health problems getting in the way of the work

Hey Mom and Dad,
It was great to talk to you yesterday. I don't have a ton to write today so i'm just writing individual emails. I can't believe how deep jacson's voice is. I couldn't open the pictures, but i'll check on a different computer next week. I am going to talk in my tape thing and then send it home to you guys so you can just use mine. And I printed off pictures so i'll send those too. Thanks for all that you two do. I should be getting my MRI this week so that is good! I just want answers...I know Heavenly Father will take care of me no matter what it is...even MS. The Priesthood blessing I received yesterday and from President Hansen's emails, I think I am going to find out answers soon. I love you guys and I am trying to work as hard as I can to serve the Lord because I have never been happier than on my mission and I just love it! Hope you are all doing great tell the ward hi!
Love you,
Sis Davis

Love those Baptisms!

Hey Family! So Paishan is now a member!! She got baptized on Monday and confirmed yesterday! Yes, mom, Paishan is Chinese. She is from Taiwan and she's getting her PHD here in Economics. She's been learning for a few months and she got kind of frustrating. like she loved learning and she said she knew the church was true, but she thought there were lots of true churches. She came without a background of god so we had to learn to be patient and try to somewhat understand where she was coming from. but anyways we asked ehr to pray about baptism and so each week I'd ask her how it's going and every time she'd say mmm not very good. I was going to give her the drop talk because she wasn't progressing, and then that next week she couldn't meet with us because she had a huge test and then the next week we had two lessons at the same time so I had to go teach this other investigator and I wasn't able to meet with Paishan. Then the next week we went over the restoration and Joseph Smith and then asked her if she received her answer and she said yes and I said is it a good answer and she said I think so! I was like well that's great! what are your thoughts on baptism. I figured she'd say I will pray about it some more or maybe in a couple months or something, but she said well I can choose who baptizes me and when i get baptized right? and I said yes and she said okay I want to be baptized...so she got baptized 13 days later!! It's been the best moment in my mission. Meeting her and seeing her come from not believing in God to having a firm belief in Not only God and Jesus Christ, but their plan for us and the Atonement and The Holy Ghost and the Restoration. She's so solid and it's just unbelievable. She got confirmed and received the Holy Ghost in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and she skipped back to her seat with the BIGGEST smile on her face Oh my goodness it was the cutest thing I have seen!! And she's not young, she's 26, so it was even cuter to see how excited she was...enough to skip! So yeah it was amazing. She's not just an investigator anymore, she's a lifelong friend I'm sure of it. Carl, the investigator we had to give to the elders because he developed to much of an emotional attachment, came to Church yesterday looking slick in his suit and everything!! The elders haven't gotten in with him yet so he's still our investigator and our ward mission leader has befriend him so that's good because he's still in our boundaries to he'll still go to our ward. He's awesome though he loves the Book of Mormon and he loved church!! I was nervous because it was a super good sacrament meeting but it was all on eternal marriage and he is going through a divorce, but he told us God really spoke to him and it's exactly what he needed to hear! So it's exciting... another amazing thing that happened is with Carol, a less active we have visited every week since I have been here and they have been visiting her even way before that, but she has some hang ups about the church, but you can tell she still longs to come and it's her sister who keeps her from coming mostly. She's like 60 but she didn't want her sister to stop talking to her or anything so she said it was easier to just not go than to have family arguments. Well anyways we visited her a couple weeks ago and had a real nice chat. she opened up about a lot of her complaints on different things in the church and we were able to try and explain our views on those points and kind of smooth things out and then she came to church that sunday!! She hasn't been in months and she came!! It was so awesome and she just stayed for Sacrament meeting, but then this past week I got sick and I was in bed for 2 days so we were on exchanges with the unviversity sisters and Sister Lieber, my trainer, stayed with me and Sister Boren went out with sister Sorensen. Anyways they visited her and right when they got there, Bro Sharp and Bro Hickson, both from the bishopric, were just leaving and Carol told the sisters that they extended a calling to her and she's thinking about accepting it. this is all like amazing I was so thrilled when I heard it! Then yesterday she was at church again and she accepted the calling and had a wonderful setting apart and she's really excited about it!! Her husband hasn't come back to church but as she sets the example, only good things will come from it! So that was the most exciting news of this past week. A lot of great things happening in College Station it's really wonderful. Hope everyone is doing so great and good luck with school little ones I miss ya! Love you!
Sis Davis

Plugging along!

Hi Hi!! How's everyone's Summer been? This week has been a good week, though we've been bouncing around at different houses cause our airconditioning is broken and they keep saying they'll fix it but don't and then I got the most horrific flu i have had...seriously the throw up was so intense I would cry after each time...it only lasted a day though. sorry to give you a mental picture, but it's really the only way to get a slight view of how i felt. and then an investigator, carl, said he couldn't meet with us anymore because he's getting too deeply emotionally attached and has to strong of feelings for me...he said "I have weaknesses and I know you do to"...basically saying "I think if we meet too many times more we'll love eachother too much"....I was soo freaked out! I was like thank goodness he told us this and i'm glad he told us this over the phone!! He's this 40 year old and he was so into everything we were teaching but I could kind of tell he was maybe having some feelings cause he'd make weird comments...and he was in jail for 6 years and I don't know why...but I most certainly don't want to find out. So that was a very interesting creepy moment of this week. But PAishan is getting baptized today and that's just the best! She is so excited! She started out by telling us not to tell anyone about the baptism cause she didn't want a lot of people there, but she was telling everyone about it yesterday and asking everyone to come! IT's so amazing to see her transformation. She reads the book of mormon all through church! she doesn't understand what people say in sunday school and relief society soemtimes, like when they are talking so fast, so she'll just read her book of mormon. She's solid. Everything else is awesome...we've got some great investogators that are progressing well! I don't have much time as usual but I love all of you and I always love your letters!
Sis Davis

No, We Really are On Fire!

