but was excommunicated about 30 years ago. He also married his wife Adèle around that time. They went on with their lives, had children and were pretty content with how things were going. She was very practicing catholic, and he was kind of just floating in no-mans-land concerning religion. Anyways, recently one of his sons (who was born to Pierre's first wife)... who we'll call Jerry (sorry, I'm out of french names)... Is a return missionary and wanted more than anything for his father and step-mother to join the church. 

By his example, and in talking to his father little by little over these 30 years... Jerry was able to soften his father's heart. Something "clicked" and the spiritual embers in Pierre's heart started to burn again.

Pierre said he would be accepting to see some missionaries (#that'swherewecomein). We started teaching Pierre, and things went well, but Adèle didn't really have the intention of participating in our discussions. She was a "c'est bien ce que vous faites, mais j'ai ma religion et ça m’intéresse pas!" type person... BUT! With a little charm ;) and a lot of help from the spirit, she too was intrigued to see what we had to say. 

We started teaching them both. We started with the basics and invited them to pray and ask God if what we were saying is true. 

Turns out.... they decided to ACTUALLY do it! And what do you know... by their own experiences, and by answers they received to their own prayers.... they know that the church is true!

So... tout simplement... Pièrre and Adèle are Legit... They haven't missed church in 4 weeks and everytime we teach them the spirit just bounces off the walls.

Pièrre said "si c'était ma choix, je me baptiserais demain!" which for you english speakers means.. if it was my choice, I'd be baptized tomorrow!

Adèle, also wants to be baptized with her husband!

Now we have to keep our fingers crossed while Pièrre talks to the stake president about some things... but until then I'm just waiting to fill up that baptismal font!! 

SOOOO, let me recap... French man gets excommunicated... and 30 years later his son is able to rekindle the spiritual fire in his coeur. Now he AND his wife both want to be baptize.

Moral of the story.... never give up on anyone. It's never too early or too late for people to change their lives and follow the example of Jesus Christ.

Man I love being a missionary.

So yeah... That was one story from this week. 

Have a great week everyone. je vous aime bien fort! Bisous, bisous

Elder Davis

France - Week 67 (Versailles)

6/9/14

Hey Everyone!

Geez, what a week. So, here's what happened en bref...

I did 3 exchanges... Elder Christiansen, Elder Stucki and Elder Cardon

They are all STUDs and we saw some pretty legit miracles together in Versailles.

With Elder Chrsitiansen we applied the principle "talk to everyone" in preach my gospel and we found like 3 new investigators and a ton of potentials. At the end of the night we were doing some porte-à-porte and we came up to a cool looking house. Elder Christaisnsen said to me, "that looks like the house on snow white and the seven dwarfs"... It was a pretty legit house and so we decided to knock it. When we did, 3 little girls came to the window with their dad. They let us in and we taught them about the plan of salvation. We are supposed to see them again this week so pray for the family Karoff!

So turns out... I've known Elder Cardon for about a year, but I never knew he was big into baseball like me! During our exchange we figured this out and had a real nice conversation about our favorite sport. The next morning as part of our morning routine... we went out and played some catch with the baseball gloves my parents sent me a while back. That's only the second time I've used them on my mision because there aren't a ton of baseball players here and not a lot of space to throw. 

Anyways, we made the time and found the place.  MAN I NEVER FELT SO ALIVE. I was a little nervous at first becasue I hadn't thrown a baseball since July of last year... but it wasn't too bad. 

It as only after that I felt like my right arm got ran over by a truck... but no worries, I won't be needing that arm any time soon anyways.

Last night was INTENSE.

There was the biggest storm that I've ever seen on my mission. We're talking hail and thunder and lightning like I've never seen before. We found out this morning that it was so bad that the mission home and office were practically flooded on the bottom floors. Super crazy. 

Oh and yesterday I got to go back to Paris Lilas to watch Cedrick get baptized! He is one of the investigators of Elder Brockbank and Elder Powelson, but I told him I'd come back for his big day. Man it was so special. Nothing better than baptism days. Elder Powelson got to do the ordinace so it was super special to see that.

Also today I went out to Sushi with the Poznanski's... pretty legit huh? It's not everyday that you just go out to lunch with your mission president. I also got to meet President Babin who will be the new mission president starting the 27th of June. He's so cool, I'm super excited to work with him.

Man I love missionary work. Nothin better than this!

I love you guys, have a great week.

 

Elder Davis

France - Week 66 (Versailles)

6/2/14
Hey Everyone,

So another week has come and gone. We were so busy this week. I got to go to the airport and pick up some new missioanries and then a couple days later go to the airport and drop off some missionaries who just ended their missionary service. It was pretty crazy seeing both ends of a mission in a couple days. 

Two of the missionaries I dropped off at the airport were some of my old companions. Elder Adams and Elder Hatch. man I miss them already. They were such stud missionaries. 

Lets see, what else did I do this week. 

I got to meet a bunch of members and investigators here in Versailles. We are teaching some really cool people right now. We are teaching a young boy who has a baptismal date for early July and then there is another awesome french couple that we are teaching who have a lot of potential. 

Other than that though, we have to go out and do a bunch of finding to refill our teaching pool. I'm super pumped though. I think we have 3 exchanges planned for this week and they are all going to be coming to us in Versaille so we'll have lots of time to do some work in our area. 

The ward here in versailles is super, super cool too! such a big ward full of super strong, active families. I'm beyond excited to get to know these people and help the ward grow. 

I'm convinced that there are lots of good things waiting to happen here this transfer. 

Keep the french people in your prayers!

Elder Davis

France - Week 65

5/26/14

Hey Everyone,

Wow, this past week has been probably THE SINGLE, craziest week of my mission.

So many things happened that I'm going to have to start this email by telling you (like always) that I'm not going to be able to tell you everything. 

But I'll do my best!

Here's a brief summary.... 

1. A lady came to us this week and asked us to cast an evil spirit out of her daughters body. I won't give you details about that experience, but it was super cool, super powerful, super spiritual and super personal. But just know that it was super intense, but she was completely fine after the blessing we gave her and she came to church yesterday with her mother saying that she KNOWS the church is true because of the way she saw the priesthood work in her life. One of the coolest things I've seen on my mission and a huge testimony building experience. 

2. Two of our investigators came out to tell us they weren't really interested in our church, but two college students doing a journalism project on mormons for their masters degree so they thought it'd be a good idea to be fake investigators and take the missionary lessons. That was a bummer

3. We baptized Serephan yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. I got a call on Friday telling me that I would be leaving Paris Lilas and that I would be getting transfered to Versailles to work with President Poznanski in the Mission Office. 

5. I got to pass the sacrament ysterday with Justice who I got to baptize a few months ago! He is sooooooo awesome and super happy to have the priesthood. That was a super spiritual experience. 

6. I got to see the Chateau de Versailles which is one of the coolest thigns I've seen so far on my mission. Way cooler than Notre Dame. Its huge and super, super amazing. If you're coming to france any time soon, you gotta see it. 

7. We had 8 investigators come to church yesterday. 8!!!!!! I've never had that many before. Everyone wanted to come to see the baptism. Miraclezzzz

So that is the dry bones outline of what happened in my life last week. I bought a voice recorder thing recently so I could make audio recordings of what happens out here on my mission. A journal is great, and I write in mine every day... but sometimes it just isn't enough!

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Davis

Me yesterday with Elder Gutelius, Miguel Loisel (a super cool recent convert who just got the priesthood) and Serephin (standing next to me) whoo got dunked!