So this week was soo awesome! Especially considering the way it started. But we got moved in to another apartment and got new furniture and stuff so we are pretty much back to normal. Paishan is an investigator we have been teaching since end of May and she's from Taiwan. She's here getting her PHD in Economics and has 4 more years left. She started out with no belief in God whatsoever and she has such a testimony of the gospel now it's amazing. At our lesson last Tuesday she decided to be baptized! She's getting baptized a week from tomorrow, August 25th! She's definitely converted and will remain steadfast in the church I have no doubts. I'm so happy for her it's just incredible to see the transformation in her. The only problem with getting baptized that she expressed last tuesday is that she wanted it to be at 4 because she wanted to have dinnr with her roommate because she just moved here from Taiwan and doesn't know anyone. haha we were like well how about 7. She's like Okay...so we're all set to go for Tuesday! And another investigator Carl, he's the one we were walking home from an appointment and he called us over and asked us what we did and sensed something about us. We taught him for 3 hours and he said he'd been praying all week to just know the truth. He grew up baptist and has tried other religions but never felt complete. We taught him 3 times last week and he just loves it. HE said he knows this is the truth and he always feels so good when we come over. We watched the testaments with him yesterday and he just loved it. He found out one of his co workers is mormon and he said he was sooo excited! He went and found him and they talked all day and they found out a way to be able to work side by side all day so he can talk to him mroe about the gospel. This work is unbelievable. Heavenly Father wants to guide us in all we do and I know as we let him, we will be blessed and we will be able to bless others. I'm so greatful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of salvation and for my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know Joseph Smith saw HEavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I know they restored the Priesthood Authority to the Earth through him. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and for a Prophet on the Earth today who directs this Church by revelation. It is so necessary to have further revelation for our days. We are going through things so different than other times and the answers for them aren't specifically found in other teachings. I love all of you and you are all such examples to me.
Sis davis

We're On Fire! (or at least our apartment was) :-)

Hey Familia!! How is everyone doing?? Sound like everyone's summer is going pretty great! Well this week was sooo awesome! We have 3 new investigators...one is a chinese family they are here because he is getting his post doc in nuclear physics and we met with the wife, her name is chang, twice last week and then the whole family came to church on sunday! gosh it was awesome they are so excited to learn...they have no background of anything to do with god at all. And then we had an appointment with paula and she wasn't home so we were walking back the other way and this guy called us over and he started asking us questions cause he's seen us walk a lot and he could feel something different. so we told him our message and he asked for a pamphlet and we wanted to give him a book of mormon but we had just given our last one away so we told him we'd walk home and get one and bring it back. well when we brought it back, he invited us in and we taught him for 3 hours!! It was the most incredible lesson...he said he'd been praying all week long for him to find the truth, and then we showed up and he knows we must have it. he grew up baptist but he never felt complete. he's studied with JW's and he didn't like what they taught, and a bunch of religions but he never felt full. he wanted to know more about joseph smith cause he said if I join this faith, i need to know all about it so i can share it with everyone so I need to know about him. so we read from joseph smith history and when we were done he said okay I am probably going to join. he said he's learned from missionaries before and he goes" they never explained it to me the way you have. man it could have been different a long time ago!" he knows his bible very well and every truth we taught just made complete sense to him...the spirit was so strong and at one point he jsut broke down sobbing about how lonely he has felt and he just has needed to let out his thoughts for so long and he's soo greatful for us talking to him and listening to him. At first I was scared! this huge black guy is bawling! but goodness he's just the coolest guy ever! Listening is so key to helping people accept the gospel. everyone investigating will have a problem with something. whether it be marriage, word of wisdom, tithing, chastity, so many things, and they are all things we can help them with, but only if we know what the problem is. we can only do that by listening. okay so that was saturday...well Sunday is where are amazing week turned completely upside down!! we were at church yesterday and we have a meeting at 630 and 730 and then church is at 9 so we were gone all morning and then one lady came up to me and was like hey not to worry you or anything but i just got here and I past your apt on the way here and your building is on fire! I didn't think too much of it though cause i just thought she meant one of the buildings in our complex cause there's like15 or 20 different buildings. and then when we got home there's firetrucks all over and ambulances and firefighter's still trying to fight the fire. I guess a little boy was playing with a lighter and that's how it started. it was the most insane experience in my life by far! no flames got in to our apartment; everything is just smoked out and completely water damaged. we lost all our furniture and a lot of our clothes , but none of our books of mormon or journals or area book or anything got damaged and that's really what matters. so anyways the bishopric and some others from the ward helped us get everything out as fast as we could and we are staying at our relief society president's house til we find a new apartment. The apartment complex we live at has other apartments but 16 apartments were lost in the fire so they don't have that many other units and a lot of the people had no where to go so we told them to not worry about finding us one cause we have a place to stay and we can just find another complex. so yeah... i'm still not even sure what happened it all seems like a dream! I can't believe we don't have our apartment anymore... the people next to us just moved in the day before. We're so lucky to have a ward family though. it was great to see everyone from the ward so willing to help us out and take us in and everything. here's some pictures of this fire.
http://www.theeagle.com/local/32-displaced-in-CS-blaze
http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/52833007.html

So yeah that was pretty much my week! pretty insane but nothing that can't be handled. Sister Carter lives in a beautiful hosue on the lake and she's just the sweetest lady ever! This morning she told us to invite the elders over and we all went fishing and she made us breakfast and then we played pool. All of her kids are grown so she just loves having us there... I miss my apartment though. I don't even have my toothbrush!! Don't worry she gave me one. Well I should end this. Elder childs, one of the senior missionaries, is coming up here to come look for another apartment with us so we have to meet him shortly. I love you all and I am so greatful to be serving a mission and I know I am right where I am suppose to be!
Sis Davis

listening to the Holy Ghost

Everything is going amazing here in College Station. We are in finding mode right now, but we have been blessed every time we have gone tracting or contacting formers and potentials to find new investigators each time. We contacted a lady named Paula who was taught a little over a year ago. We invited her to learn more and she said she wanted to so we set up an appointment and when we went over she wasn't home, but it was only 830 and I felt it was too early to go in for the night so we talked about it and there was a potential we have tried about 7 times and she's never been home but we decided to try her one more time because her apartment was on the way home and I felt like we should. So we knocked on her door twice and she wasn't home so we started walking away and then a lady answered. She wasn't the potential we were trying to contact, but we told her who we were and about our message and she invited us in and we taught her the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and she was really excited. Her name is Mable and she has two girls that are 5 and 3 and so adorable... So we set up a return appointment. Then a couple days later we contacted Paula, the former investigator, and set another appointment up with her and now we are teaching both of them. So even though it was discouraging when Paula wasn't home the first time, Heavenly Father was in control and he knew that Mable needed to hear the Gospel that night and we were able to start teaching both of them. Listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost really is the only way we can succeed as missionaries in the way the Lord wants us to. I'm still learning a lot, but every time I take that leap of faith, not knowing beforehand what I am going to do or Why, but acting on the promptings I receive, I am blessed. So that was one awesome story for this week. And it can't get better than being evacuated to the Stake Center for hours because of chemical explosions. We were so confused at first. I was on exchanges and so I had Sister Boren in my area and Sister Sorensen went with my previous companion Sister Lieber on campus and Elder Salazar called us and told us the situation. We really thought he was just joking around because they leave dumb messages all the time saying the first presidency text them and told them they were worried about us...hah just things like that so we didn't know what to think. So yeah we just had 13 of us missionaries and a bunch of other members from Bryan in the Stake Center in College Station for awhile and then we got permission for all the sisters to stay in our apartment since we are out of bryan far enough and then all the elders to stay in the Zone leaders and university elders' apartment cause they live together. It was great for us cause there is only 4 of us! The elders had 9 in their apartment haha so I don't think they had the funnest night. We just ordered pizza and took pictures! It was a relaxed night...It was actually a little bit of torture being confined to your apartment because everyday we're told we have to be out all day except meal time and so it felt like we were breaking the rules or something! But yeah all is well we are all alive. We are having zone meeting on Wednesday and I was asked to give a talk on the Relationship between Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ which is really broad to me so I had a hard time picking a point to talk about to relate it to us. At length I came to the conclusion that really it was pretty obvious that I needed to talk about obedience and the example Christ set of that. His relationship with the father is on the foundation of complete obedience. His own statement of that is "Thy Will be done." So I am sort of getting all my thoughts on paper finally. It will be great though I have already learned so much about it in preparation. We are going to the Temple this Thursday as well so it's just going to be a wonderful week. I am so excited to hear where Shannon is going!! She's going to be such an amazing missionary! Let me know where she gets called to. Well I have to write some individual emails and then we are going bowling today so I am gonna end this but I just love you all so much and I am so happy that we are a family for time and all eternity. It's such a great blessing we have been given! Any blessing we receive though is only predicated upon obedience...interesting how everything goes back to obedience. That's why we are put in to family units though so that we can help eachother bind ourselves to holiness before the lord and act in exact obedience. Truly, if we take away all our arguing and bad feelings once in awhile, family is who we think of first with anything and we are always wanting to help them walk in the ways of the Lord, which is walking in exact obedience. K love you!
Sister D

Singing in the Rain!

So we got rain this week...twice!!! That above everything else, made it the best week ever! It's crazy though because when it rains here it pours and the little streams rise up so high and it floods really easy. Anyways I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Sorensen and she is from Idaho falls! I guess they like to keep the Idahoans together! She is an English Major at BYU and she's a wonderful missionary and I'm lucky to have her as my companion. We were able to do some tracting this week which has been awhile but it's always good to let a new missionary experience the awkwardness of door approaches. These ones weren't too bad...had a couple of them without shirts on but no fully naked people like Elder Hiatt's Greenie had to deal with on his first door so that's always a plus! She set up two appointments while we were tracting so she's on her way to training next transfer already! People really are pretty open to listening here...and even if they don't want to learn mroe they are nice for the most part. We have a great week ahead of us with some appointments and lots of potentials to contact so it is going to be busy busy but that's the only way to be and then you forget how tired you are! We have a new ward mission leader and he's soo awesome!! He's so excited about it and he's very hands on which we needed! He's got great ideas about incorporating preach my gospel with member lessons to involve the members mroe and bring in more referrals. I don't have that much to say this week because we were in houston for a couple days with the rest of the trainers and their companions but that was a wonderful time. I'm so lucky to be on a mission I don't know how I got here, but it's the best place to be and I just don't ever want to be released. If it wasn't for my family I probably wouldn't be! Thank you so much for everything you all do and teh support you give me, it means a ton. I know that the Lord is at the head of this church and as we are exactly obedient in the commandments we have been given, both as a whole and individually within our callings, we will surely be blessed and have no need to fear about anything to come. Love you!
Sis Davis

Singing in the Rain!

So we got rain this week...twice!!! That above everything else, made it the best week ever! It's crazy though because when it rains here it pours and the little streams rise up so high and it floods really easy. Anyways I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Sorensen and she is from Idaho falls! I guess they like to keep the Idahoans together! She is an English Major at BYU and she's a wonderful missionary and I'm lucky to have her as my companion. We were able to do some tracting this week which has been awhile but it's always good to let a new missionary experience the awkwardness of door approaches. These ones weren't too bad...had a couple of them without shirts on but no fully naked people like Elder Hiatt's Greenie had to deal with on his first door so that's always a plus! She set up two appointments while we were tracting so she's on her way to training next transfer already! People really are pretty open to listening here...and even if they don't want to learn mroe they are nice for the most part. We have a great week ahead of us with some appointments and lots of potentials to contact so it is going to be busy busy but that's the only way to be and then you forget how tired you are! We have a new ward mission leader and he's soo awesome!! He's so excited about it and he's very hands on which we needed! He's got great ideas about incorporating preach my gospel with member lessons to involve the members mroe and bring in more referrals. I don't have that much to say this week because we were in houston for a couple days with the rest of the trainers and their companions but that was a wonderful time. I'm so lucky to be on a mission I don't know how I got here, but it's the best place to be and I just don't ever want to be released. If it wasn't for my family I probably wouldn't be! Thank you so much for everything you all do and teh support you give me, it means a ton. I know that the Lord is at the head of this church and as we are exactly obedient in the commandments we have been given, both as a whole and individually within our callings, we will surely be blessed and have no need to fear about anything to come. Love you!
Sis Davis

not much time to write

From: "Caitlin Davis"
To: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Subject:
Date: Monday, July 13, 2009 1:30 PM

Hey Family! Okay So I don't have too much time to write today I apologize but I will try my best! Phillip was baptized on Saturday so that was so exciting! His wife is a member and they have 2 boys so it completes a family which is the best and I am so happy for them! The work is going to well here and doors really are opening all the time. I have seen that as we are faithful and dedicated, the blessings are beyond our sacrifice and I am so grateful for the blessings I receive constantly from serving. Also Sis Lieber and I were able to go to a family's sealing in our ward and it was hands down one of the best moments so far on my mission. To see such a transformation from where they were a few months ago and then see them sealed to eachother and their kids and the smiles on their faces was absolutely priceless. I love it...all of the different parts of missionary work are incredible and are all equally important and sometimes we can forget that, but as President Hinckley tells us, There's no point in doing missionary work unless we hold on to those fruits of the effort and they Must be inseparable. So reactivating the lessactives is just as important as helping others gain faith, repent and be baptized. Just another little something I learned. This last transfer has been great to me and I know it will just keep getting better. Transfer calls were Saturday and Sis Lieber is leaving me...she is getting transferred to the University ward in Bryan and she's white washing an elder's area so that'll be fun for her. I am going to be training...haha I still kinda laugh when I write that cause I am still a baby! I don't know how I'm suppose to train! But I know the Lord is in charge and he'll help me the whole way as long as I do my part and rely on him in everything I do. So yeah I'm meeting her in Houston on Wednesday and we'll spend some time up tehre with President nd Sister Hansen and come back up Thursday after we do a session at the temple. We have some great investigators and a couple of them praying for dates so we should be seeing some baptisms soon enough. I'll write more next week I just have to get going now. Life is amazing and Mission life is even more so! Love you each sooo much!
Sis Davis

time is flying by

From: "Caitlin Davis"
To: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Subject:
Date: Monday, July 06, 2009 9:01 AM

Hey yall how is everyone?! Sometimes the weeks go so fast I question myself that I didn't like write yesterday...anyways this week went well for the most part! I was sick in bed for 3 days with the flu and the Elders brought me a half gallon of Cookies and Cream BlueBell Icecream which is death cause it's so good! So I think I gained a good 15 lbs. but luckily we don't own a scale! Although I had to get weighed at the Dr's when I went to the pulmonolgist a couple weeks ago and I've gained 3 lbs...but keep that on the down low. But Sis Lieber taught Pai Shan without me on Tuesday night and asked her to be baptized and she said once she finds out if it's true or not she has no reason not to be baptized! She fasted for an answer on Sunday, all she could say was I'm so hungry! We are teaching her tomorrow night and setting a date for her...either the 18th or the 25th. Our district is doing awesome with baptisms and the only week we don't have one in the month of July is the 18th so we're trying to get her in that weekend but it may be to soon...we will just have to see what Heavenly Father wants. She's ready though and she loves the gospel. We taught Yuanfa's roommate again last night. His name is Hong and he's the one I have talked about before who doesn't believe in God and we've been teaching him a lot about the Plan of Salvation and Chinese people just eat that up. We truly take so much for granted in our lives having the knowledge that God loves us and has a plan for us. We've always believed that it's just been second nature and I think we need to plant that deeper into our lives and not only just believe it but say yes I believe that so what am I going to do because I believe that. And we should be constantly striving to be better people and also bring others to the truth of the gospel that are in darkness. There are seriously so many people all around us that really are only in darkness because they don't even know where to look for the light. And we have it and the only true light they can get is from us...we must share the gospel with everyone. Anyways Hong is going to pray to know if God is there...he was suppose to last week but he really is devoted to it this week. and he said I really hope tehre is a god. And teaching about the Kingdoms he said so I still have a chance to go to the Celestial Kingdom...and he was relieved and excited. He already believes in God you can tell. He said so if I find out God is real...what do I do? So it's only a matter of him finding out if God is there and the gospel will just flow into his life easily. I have a lot of joy teaching Hong seeing him come from complete darkness and seeing the light and walking towards it...slowly but very straightly. Transfer calls are this Saturday. I'm staying here cause I'm in the middle of tests and Sis Lieber could be leaving or staying we have no idea. Oh guess what! So Sister Lieber and I when we go to be we would always say Don't let the Bed Bugs bite and if they do beat them till they're black and blue and we would just always so that...well guess who really DOES have bed bugs!! I didn't even know they were real! But of course I get bed bugs and Sister Lieber doesn't cause I get everything haha...so we have been camping on the couch and she pulls her bed out next to the couch and we're getting our apt sprayed this week. We are meeting with Gladys this week the 90 year old woman who we had an amazing lesson with a few weeks ago? she was at the 4th of July breakfast we were so excited to see her! Anyways I need to end this but I love and miss everyone but not mroe than I miss the Lord and being on a mission is the best way I have found to please the Lord and my family and bring blessings to both so I'm content here for 15 more months...love you all so much!
Sister Davis

Working Hard in the Heat!

Hi how is everyone?! College Station is so great I'm just loving every minute of it! It's so hott!!! Seriously this is one of the hottest summers they've ever had; they said it's like August right now...and of course it had to be the summer I'm here! But nonetheless we're enjoying it and really it just makes you work harder finding investigators and appointments because then you aren't out in the heat! We went on a couple splits this past week and that was fun. We taught Pai Shan about temple work and she had a ton of questions about that so that was really good! and we taught Nazhang the Restoration again. She's understanding us more now and so we decided it'd be good to go over the restoration and understand the importance of that. But yeah and both Nazhang and Paishan came to a baptism last night and Pai shan had a ton of question about that let me tell you! At first she was so confused when Jonathan went under water! She was just looking around at everyone wondering why they didn't all think it was as weird as she did! But she wanted to know if she could choose anyone to baptize her and I explained about teh priesthood and I thought she understood but then she asked If I could haha so apparently she didn't...but by the end she did and so we're going to set a date with her when we meet with her tomorrow night. We saw a less active lady at church last Sunday and she is very very inactive and teh only reason we knew what she looked like is because before I came in Sis Lieber and Cook went and saw her. But anyways so we wanted to visit her this saturday and make sure she was coming to church. so we went to her apt and she opened the door and let us in and she has 4 chihuahuas...cute right? Well if they were 4 porters it would be but these chihuahuas had to be part tigers or soemthing I'm serious they just wanted to tear us apart!!! Oh my I have never been so scared in my life!! and this one black one named Chico is like on steroids and it came at me and totally bit me!!! But I'm telling you it was the strangest thing because it didn't hurt at all and he didn't break skin so I know Heavenly Father was protecting me! I just didn't know what to do cause I'm like okay this is a less active I'm not gonna kick her dog I actually want her to come back to church not hate the church! So anyways after that whole dramatic episode we sat down and she's like "I was wondering where I could get a book of mormon, like the one with teh bible and the book of mormon together. Oh and I need to get a subscription the the Ensign where can I do that?" We were just blown away!! We don't know what happened to ehr but she is just ready for the church back in her life! So we're meeting with her again this thursday but tehre's no way I'm going back to her apt so we are meeting at the Cluff's cause Bro. Cluff is her home teacher! So that was the greatest story of the week! One downer was that we were suppose to meet with JC after church yesterday and he came to church and everything and then after church he was liek I need to go to the bathroom so we waited for awhile and he never came back! He totally stood us up!! and he didn't call us back! So that was super devastating but as hard as it is, you have to train yourself to realize they aren't rejecting you, they are rejecting your message and we can't force them to accept it we can only bring the spirit into the conversation and teach what we know to be true. then it's their choice to accept or reject the spirit. Anyways we taught 30 lessons this week so it's our record so far! It's insane cause we don't even feel like we're working like super hard or anything, which is good cause the numbers are working for us and we aren't working for the numbers. Other then that everything else is just awesome!! Hope everyone has a great 4th of July! We are spending it with Yuki and Cynthia...since they don't care to much about it and we just love them! Oh and we just went to the temple thursday so that was an amazing experience...gets better every time! and we have transfers is a couple days...on the 15th! I think I'm staying though since I'm in the middle of my breathing tests...which is good I think I just want to have tests my whole mission! haha not really but I love College Station it's the best place to be! K I have to go but I love you all and miss you so much!
Sis Davis

big week

Soooo crazy it's already Monday again! This past week went really well and we had the oppurtunity to meet many people and see lives change as they embrace the gospel a little more at a time. There was one investigator they had about a month before I got here so like 3 months ago, he was super eager to learn and just had that real desire to know the truth and then his wife just did not want to learn anything more and was hostile towards any of it and it caused arguments between him and her and then he called the sisters and told them the situation and asked what he should do like if he should sneak out and learn more or what and I guess Sister Cook got scared by that cause she said if you come to church we know you want to learn more. well he never went to church so they dropped him and wouldn't stop by and that was that. But Sis Lieber always thought about him and finally after a dinenr appointment she was like we need to call JC and the next day she called him and it happened to be his birthday and she was the only one to call him on his birthday and he thought that's why she called. But anyways he still had so many questions and wanted to learn more and the whole thing a couple months before was a big misunderstanding because he felt like since his family wasn't interested they were like okay nevermind this church is for families so we are not going to teach you anymore and the sisters just didn't want to cause marital problems. Nevertheless though we met with him Saturday Night and the Elders taught with us and it was an awesome lesson and he was sooo scared to come to church I think because he felt intimidated by lots of people and he didn't know what his wife would say but he promised he'd come and JC's promises are sure promises. So he came and had a ton of questions is Gospel doctrine and really liked Elder's Quorum and just lvoed church and we are meeting with him Tuesday Night! So yeah it's really awesome and I have just never seen someone so confused and just wants to know the truth and I have no doubt the Heavenly Father will help him gain that testimony he needs to take the next steps in his life towards returning to him. That was just one great story from the week, there was a ton but I don't have time to tell all of them nor do you want to read a novel I'm sure. Although we played Tennis with Yuanfa and he brought his 2 friends and one came and played tennis while sis lieber and yuanfa and his other friend played bball and Hong and I got talking and he's atheist and he believes in all of the Science stuff and that the earth just magically appeared or something I'm not sure but I asked him what he thought happened to us when we died and he said well that's it. We are like trees...we grow up live for a while and then die. We talked for an hour and I taught him parts of the restoration and the plan of salvation and I said Hong I know that there is a God and he is your Father. And he does love you, and he'll tell you that if you will pray. The conversation ended with him saying he would try to pray and the next night I gave him a Book of Mormon. He wasn't home so I gave it to Yuanfa cause they are roommates and we had a lesson with Yuanfa and Yuanfa said that guy doesn't believe in God!! I said I know but he deserves to know about god and the Book Of Mormon will enlighten his mind and increase his understanding so give it to him and invite him to church and he was soo scared to invite him to church it was so cute! But we had just taught him about Faith vs. Fear so we told him just have faith we don't want to see fear in your eyes! So anyways on sunday after sacrament meeting he came up to me and said Sister Davis I invited Hong to Church! I said yeah what did he say? and then he said that Hong said he didn't want to go to church but he would try to read the book of mormon. Yuanfa was so excited about his missionary moment I loved it! And it was just another seed planted which in due time will start to swell and bloom. Yuanfa is going to convert all of China before the church even opens up over there! Seriously he's awesome! Okay I have to stop writing but I am going to try and attach pictures! Love you all!!
Sis Davis

big week

Soooo crazy it's already Monday again! This past week went really well and we had the oppurtunity to meet many people and see lives change as they embrace the gospel a little more at a time. There was one investigator they had about a month before I got here so like 3 months ago, he was super eager to learn and just had that real desire to know the truth and then his wife just did not want to learn anything more and was hostile towards any of it and it caused arguments between him and her and then he called the sisters and told them the situation and asked what he should do like if he should sneak out and learn more or what and I guess Sister Cook got scared by that cause she said if you come to church we know you want to learn more. well he never went to church so they dropped him and wouldn't stop by and that was that. But Sis Lieber always thought about him and finally after a dinenr appointment she was like we need to call JC and the next day she called him and it happened to be his birthday and she was the only one to call him on his birthday and he thought that's why she called. But anyways he still had so many questions and wanted to learn more and the whole thing a couple months before was a big misunderstanding because he felt like since his family wasn't interested they were like okay nevermind this church is for families so we are not going to teach you anymore and the sisters just didn't want to cause marital problems. Nevertheless though we met with him Saturday Night and the Elders taught with us and it was an awesome lesson and he was sooo scared to come to church I think because he felt intimidated by lots of people and he didn't know what his wife would say but he promised he'd come and JC's promises are sure promises. So he came and had a ton of questions is Gospel doctrine and really liked Elder's Quorum and just lvoed church and we are meeting with him Tuesday Night! So yeah it's really awesome and I have just never seen someone so confused and just wants to know the truth and I have no doubt the Heavenly Father will help him gain that testimony he needs to take the next steps in his life towards returning to him. That was just one great story from the week, there was a ton but I don't have time to tell all of them nor do you want to read a novel I'm sure. Although we played Tennis with Yuanfa and he brought his 2 friends and one came and played tennis while sis lieber and yuanfa and his other friend played bball and Hong and I got talking and he's atheist and he believes in all of the Science stuff and that the earth just magically appeared or something I'm not sure but I asked him what he thought happened to us when we died and he said well that's it. We are like trees...we grow up live for a while and then die. We talked for an hour and I taught him parts of the restoration and the plan of salvation and I said Hong I know that there is a God and he is your Father. And he does love you, and he'll tell you that if you will pray. The conversation ended with him saying he would try to pray and the next night I gave him a Book of Mormon. He wasn't home so I gave it to Yuanfa cause they are roommates and we had a lesson with Yuanfa and Yuanfa said that guy doesn't believe in God!! I said I know but he deserves to know about god and the Book Of Mormon will enlighten his mind and increase his understanding so give it to him and invite him to church and he was soo scared to invite him to church it was so cute! But we had just taught him about Faith vs. Fear so we told him just have faith we don't want to see fear in your eyes! So anyways on sunday after sacrament meeting he came up to me and said Sister Davis I invited Hong to Church! I said yeah what did he say? and then he said that Hong said he didn't want to go to church but he would try to read the book of mormon. Yuanfa was so excited about his missionary moment I loved it! And it was just another seed planted which in due time will start to swell and bloom. Yuanfa is going to convert all of China before the church even opens up over there! Seriously he's awesome! Okay I have to stop writing but I am going to try and attach pictures! Love you all!!
Sis Davis

Listen to what the spirit tells you!

Heyyy! So loved your emails thanks a bunch for taking the time to write me it means the world and makes my whole week run smooth! This week was...amazing! Best week yet! We were able to teach 29 lessons this week and we have 5 new investigators just from this week! 4 of them are chinese...I'm telling you they are just the most humble those Chinese people. On Monday night we played tennis with Yuanfa and that's always fun cause he's just a good ol time and we were able to meet a couple from China and teach a lesson, well Sis Lieber was cause we were playing tennis, but teh husband wants to know more but he doesn't speak English very well and his wife likes her bible church so we gave him a pamphlet of the plan of salvation and put our number on it. We were able to go to a leadership meeting on Wednesday and the missionary department of the church was tehre and they taught us a ton! Seriously I've never learned so much in 7 hours of learning...except the MTC probably but yeah so that helped us a lot throughout the week to work on our door approaches. On Thursday we contacted a potential and she wasn't home so we just tracted her building. Usually we won't but this time I really felt like we should and on the last door we knocked on, this girl in her early 20's answered and we shared our message and asked her if she would like to learn mroe and she said yes and usually we'd set up a time but we didn't have much going on for a couple hours so we just proceeded to teach her the restoration at the door it was so awesome and it's one of the first times I've really just not known exactly where to start and the spirit guided my conversation and told me exactly what to say and the lesson flowed so smooth and we gave her a copy of the book of mormon and asked her to read and gave her a part to read and she said she would and we are meeting with her tonight again. It was amazing and she has such a cute girl who is 3. their names are Nyesha and Naia. Yesterday we were going to go tract out in snook which is a ghetto small town about 30 minutes away and a girl we teach recent convert lessons to lives out there and we had an appoinment that night so we were going to go out early and tract but we just felt like we shouldn't but we didn't know what to do so we prayed and I felt like we should visit a sister who is a member that is a single mom and her one son that is at home doesn't come to church anymroe so the bishop has been having us go there on sundays to visit them and teach lessons, but we knew that her son left that day to go to his sisters for a few weeks so there was no point in going, but I still felt like we should stop by at least and see how she was and if she needed anything so we did and she invited us in. As we started talking, she teared up and expressed to us that she had a couple tests done and the results showed she has cervical cancer and she just found out last friday and now she's all alone for a couple weeks. We talked with her for about an hour and shared some scriptures that give us hope and comfort through challenging times and I think and pray that it helped her. But I know the Spirit guided us to her house and I'm so grateful I listened to the spirit because I know that as I do, it will in all ways direct my paths for good. Heavenly Father's plan is just remarkable and I know that he loves each of us and he is pleading with us to make the right choices in our lives and take the counsel that he gives us in abundance through church and conference and the scriptures and heed to all of the commandments and as we do he will bless us in temporal AND spiritual needs and there will be nothing we can't overcome with the help of the Lord. And quite frankly there's nothing we can overcome if we boost only in our own strength. Well I love you all so very much and think about you daily and pray for you continually!
Sis Davis

STOP! and listen to our message!

 

Bobby's Baptism!

Car Duty! Yeah!!

Great Week!

Hi everyone! Sounds like you are all doing awesome, enjoying summer so that's great! Well this week was wonderful of course! Bobby was baptized!! Soooo awesome I'm so excited for him! He's amazing I know I write that every week but seriously he's incredible and him and his wife are a fabulous team together so I look forward to seeing great things from them! Philip, one of our other investigators, set his own baptismal date after Bobby's baptism!! Such a great night that's for sure....this gospel is incredible! And to see the Lord's hand guiding us to what we should teach and who we should find is a boost to me every day. We met a boy Bryan at a bus stop and taught him the restoration and gave him a book of mormon while he was waiting for the bus and then a couple days later at the same bus stop we talked to a lady named marion she was just the nicest lady and we talked to her about our message and the importance of prophets and the blessings we have seen from listening to the prophets in our lives in the last days. We went over to Guida's house the one with the gum problems and she let us in and we talked to her and her daughter for a second and she said she doesn't like all our rules and kept bringing up that she was told we don't believe in Christ or the Bible. There was no discussing it with her...I think she just didn't want to give up smoking and coffee which is fine I am sure in a year or two or 10 there will be missionaries knocking on her door and she will be ready. We ate at a member's house this week and his grandparents live in Lyman and he totally knows Haley's family...not like best friends but he knew who they were and everything. They are going there in a few weeks Hays so if you are out there look for the Bertoldo's. His grandparents last name is Brenton or something. We have a car now which is a huge blessing with my breathing. My breathing has been pretty severe I just wish it would go away or at least figure out what it is and what we need to do to solve the problem. We got 2 new chinese referrals last night so that will be exciting to start teaching them. Both girls going to A&M. One is Pai-Shan and she knows Yuanfa cause they are both getting their PHDs in Economics so that was great for her to have someone she knew at church yesterday. We have another investigator who is moving at the end of this month that was suppose to set a date to be baptized yesterday or today so we'll find out soon! Well that's about it for this week and we taught 26 lessons this week which is the best yet so we're progressing which is a good thing right?! I'm so sorry I don't have time to write yall individually I will try and write some letters this week! Love yall and thanks for everything you do, you are all in my prayers consistently.
Sis D

Sister Davis and Sister Lieber at Bobby's baptism

Missionary work is awesome!

Hey Everyone! Don't have a lot of time today but Bobby is getting baptized on Saturday so that's totally exciting! He's so ready and his testimony is just blossoming it's inredible...definitely what you'd call a golden contact. So that's awesome and we met a few people this week tracting that we are going to be teaching this week! One is a muslim and he's like I would love to learn more, you see I'm muslim but we think mormons are the closest religion to us and he has to professors that were mormon that he just thought were the greatest...so we're teaching him on friday and then a guy we talked to as we were walking to walmart his name is Vernon. It's so cool how the spirit works. We just have to be willing to share the message and heavenly father will help soften the hearts of those we ask. It's so cool I love it! So President Hansen came here for a baptismal interview on Wednesday and Sister Liebr needed to talk to him so she called him not knowing he was going to be here and so we were able to go to the church and she talked to him and then afterwards he took me and her to lunch! He's so awesome...and then he told us we were staying together and getting a car and that was way before transfer calls. He's like I don't know why I keep doing this...no I'm doing this because the spirit prompted me to, and then he told us. So that was exciting...I love College Station and our ward members are so awesome and so helpful I love it! Mom Diane, Bobby's wife, the guy getting baptized Saturday, is trying to find you on facebook haha she wants to talk to you about adoption. So find ehr if she hasn't found you. Her name is Diane Franks in College Station. Everything else is great here loving every day. Elder Beck just got made AP so that's awesome I'm gonna miss that kid though he's way cool. And elder Olive is going to the Woodlands. Well I am gonna end this but I am going to try and attach some pictures! Love you all so much!

busy, busy all the day!

past week was a good week. We had some setbacks but every week is always a good week as a missionary! We had interviews on Tuesday and President Hansen said he wants me to stay here another transfer if possible so I can be here for Bobby's baptism so he's going to try and give us a car up here and we'll stay in College Station which is the ideal situation but if not then I will be moving to either Tomball or Montgomery. Transfer calls are saturday so we'll see. Well...Guida and Francis broke up with us. Well that's how it felt like when youre dating someone and they break up with you out of nowhere! I called her to make sure we could still come teach her the next day which was Saturday and she said no maam and I said okay well we'll have the cluff's come get you for church at 830 is that alright and she said no maam and I said uh...well when would you like us to come over again and she said when I call you. It was devastating! I think they were fed some anti stuff and they just don't know enough to stand firm against it so they think we're just crazy now! Oh after interviews President and Sister Hansen came and taught Yuanfa with us it was really great having them there and to talk with yuanfa about the whole communist party thing. Sis Lieber got sick for a couple days so I finished the Book of Mormon and almost done with the New Testament. When you are up at 630 and don't have anything to do for the next 15 hours, you get a lot done but I was going crazy... and that was for 2 days! So nina Lili's address is Lin.lili2@gmail.com and she really really wants to talk to you so email her!!! I gave her your email address too! Oh just a little FYI for yall Brittney Barney, Travis' wife just wrote me and Brittany and Jacob are getting married August 21st...so weird. And Katie Nalder is engaged to her missionary who got home in February. Zaundra is just a couple hours from me that's so weird and Dantz is doing an EFY session in San Antonio this summer. Let's see what else happened last week... the elders tracted our apt complex cause we can't since it's where we lived and they found a philipino family that we're gonna start teaching I think we're going over tonight. We need more referrals from the ward so hopefully they'll start coming. Hey mom my patriarchal blessing I think is in my file or else in my storage but I lost my copy I made for out here so could you make a copy and send it to me? I really miss reading it... Mom i'm so happy to hear you went to the temple how was it? Dad let me know what Sis Mccauley's last name is cause I might be in her parent's ward. Mom I haven't gotten the package but I'm sure it'll come soon. I oredered mesh garments and they just got here today...let me tell you that's where it's at! so breathable... Shaye your email was great thanks for taking the time to email me I love hearing from all of you! Keili we don't have any temple square missionaries I think Sis Zepeda was one but she's gone now. Randy thanks for writing it's great to know you still watch sister sister in your spare time and find joy in harming your 8 month old....no really your email was great thanks a lot! And happy birthday ya old fart!! seriously you're growing up it's insane! Well last week we only taught 16 lessons but that's actually pretty good since we only taught 5 of the 7 days. Oh Jacson I just love your face and miss you and can't believe your getting your braces off soon! Happy Gotcha day I hope you got everything you wanted and I hope everyone brought you a present that came to dinner cause that is your rule. Well I should probably leave you with a spiritual message and extend a commitment. We need to all be cosntantly striving to have our life's foundation built upon the teaching's of christ and we can do that by following all his commandments and all the prophet's counsel even in little things even if they seem minimally important. They give us commandments for our own protection and benefit and the blessings that come with these commandments only come as we obey them. I think D&C 130:20-21 tells us that. So I challend you all to read helamen5:12 and decide what you can do better to have a more solid foundation so when all those storms come, we will stand strong and not be destructed. After that we can read Mosiah 2:41...I think that's it. And we can read what the blessings are of those who remain faithful til the end. There's so many things in today's world that can shade our view of the eternal perspective but I know as we keep that eternal view on things we will lead a much more successful and happy life. And I have to say this cause I'm a missionary and I know how it feels to not have many investigators....look for those oppurtunities to share the gospel whether it be a book of mormon pass along card ensign or even bearing your testimony. We have been given this gospel freely and freely we should give. In D&C 60 verse 2 or 3 it tells us that the Lord is not pleased with those who have that talent and will not open up their mouths and if they don't open their mouths that talent will be taken away. So I know as we strive to find thsoe oppurtunities they will come and we will know what to do when it happens as long as we are doing all we can to share our great message with everyone! K I'm done getting preachy but I just love you all and think you are all the best and loved all your letters! Let me know if there's anyone who needs anything...extra prayers and such! Love you all!

letter from Houston!

Hey ya'll....k just kidding I don't talk like that yet. How is everyone doing?? I got your email dad and lyndsay sounds like things are going great. Well any guesses on where I am?....... I'm in College Station and I'm on a bike! Just what I wanted...haha although I could have done without the bike and it's only gonna get worse cause it's not even very hot yet I guess. It feels really hott but everyone says it's perfect right now. So yeah I'm here and my companion is Sister Lieber and she's from Bountiful Utah and totally knows the Farr's she went to school with Rachael. She's really nice and a really awesome trainer! So these last few days have been really great. On Saturday we were contacting a potential investigator and she wasn't home so we were walking back to our bikes and I saw a man who was getting out of his truck and I really felt like I should talk to him but I'm like no! can't do that he's just getting out of his car I don't want to bother him. But I went up to him and told him that we have a message for him and told him a little bit about our message and asked him if we could set up a time to share more with him and he said yes I'd really like that! He said I really need to get back in to church I need this in my life! And I gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read out of it and to pray about it and he said he would and we're going back tomorrow night and teaching his wife and him. I'm really excited he seems very interested. And then we taught an investigator a lesson and as we were leaving her apt complex there was a lady in her 20's walking to her apt with her two boys and I asked her if we could share a message with her and she said well how long will it take cause i'm cookin and so we taught her as she was cooking the first lesson. She understood everything and it made so much sense to her. She said I get so confused because there's so many religions and so we taught her about joseph smith and how we can do as Joseph Smith did and pray to know the things we desire. So we made another appt to teach her and her husband tomorrow afternoon and we asked her to read out of the Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 11 and to pray about it so she could know for herself and she said she would. She's really great and her boys are so dang cute! And then yesterday at church we met a guy who is 27 and from China and he's here til June 3rd for school. He and Bro larson from our ward ride the same bus to A&M and they started talking about our church and Alex just invited himself to church how awesome is that! So they brought him yesterday and after church we had a meeting but he wanted to learn more so Bro Larson said just skip your meeting and ride over to our house and we'll eat lunch and you can teach him! So we did and it went awesome...he had a lot of questions and wants to know more so we are teaching him this saturday night and he's makng dinner, yum gotta love that real chinese food huh? I'm sure I'll get use to all this crazy food. But yeah he's so awesome I love talking to him! He reminds me so much of Nina it makesme miss her more! Oh and one investigator Yuanfa is from Wuhan mom isn't that cool? And he's been taking the discussions for awhile and has a testimony and he always comes to church but we've sorta got a problem with him. He's here getting his PHD and he's going to be a professor in China and he's part of the Communist Party so he's really scared to get baptized because he doesn't know what would happen to him over in China is they knew he was mormon, or really just Christian. But his girlfriend who he's going to marry is Christian and so is her family and they want him to be too. So mom I actually need a favor. Yuanfa has skype and we were thinking maybe he could talk to John about the Church and China and the consequences? Or just at the least he'll have someone in China that believes in the church and be able to relate with. So can I have John's skype address and can you let him know Yuan Fa Tan is going to be skypin him? Let me know if you don't think that's a good idea but I think it'd help a ton because he's so close and I know he'll be a big help in the church opening in China whether he gets baptized here or later. Anyways so everything is going really awesome there is 6 of us in a district. Elder Hiatt is from Vale oregon which is pretty close to Ontario I guess. Elder Beck is from Murietta California and he plays football for BYU and he's been out about a year. Elder Olive is from Salt Lake and Hawaii and both him and Beck are polynesian, well beck is half but yeah so they go on comp exchanges every p day cause they like eachother a lot haha. And then Elder Clark is from Twin Falls and him and Beck are the ZL's and Olive is the DL. They are way awesome and great missionaries. The day after wegot here, all of us newbies and our comps and Pres and Sis Hansen went to the Houston Temple and did a session it was so great!

MTC

So the most important news of the day has to be that Elder Holland came and spoke to us on Tuesday night!! Wow...he is so incredible we are really privileged to be here for that! It was such an amazing devotional and I really needed it so it was perfect! And get this...so Sister Rucker and I were walking back to class after the devotional on the sidewalk and he drove right past us and his window was rolled down and there was about 6 of us and he says love ya work hard and waves...and everyone waves and for some reason I gave him a peace sign! and I was like oh shoot what did I just do! Haha yes classic Caitlin I know! It was awesome though I loved all of it! The MTC is such an amazing place and I am learning more and more every single day! I am sooo ready to leave though! I can't wait to meet my mission president and get started teaching and finding new investigators!

First letter from the MTC

Hi Everyone!! So I only have exactly 27 minutes so I have to type fast! How is everyone doing?!! I hope everyone is awesome because I am doing so amazing! The MTC is so incredible and it's something you can't explain until you actually experience it! I've only been here a day over a week but it's flown so fast I can't even explain it! And the things I have already learned you have to know the Lord helps you and you are nothing without him because I have learned so incredibly much in a week! We taught an investigator on Monday at the Teaching Resource Center and it's where members come and act as investigators but it's totally so real and you can feel the spirit so strong!

Opening the Mission call

Look out Houston Here she comes MTC

Once Caitlin decided she wanted to serve a mission, she was ALL over it! She went to town filling out papers, buying clothes, reading scriptures, and going on splits with our ward sister missionaries!

Caitlin entered the MTC(Missionary Training Center) in Provo, Utah on April 1st, 2009(No fooling!)